Capicolla hot off the smoker!

[DeejayDebi]

Deejay's Capricolla Ham

I was at the store the other day and they were getting $8.97 ON SALE for this stuff! What the heck! It's only pork butt! THis is a combination of a hot capcolla and a sweet capicolla - it's not hot really but they call it hot.

Meat Mixture
8 to 9 lbs well trimmed Pork Butt
2 teaspoons Corriander
2 teaspoons White Pepper
1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
1 teaspoon Ground Mace
2 tablespoons white table Sugar
2-1/2 tablespoons Salt
1 tablespoon Amesphos
Prague Powder #1 (amount/lbs meat)
1 teaspoon Juniper Berries (optional)
2 teaspoons encapsulated citric Acid (optional but gives it a little zing)

Note: Amesphos is only available here and will make your sausages more moist and snapy - http://www.theingredientstore.com/generalstore/product_details/2010.htm

For Outer Coating (not meat)
2 tablespoons Black pepper
2 tablespoons Paprika
1 tablespoon Crushed Fennel Seeds

Chill meat until stiff but not quite frozen and trim most of the fat.

Cut into strips about 1 inch wide, 2 inches across and 2 inches long. Don't worry about the smaller hunks just throw them in there!

Premix spices and then add to meat. Mix well!

Refrigerate meat mixture for at least 24 hours in an air tight plastic bag. I like to vaccuum pack and wait about a week for best flavor. Add Prague powder mixed with 1/4 distilled water if you do.

Next:

Dust meat with 1/2 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin powder (Knox).

Lay meat mixture about the size of your casing on plastic wrap and dust with pepper and fennel mixture all the way around the meat. Roll meat to help shape sausage.

Spray the inside of your casing with pam or some other cooking spray. Then pour the coating into the casing and shake it up good. The coating will stick to the outside of the casing. You can also use lard but don't go thick or the meat will be greasy. Use a 4 to 6 inch casing. I use a canning jar funnel to drop the meat in so I don't wipe off the coating.

Prick surface of casing to release air. Roll to shape pack meat down and to remove air pockets.

Bake or smoke at 180°F degrees for about 4 hours to until an internal temperature 155°F is reached. For best results frigerate the sausage for a few days before cooking of smoking.



This was stuffed into a 6 inch diameter casing and sliced hot for the purpose of illustrating what it looks like. When hot the coating has a tendency to smear because it's still wet.

[sominus]

Deb:

I actually made this quite a while back and talked to you beriefly about the fact that it seemed to fall apart on me.. The flavor was awesome though!   I was thinking about using "meat glue" the next time I make it...

Any experience with my problem or proposed solution?

[Bill Greenwood]

Mix the salt first with the lean meat and work the salt,lean meat till sticky,the "glue" you were referring.The fat should be separate. Then add your fat and other seasonings. This will keep your sausage from being crumbly.

[DeejayDebi]

I generally mix all the spices together but they will get tacky very quickly. If the meat pieces get to dry they will sometimes fall apart. You could try adding a smidge of water - a tablespoon or so to the meat an hour before packing. It is important to get the spices all over the meat. I haven't tried the "meat Glue" yet but I need to soon. Got a package from a friend to do a test with, but I keep forgetting and haven't used it yet.