# Capicola time in Tennessee



## pignit (May 10, 2009)

Once again Ron has introduced me to one of my now favorite things. This Capicola is off the chart. I started out with a nice boneless butt that had been netted.








Mixed up a batch of TQ brine per instructions. 1 cup of TQ to 4 quarts of water. Worked out just right in the container I used. Covered it nicely. I first pickled this baby with the brine. Used a cheap injector needle I found and ground a few more holes in it. Worked great. Into the fridge for 3 days.








After three days I did a pan fry test to make sure it wasn't too salty. It was fine the way it was but I rinsed it well and put it back in the container with fresh water to rinse the TQ off of it. Left it like this while the ribs I was smokin had their time in the smoker. I pulled the capicola out of the water bath.... dried it off and rubbed it per Ron Mans instructions with Cayenne pepper and Spanish Paprika. I added a few red pepper flakes to kick it up a notch.








I pulled it at 155 and let it rest until it cooled enough to put it in the fridge. I waited until the next day to slice it up.








This is the first of many of these I see in my life. I can't beleive this is a boston butt. The flavor is outstanding. I sliced it nice and thin. I just can not find words to describe how dang goooood this stuff is.








If you haven't given this a shot.... you need to. Very simple but the results are fantastic. I smoked this with apple and maple. Got it all sliced up and put it in vacuum bags and into the freezer. What a pile of eatin for 10 bucks.








Couldn't resist one more closeup. Thanks Ron...... your the man.








Thanks for checkin out my qview. This was fun and tasteeee and a definite do again. As a matter of fact..... Red is wantin to know when I'm gonna do some more already. And we all know what Red wants Red gets.


----------



## werdwolf (May 10, 2009)

Nice tutorial post.  May have to give this a try.


----------



## cajunsmoke13 (May 10, 2009)

Dang Pig, now that is some good looking stuff.  Nice job


----------



## pineywoods (May 10, 2009)

That looks great definitely going on the "To Do List" thanks


----------



## bassman (May 10, 2009)

Yessir, that's a keeper!  Thanks for the Qview.


----------



## mballi3011 (May 10, 2009)

that look awesome and ready for sammies to come. What capicola?? I'm really confused and what's in the brine (TQ)? Ok give me the whole story please. 
	

	
	
		
		



		
			






 please


----------



## irishteabear (May 10, 2009)

Sounds and looks great, Dave.  It's still on my to do list.


----------



## pignit (May 11, 2009)

Capicola is what you get when you cure a butt and season it with paprika then smoke. There are lots of methods of making Capicola and this is by far one of the easiest and fastest. In Italy they would probably burn you at the stake for calling this Capicola but in all fairness it is a very simple form of Capicola. I'm far from an expert but through my own research this is the conclusion I have come to. 

TQ is the abbreviation for Tender Quick. TQ is a salt based curing agent manufactured by the Morton Salt Company. The act of putting a piece of meat in a brine solution to cure is called pickling. One of the reasons for using this method to cure meat is it dramatically speeds up the curing process if you inject your brine solution into the meat. This causes the curing agent to cure not only from the outside in but from the inside out as well. All methods of curing give you different results. You just have to experiment to see which one you like the best and what you have the time for. A butt injected with cure and set in a brine can cure in as little as 3 days where a dry cure on the same butt will cure at a rate of 1/4 inch per day. On a butt that can mean 14 days. You can add things to your brine if you like. I used a simple curing brine with water and TQ.


----------



## billbo (May 11, 2009)

Fantastic post pig! Man that looks good!


----------



## the dude abides (May 11, 2009)

Beautiful looking pork.  Points for the awesome explanation you gave to *mballi3011.*  That will help lots of us to understand.

So if you were to just dry rub this in TQ and then guage the 1/4" per day method to get all the way through the meat, would you then have a dry aged (what I know more as traditional) capicola?  Would you then have to cook the meat with heat beyond this?

Thanks in advance


----------



## pignit (May 11, 2009)

Dude... I'm honestly not a capicola expert so I don't know that I'm really the one to give you advice on traditional capicola. I've done some searches on it and have found that there are a number of ways to make capicola. One is using Prague 2 instead of #1 and cold curing. It's a very time consuming process that takes weeks to complete. Sometimes the difference in what you end up with after a cure is totally reliant on the seasonings you use. Try doing a google search on making capicola and you'll see what I'm talking about. I think the definition for traditional capicola has a lot to do with the person you ask or should I say the family that you ask. Traditionally Italian.


