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At the Copa, they fell in love

ModelMaker

ModelMaker

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My new meat grinder was delivered, stolen, and returned?? in two days.
My local Fareway had butts on sale for $.99 lb and bought two niners. I also asked about buying 5 lbs of pork fat and they said sure, it will cost the same as our sausage ($2.99) because buying boxed meat leaves them no extra fat for their sausage. I called my local butcher and he said I could have 5 lbs for $.25 a lb!
What a meat grinder! A 1/2 hp Cabelas (Bass Pro) went through 5 lbs of pork fat in 3 minutes! And 9 lbs of pork in 12 mins.



Cut the copa muscle from one of the butts, it contains the MM and tubes
(I think).



Mixed up the initial spice mix and rubbed in well.



Vacuum packed it and into the fridge for a week to 10 days.





After the first rest, it gets rinsed off reseasened and put in a Umai bag for 7 to 9 weeks.

See you in a week.
Ed
 
Not an expert but I’ve found a pork butt by itself to about the perfect amount of fat for most sausages. Seems to be about 80/20ish. Have fun with the grinder!
 
Is Cabela’s the Carnivore??

Which model
 
Not the Carnivore, just the standard 1/2 hp grinder ($149). I read many reviews and nearly all were very happy with it. I had an old grinder that just wasn't strong enough, but it worked. Originally I was after a stuffer but thought maybe a better grinder might do both better. I'm going to run some pork breakfast links today into sheep casings so we'll see how it goes.
Ed
 
Cool. Bradley Robinson’s Chuds BBQ videos on YouTube he uses a Carnivore. 10” videos of a couple different sausage recipes.
Have Fun
 
ModelMaker said:
Not the Carnivore, just the standard 1/2 hp grinder ($149). I read many reviews and nearly all were very happy with it. I had an old grinder that just wasn't strong enough, but it worked. Originally I was after a stuffer but thought maybe a better grinder might do both better. I'm going to run some pork breakfast links today into sheep casings so we'll see how it goes.
Ed
Click to expand...

I wish you luck. Have the same grinder. I was making the German style
(Landjäger) Had no issues grinding the meat. I purchased the much longer
Stainless Steel stuffing tubes instead of using the short plastic tubes that came with the machine.

19mm/22mm sheep casings. The meat was actually emulsified like it went through a blender. They tasted real good after smoking and drying them.

I ended up buying a Lem 5lb. manual stuffer. That was the way to go for me.
 
To those of you patiently waiting for more life at the Copa, here's the deal. The meat went into its first cure on 2-1-21 after 7 days it was supposed to get rinsed off covered in paprika and Adobo seasoning and right into the Umai bag that was going to arrive by 2-1 for a long 4 to 8 week nap. Well the envelope arrived on 2-8 sliced from one end to the other and all its contents missing (make up your own conclusion about a bag with Umai stickers all over it). I contacted Umai Dry and explained my problem of having cured meat ready to be sealed up and they said 14 days in the initial cure is better and a new Charcutiery kit would be in that days mail (props)!!
Ben busy putting new canless LED ceiling lights (see "last thing you bought" in Rated R.and got around to it today.
Very unproblematic, and is now on a rack in the fridge for 4 to 8 weeks until it loses 35 percent of its weight. I won't even look at it for a month now.
Patience....


Ed
 
Well I had to go back 43 pages to find my beginning post. Started the 14 day cure on 2/1/21, put it in the Umai bag 2/13/21, and it sat in the fridge for 8 1/2 weeks until it lost its 35% weight. Came out of the Umai bag 4/21/21.
Finally hit the target weight at 1100G.


Out of the bag and looking tasty.


Saw a couple spots that looked like mold, scraped them off.


First look at the guts.


Some slices for taste testing!!


