Coppa Capicola recipe

Coppa or capicola is an abbreviation of the Italian Capocollo, which in turn comes from the Latin “caput collum” and means neck, as pork neck meat is traditionally used to make this charcuterie delicacy. It can also be made with pork loin, which has much less fat than the neck. It is not difficult to make cups at home, but it is laborious as it takes a lot of time and you need to understand the processes involved to be sure of what is being done.

In this coppa recipe I used the beef bung, which is a natural casing with excellent control of moisture loss during maturation, in addition to being a suitable surface for the proliferation of the penicillium mold culture, which is intentionally applied to cover the canopy with a layer of beneficial mold, inhibiting the proliferation from other unwanted molds.

The meat used to produce the top is the pork shoulder or neck, located above the shoulder. The name copa comes from the Italian capocollo, which means neck. Alternatively, it is possible to use pork loin, but in this case the product is called loin coppa. The loin has a covering of fat that can be removed to obtain a leaner product.

Cup ingredients

• 1 kg pork neck;
• 22 g salt;
• 5 g sugar;
• 2.5g curing salt 2 (6% of nitrite, 3% of nitrate and 93,75% of salt)
• 2 g garlic powder;
• 2 g allspice;
• 1 g black pepper;
  1 g white pepper;
• 0.5 g cinnamon;
• 0.5 g cloves;
• 0.5 g nutmeg;
  0.1g bacterial starter culture (lactic acid bacteria) – diluted in 100 ml of filtered water;
• 0.1g penicilium nalgiovense mold culture – diluted in 100 ml of filtered water;
• 1 unit of beef bung.

Cup preparation

• Purchase a piece of pork shoulder, which is the crown or neck. Clean, keeping as much of the existing fat as possible and removing connective tissue.
• Apply seasoning, except crops, by massaging the meat;
• Store in a plastic bag or container in the refrigerator for 7 days;
• Remove from the refrigerator, drain the excess liquid and, if desired, wash the meat under running water;
• Dissolve the starter culture in filtered water, wait 10 minutes and spray or spread over the meat;
• Rinse the beef bottom and leave it in warm water for 10 minutes;
• Place the meat inside the beef bung, place it in an elastic net to tighten it and tie the ends with string;
• Dissolve the penicillium nalgiovense mold culture in filtered water, wait 10 minutes and spray on the tops;
• Hang at room temperature, ideal 25ºC, for 72 hours;
• Hang in an environment with an ideal temperature of 12ºC, humidity at 75% to 85% and slight air circulation;
• Keep in this environment until the canopy loses between 35 and 45% of its initial weight.

Maturation

COPPA 1
DAY | WEIGHT | WEIGHT LOSS
15/08 | 784 g | 0%
10/10 | 504 g | 36%
17/10 | 479 g | 39%
10/25 | 459 g | 42%
01/11 | 450 g | 43%

COPPA 2
DAY | WEIGHT | WEIGHT LOSS
15/08 | 408 g | 0%
10/10 | 271 g | 34%
17/10 | 260 g | 37%
10/25 | 251 g | 39%
01/11 | 248 g | 40%