----------



## fire it up (May 11, 2009)

Looks so good.  Such an excellent job, as always.
I have tried to get TQ around here and nobody carries it.  Looked on the Morton site and they were out of stock and ebay has it but the shipping is ridiculous.
There are so many things I would have made with TQ but even if I had it this would be at the top of the list.
Points and Bravos and all that for such a great post and such excellent Q.

*So the post looked so great I had to try it. I decided to order some TQ since no place anywhere around here carries tender quick or tender cure.
Anyway, I went to order it from the Morton site and it was a 2lb bag for $4.49
Not bad but when I went to check out the shipping was $8.75!  That's a bit excessive.
My question to you fine folks is do any of you know a different source I can order TQ from or anyone able to ship me some for not such an outrageous shipping price?
If anyone can give me any links or help on it I would be so incredibly grateful.


----------



## ronp (May 11, 2009)

I found it at a Local butcher shop.


----------



## erain (May 11, 2009)

good looking capicola!!! i may have to give that a shot myself. i know RonP been doing it for a while but your pics may have tipped the scale... speakin of scales,






thks for sharing those great pix bud!!!


----------



## fire it up (May 11, 2009)

I didn't even think to ask our "local" butcher.
I say "local" because it is actually about a 30 minute drive to the nearest true butcher.
Thanks Ron, I'll give them a call tomorrow and ask.


----------



## gnubee (May 11, 2009)

Very nice tutorial from a non expert. Points Man!

Wikipedia explaination of Capicola.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capicola

I especially like how they pronunce It. *Capicola = Gabagool. *
Quote:
However awareness has increased due largely to frequent mention on the popular TV series The Sopranos. It was also mentioned in the classic film adaptation of the Godfather. In both appearances, it was pronunced with an Italian-American accent as *"Gabagool"* from Neapolitan dialect ).


----------



## rivet (May 11, 2009)

Wow great stuff. Now I want to make one too. Never cured before, but I'm sure I can find some TQ around here. How much do you put in the container of water you soaked it in? Thanks for your help!


----------



## smokingd (May 11, 2009)

OMG that looks great another thing I must try


----------



## pignit (May 11, 2009)

There is a brine recipe that comes with it but I can tell you it is 1 cup of TQ to 4 cups of water.


----------



## grothe (May 11, 2009)

WOW!!!!
That looks great PignIt....great job!!


----------



## reichl (May 11, 2009)

did you smoke at a lower temp or did you keep the smoker arround 225?  Looks great!


----------



## bigbaldbbq (May 11, 2009)

Man you nailed that!! I gotta try that, and soon!!


----------



## pignit (May 11, 2009)

It actually takes my MES a couple of hours to get to 225. So I would say I was smoking from 180  to 225 in a very gradual increase. I was smoking a roast beef at the same time so I actually sped it up a little. The cured capicola could have stood some slower smoking time. I was using such a mild wood that it really wouldn't have hurt it at all. When I first starting smoking meats.... I was a smoke hound. Way too much smoke on everything. As good as it all was.. there was just too much smoke. Now I have much more finess with my smoke and at times I'm a bit light on the smoke.


----------



## bigsteve (May 11, 2009)

Looks great!  

Man, you've been smoking up a storm the past week.  Do you run a catering outfit?


----------



## pignit (May 11, 2009)

No.... it's an illness. Red sent me out to the grocery store to pick up some lemons yesterday and I came home with 4 tenderloins ($1.99 lb.) and 3 more chuck roasts ($1.99 lb.) I'm talkin a package of 2 tenderloins for $4.88. How do you walk by that? 

The two best investments I made in my smoking arsenal is the slicer and the vacuum. When I get on a roll like this I slice and dice and vacuum everything and put it in the freezer. It is wonderful to be sittin watchin a movie and have an earge for a BB or a nice capicola sandwich and knowing it's just a few minutes away. 

I like to share too. I stand out in front of my house and give out samples like they do at Sams. I've gotten quite a following.


----------



## the dude abides (May 11, 2009)

What was that address again?


----------



## ronp (May 11, 2009)

Now I know you are crazy.
	

	
	
		
		



		
			





 Nice job Dave.


----------



## hank (May 12, 2009)

I found a Morton Tender Quick Substitute on the Bradley Smoker forum years ago, been using it ever since.

16 oz kosher salt
8 oz regular table sugar
2 oz InstaCure #1
Mix well, I use a stand mixer and let it run for a few minutes, store in a tight sealing jar.

Hope it helps and enjoy


----------



## hank (May 12, 2009)

Just found the original post:

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/showthread.php?p=691


----------



## kkbait (Sep 7, 2016)

reviving an oldie here. I need to try this


----------