Not at all sure of what I should expect for taste and texture! The samples I ate were kinda chewy and hard to pull a bite. The fat was pretty creamy, but I'm not a cold fat eatin kinda guy! It had a pretty neutral taste, again don't know what I was looking for.
Now next question, what should I do with this as far eating slices? Cheese board stuff, warmed Italian type subs, diced up and put in Carbonara?
Any of my brothers with experience with Capicola I sure would like to hear what you have to say about it. If I don't find some good uses it pry will be a one and done like the Buckboard bacon I did years ago.
Ed
 
Looks like you nailed it sir. Cheese board stuff but you're going to fall in love when sliced right. It's got to be paper thin but then again you have to have a deli slicer or a nice sharp slicer knife.

I made mine with the money muscle and when sliced thin or shaved it's to die for. Changes taste and texture 180*

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ModelMaker said:
Well I had to go back 43 pages to find my beginning post. Started the 14 day cure on 2/1/21, put it in the Umai bag 2/13/21, and it sat in the fridge for 8 1/2 weeks until it lost its 35% weight. Came out of the Umai bag 4/21/21.
Finally hit the target weight at 1100G.


Out of the bag and looking tasty.


Saw a couple spots that looked like mold, scraped them off.


First look at the guts.


Some slices for taste testing!!


Not at all sure of what I should expect for taste and texture! The samples I ate were kinda chewy and hard to pull a bite. The fat was pretty creamy, but I'm not a cold fat eatin kinda guy! It had a pretty neutral taste, again don't know what I was looking for.
Now next question, what should I do with this as far eating slices? Cheese board stuff, warmed Italian type subs, diced up and put in Carbonara?
Any of my brothers with experience with Capicola I sure would like to hear what you have to say about it. If I don't find some good uses it pry will be a one and done like the Buckboard bacon I did years ago.
Ed
Click to expand...

Looks great Ed!
 
16Adams said:
Cool. Bradley Robinson’s Chuds BBQ videos on YouTube he uses a Carnivore. 10” videos of a couple different sausage recipes.
Have Fun
Click to expand...

But There’s a Snake in his Boot!
 
As already mentioned, thin is the key.

I enjoy it as is, but it also works well as a pizza topping.
 
ModelMaker said:
Well I had to go back 43 pages to find my beginning post. Started the 14 day cure on 2/1/21, put it in the Umai bag 2/13/21, and it sat in the fridge for 8 1/2 weeks until it lost its 35% weight. Came out of the Umai bag 4/21/21.
Finally hit the target weight at 1100G.


Out of the bag and looking tasty.


Saw a couple spots that looked like mold, scraped them off.


First look at the guts.


Some slices for taste testing!!


Not at all sure of what I should expect for taste and texture! The samples I ate were kinda chewy and hard to pull a bite. The fat was pretty creamy, but I'm not a cold fat eatin kinda guy! It had a pretty neutral taste, again don't know what I was looking for.
Now next question, what should I do with this as far eating slices? Cheese board stuff, warmed Italian type subs, diced up and put in Carbonara?
Any of my brothers with experience with Capicola I sure would like to hear what you have to say about it. If I don't find some good uses it pry will be a one and done like the Buckboard bacon I did years ago.
Ed
Click to expand...

The cut you used is not traditional coppa, which is why it has so much fat in it and why it is chewy. The coppa is the muscle that runs from the neck, though the shoulder, and to the loin. Unfortunately, the American way of butchering hogs bifurcates the muscle used for coppa, so unless you have your own hog and know how to butcher it Italian style you won't have that long muscle to work with. The "money muscle" of the pork butt is part of it, and that is your best bet to make it. You won't get near as much, but it will be have the right taste and texture. I've done a couple that way and they have been stellar. I've also heard of folks stuffing chunks of uniform (meat to fat) pork butt after seasoning into large casings with some kind of binder (I guess) and doing it that way.

Never used a unami bag, so I have no advice on that.

If you have a meat slicer you might salvage by slicing it super thin and that might work for you. I've never cooked with coppa, I'd just eat it as is or on sandwiches.
 
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