The Most Contagious Thing in The World is an Idea.

A few years ago, I made a post about craft made capicola cotto in my culinary arts class. Well, we finally got around to making a ham-type product and roasted pork out of Pork Butt to make Cuban style sandwiches. Here’s how we did it.

First we separated the coppa (neck) from the shoulder of the butt. In this image the red line shows the thick white fat line that indicates where to cut. The thin square oulines the anterior part of the “neck” portion of the scapula (blade bone) that leads to the foreleg.


Here is is again, the coppa is located to the left of the line and the shoulder is to the right. We made a lateral cut along the fat line to separate the two halves.




Next, we trimmed up the coppas to make them more cylindrical,
Bunch of coppas ready for injection. Our brine was 100% water, 2.5% salt, .5% MSG, 3% sugar, 3% molasses, .25% cure #1, & .25% phosphate. We threw in some sweet spices like cinnamon, star anise, clove, nutmeg, and allspice.

We injected each coppa and submerged them in brine for 48 hours. This image is after 48 hours on cure.

Students netting and tying up the coppas for hanging.

Hanging the “hams” to dry before smoking. Allowing the exterior to dry and create a pellicle promotes smoke adhesion, leading to better color, flavor, and smoke penetration.

“Hams” before smoking.

“Hams” post smoke.

Finished “hams”.

The diced pork butt pre-cure. Cure recipe; 2.5% salt, 2% sugar, .5% MSG, .5% Umami powder, .25% cure #1, 2% black pepper, 2% fresh oregano, 2% dried oregano, 2% granulated garlic, 2% fresh garlic, 2% lime zest.

The pork butt post-cure. Notice the color change which indicates the cure did it’s job.

Roasted pork before confit. I decided to cure and confit the pork so it could be preserved while waiting for the “ham” to be ready.

Roasted Pork, garlic cloves, thyme, bay leaves.

Pork ready for confit.

Pork after confit.

“Cubano” with sliced “ham” and pork pernil confit.