Capocollo / Capicola - Day 1: Trimming and Salting 

Amen!!! We would still be out there cutting without it.

Thank you Matt. Glad you enjoyed the video. We are happy to share what we can. We are ever grateful for the tricks we have picked up,and continue to pick up, along the way from others as well as trial and error. We have guest star, the master Giovani Albini, appearing in the next video. Sure to be a treat.

Thank you Maksim.

Thank you! Wait until you see day 2! We bring in a guest star.

Don’t worry, nothing was wasted, it all went into the sausage we made at the same time.

We address that question in the Day 30 video. We’re going to do it next year with Kosher Salt.

Find a mentor to guide and help the first few times. Having a friend named Giovani that has been doing it since he was in grade school was a huge help for us. The other key thing is being sure that you have a dry area that you can regulate and keep the temperature in the right range.

Today. Grubmaster John just posted. Meet the master Giovanni.

You are correct. We live in a town and area of CT with a heavy Italian population. Most families have been here for 2 and 3 generations. We checked in with our mentors after others pointing out the same. From what we understand, they all started making it with the shoulder. Over the last 30 years, many started shifting over to using the loin because of the ease of trimming and the less fat in the cut. They all continue to call it capicola. One of our mentors that grew up in Italy, smiled when I told him about the comments and admitted that yes it was lonza. The reality for these families is that they basically make two things. Dried sausage and what started out as capicola. They do big quantities once a year and then enjoy all year round. With the exception of adding motorized grinders and fancy stuffers, they follow the same methods as came over from Italy. They just never changed what the called it. Agree 100% that it still tastes great. To give you a heads up, we will be filming the harvest in about an hour. I suspect the post production by Grubmaster John will put us out a week or so until we go live. Thank you again for commenting and for watching.

Grubmasters New Haven, Meriden CT had large Italian populations as well. We all know is lonza, lomo but still a nice piece of cured meat!

Agreed, it’s all about the tradition, camaraderie and final product.... the name is far less important. Thanks for watching!

Americans ! Did you expect anything else ?

No, just salted for 24 hours.

I don't see why you couldn't do beef. Perhaps an eye of the round roast. That might be worth a try next year. I wonder what the final taste would be...

Philly Lazono Sure. Why not? These guys are using lean pork loin, so you might as well use beef. Heck, try chicken while you’re at it.

@@Grubmasters I am curious why no one uses chicken or turkey with this method?

Thank you for the question. Sorry for the delayed response. The salt does its primary work in those first 24 to 36 hours drawing moisture out of the meat. The wine is used to look to rinse off what salt remains that wasn’t already removed from the moisture leaching out of the meat.

@@Grubmasters - I think you're missing his question. Iodized salt imparts a bitter iodine taste to the meat. You guys would probably get a better end product using kosher salt, sea salt, canning salt, or any other salt that is not iodized. Table salt is iodized to basically fight off iodine deficiencies is the greater population. This little bit of iodine staves off birth defects and other health issues. However, it kinda tastes like crap in large doses; such as when curing meat.

That’s a good point. This recipe is an old family recipe. We’ve learned that a lot of that had to do with what was on hand and readily available. Kosher salt is coarser and I always use it making jerky marinades, dried bacon brines, or wet brines. For those the salt is a big part of the end product. Here we use it and then rinse it off. I’m sure some gets absorbed though. We’ll have to experiment with a kosher batch. Maybe do a side by side comparison. Thanks for the comment!

Watch the third video in the series for an explanation. But your correct.

Thanks for watching and sharing your experience. Be sure to watch the last installment in the series where we address the naming issue.