Capicola Spices – What To Use And How To Make It
Capicola is a very unique spiced sausage that is cured and flavorful. It’s made with just the right amount of spice.
This is a popular Italian treat because it’s cured and spiced, resulting in an unmatched burst of flavor.
While you can certainly go to the store and purchase capicola, it is also something that you can make on your own from home.
While you may not use the same 6-month process that a butcher’s store might use, you can make capicola with a pork shoulder or other similar cuts of meat. You can also just make yourself a blend of capicola spices for any type of cooking.
But what are capicola spices? There is a variety of herbs and spices with a bold flavor but the two biggest flavors are simply garlic and paprika, which most people have readily available in their homes.
In this guide, we will share with you exactly what to use and how to use it so you can make your own capicola or just capicola spices if you prefer.
There is more than one approach that you can take but you should be able to use this guide for a basic understanding of your options.
Keep reading to learn more about capicola spices – what to use and how to make it.
What Is Capicola?
Let’s start with a basic overview of just what capicola is.
Capicola actually has several different names. It might also be referred to as capocollo, salumi, gabagool, or even copa. It’s made from pork, typically a pork shoulder, and then seasoned, cased, and cured.
A lot of people also smoke the meat or slow roast the meat as the smoky flavor paired with the spices makes it utterly delicious.
The most common form of capicola is cured and smoked. This is served much like sausage links or in a tube like summer sausage.
To be clear, it is different from summer sausage, but it might be packaged and served similarly. If you choose to make capicola from home, you probably are not going to stuff it into a casing and you probably also won’t cure it for 6 months.
This particular meat, spiced as it is, is designed to be served as a cold cut. Once it’s been appropriately prepared, it’s sliced thinly and then used similarly to something like cured ham or lunchmeat. The biggest difference from those types of meat is this is not brined.
If you want to make it properly and like traditional capicola, you will also take the steps to cure the meat before consuming it or serving it. If you just want to use the spices for a similar flavor on a piece of meat, you can do that as well.
Thankfully, there are recipe options out there for “quick curing” the meat as well and that’s where we’re going to turn our focus.
What Spices Are Used For Capicola?
While you might find different recipes and recommendations out there for the spices that can be used, there are traditional spices that are used more than any other combination. If you search for a recipe, you’re going to find several options.
Overall, the process is the same but you just might see differences in the measurements for different herbs or spices. Feel free to adjust any herbs or spices to your own tastes. These are simply recommendations.
For starters, these measurements are recommended for a pork shoulder, or similar meat, that will weigh somewhere between 2-5 pounds.
The measurements that we share below are based on a cut of meat that is right around 5 pounds. Some people just use a pork loin as it’s round and easy to work with in a similar way.
There are some formulas you can use as well to help you calculate the ratio of salt and other spices you might need.
Here are the spices you should plan to use for a 5-pound slab of meat for the curing portion of the process:
- 5 tbsp kosher salt or sea salt
- 1 tbsp sugar
- ½ tbsp black pepper
- ¼ tbsp juniper berries
- ½ tsp ground nutmeg
- ¼ tsp paprika
- ¼ tsp cayenne pepper
- Optional ¼ tsp red pepper flakes
- 1 tsp garlic powder
Remember that if you want more spice, you can adjust your ingredients here. Things like cayenne and paprika will give you more of a kick.
In addition to the spices and the meat, you should plan to also have some butcher’s twine, netting roll, or even an aging wrap.
How To Make Your Own Capicola
You probably won’t make your capicola in just a few hours. You’ve got to cure it first, and this is what will take a little bit of time. Of course, using the quick cure methods, it does not take 6 months so that is a plus.
Here are some steps that you can follow to make your own capicola.
Start With Curing
The first part of the process is to cure the meat. For curing purposes, you will mix all of the spices and herbs listed above together.
You want to mix them really well. The goal is to make sure the salt ends up spread out evenly over the meat so it is crucial to get this mixture spread out and combined for that purpose.
Some people will add an instant cure seasoning. This is optional but it could add flavor or color if you decide to add it in. However, if you do use an instant cure seasoning, be sure to reduce the salt measurements to accommodate it.
If you have a vacuum sealer or a vacuum bag, we recommend using that for your curing process. If you don’t have that available, you can just use plastic wrap instead.
Follow these steps for the curing process:
- Mix together all of the herbs and spices for curing. Remember that they need to be thoroughly mixed so that when you put them on the meat, the salt makes it everywhere to fully coat the meat.
- Lay out the meat in a bowl or some other space and methodically rub the curing spice mix all over the meat. This is going to be very hand’s on. You want to make sure you get the mixture all over the meat and even into the little spaces and gaps in the meat. This is very important.
- Grab a vacuum bag or your plastic wrap and start putting the meat in it. Don’t toss out the loose seasoning. Once you’ve got your meat initially placed for wrapping it or sealing it, go ahead and pour in all of that extra seasoning on the meat.
- Now wrap the meat tightly in plastic wrap or seal it with a vacuum sealer. If you use plastic wrap, be sure to wrap it tightly and with several layers to make sure it is secure.
- Once it’s wrapped and sealed securely, you need to place the meat in your fridge for at least 7 days. We recommend going with more like 10-20 days. Do not remove it from the fridge during this time.
- Each day, you should turn the meat in a different direction and massage it just slightly to be sure the curing spices are working in as needed. 10 days will generally be sufficient for up to 5 pounds of meat but it also won’t hurt if you cure it for up to 21 days total.
This is the longest part of the process. Next, we move on to drying the meat.
Dry The Meat
You can dry the meat in different ways. If you want to dry it quickly, the best way to do so is to use your oven.
Some people prefer a dry aging process in the refrigerator. This requires extensive tracking of the meat, including weighing the meat before and during the process.
When you use the fridge for drying, the goal is for your meat to lose about 33-35% of the total weight of the meat during the drying process. The amount of time this takes can vary so you simply have to track the process.
For the purpose of simplicity, we are going to walk you through a drying process that uses the oven. This process takes just a few hours from start to finish so it’s far simpler than using the fridge.
You can use whatever process you prefer. It’s totally up to you!
Follow these steps to dry the meat in the oven:
- Unwrap the cured meat and rinse it off. You can rinse it with cold water but some people prefer to actually rinse with wine or even vinegar. It’s up to you, just be sure that you rinse it thoroughly to get the salt and curing mixture rinsed off.
- You can then create a rub for flavoring. For this, we recommend using paprika, black pepper, red pepper flakes, and cayenne pepper mixed together. You won’t need salt or sugar for this part of the process. These are spices all about the flavor.
- Mix the rub spices together and then rub them onto the surface of the slightly moist meat. The meat should be just slightly damp from rinsing it. If it is no longer damp, you can go ahead and pour a little bit of wine over it or dampen it just slightly with cold water. Be sure to roll the meat completely in the rub spices and try to get it fully coated.
- Once you’ve got it coated, you can place it into netting. You can use a #24 netting roll for this as it spans about the right size to cover the meat for the process. If you cut a piece of netting longer than your meat, it gives you some room to stretch it as you stuff the meat into the netting.
- Heat your oven to 250°F. While the oven is heating, you can fill an oven-safe pan up with water and just place it on a rack near the middle of the oven.
- Above that, place your meat on a wire rack over a roasting pan or similar pan and place it in the oven.
- Cook the meat until it reaches an internal temperature of 145-150°F. This will probably take around 2 hours. You should plan to flip your meat over near the 1-hour mark. Be very careful not to cook the meat too long.
- Once it reaches that 145-150°F mark, you’re almost done. Remove the meat from the oven and just place it on a plate or similar dish.
- Place the plate with the meat in your fridge as is. Leave it uncovered.
- Leave the meat in the fridge for 4-6 hours.
- It’s finally ready!
At this point, some people recommend using a wine rinse again but since you dried the meat in the oven, you shouldn’t have to worry about that.
This final rinse is commonly used when you dry the meat in the fridge for an extended period. You can officially enjoy your capicola. Just slice it thin and eat it up for the next couple of weeks!
Be sure that you wrap it tightly in between uses to preserve it for the next use. It should last up to a few weeks when stored properly.
Smoking The Meat
Once you’ve gone through the curing and drying processes, you can also smoke the meat to add the smoked flavor to it.
If you are a fan of the smoky flavor, this is a really great way to finish up the meat and finalize that really delicious flavor in the process.
Just smoke the meat on a low temperature setting for several hours. It’s absolutely delicious!
For a visual tutorial, take a look at this video from Jaxx Drinkwater Southern Cooking & BBQ on YouTube.
Related Questions
We hope that this guide to understanding the spices in capicola and making your own at home is a helpful resource.
It’s a long but fairly simple process if you know the steps to cure, dry, and get the flavors just right.
We invite you to review the following question and answer section for some additional details that could be helpful for you.
Is capicola like ham?
Capicola could be compared to ham in the fact that it is dried and cured like some ham is. However, that is about where the similarities end. Ham is brined as part of the process while capicola is dry-cured.
Is capicola the same as prosciutto?
While these two meats are fairly similar, they are also still very different. They are both dry-cured meats that come from pork.
The real difference between the two is simply the type of meat that is used to make the product and the spices are just slightly different as well.
Prosciutto typically comes from the hind leg while capicola comes from the neck or shoulder area of a pig. This is their major defining difference.
Do I have to cook capicola?
You do not have to cook capicola to enjoy it, assuming you are buying it as capicola. Obviously, if you are preparing your own, there will be some processes involved.
However, capicola is served and consumed raw because it has already been through a drying and curing process to prepare it. It is typically served as a cold cut.
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