Grilled Capicola Pizza, Delivery Pizza’s Worst Nightmare

Capicola is the star of the show in this recipe for a delicious grilled pizza

Capicola is a traditional cured and lightly smoked pork product from Naples, related to bacon, and some good examples are made in the US and Canada. It is widely available on deli counters at groceries. It is usually a large log, about 3″ (7.6cm) in diameter, dusted with spicy pepper on the outside, and it is sliced thin. Don’t worry about the pepper, it is hardly noticeable when the meat is sliced thin. Before you start, I recommend you read my article The Science of Grilled Pizza (Pizza alla Griglia) for making grilled pizza.

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Grilled Capicola Pizza Recipe

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Grilled pizza comes close to the brick oven style pizza we all love but without the cost of installing a brick oven. Here is a rustic grilled pizza recipe that features capicola, a traditional cured and lightly smoked pork product from Naples, related to bacon, and some good examples are made in the US and Canada.

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Servings: 8 slices (one 14″ thin crust pizza)

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Italian

Difficulty: Easy

Special Tools Ingredients Method Approximate Nutrition Notes

Special Tools

• Pizza stone or metal pizza pan

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

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• 16 ounces Roman style pizza dough
• 2 meaty tomatoes, like Romas
• ½ sweet red pepper
• 1 medium onion
• ¼ pound capicola
• ¼ cup grated fresh buffalo mozzarella in water
• 5 tablespoons grated provolone
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 6 tablespoons tomato sauce
• 4 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
• 2 tablespoons dried oregano
• 12 large leaves of fresh basil, washed and patted very dry
• 10 Kalamata olives, pitted
• 2 pinches Morton Coarse Kosher Salt
• 2 twists of the pepper mill

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Method

 

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1. Prep. Make the dough 1 to 3 days in advance and store, wrapped in a container with room for it to expand in the fridge.
2. Fire up. Preheat the grill to high. Shoot for 450 to 500°F (232 to 260°C). If you wish to use a pizza stone, put it on so it will heat slowly and get good and hot. But a stone is not necessary. Most of the time we just use a 14" (427 cm) aluminum pan.
3. Make the toppings. Stem, seed, and chop the tomatoes and peppers. Thinly slice the onion, and chop the capicola into 3/4" (1.9 cm) chunks. Grate the mozzarella and provolone.
4. Roll out the dough. Coat the pan with oil. Throw some flour on the counter and roll out the dough until it is about 15" (38 cm) diameter. Place the dough in the pan and as it shrinks, spread it to the edge with your fingers. Don't worry if it is not perfectly round.
5. Add toppings. With a pastry brush or spray bottle, lightly coat the top with olive oil. Now the sauce goes on. Take it all the way to the edge because it will give great color as it cooks. Then the parm, herbs, onion, olives, red pepper, capicola, salt and pepper, and the rest of the cheese. Spread it out evenly.
6. Cook. Grill in the pan or on a preheated stone until the cheese bubbles and the bottom is golden brown brown.
7. Serve. Slice the pizza and serve immediately.

Notes

About the cheese mix. We almost always use more than one cheese, and we go light on them. We rarely use regular grocery mozzarella because it is so bland. If we can’t find buffalo mozzarella, any fresh mozzarella or chevre will do, just drop it on top as chunks. Often we will use asiago instead of mozz since it has so much more flavor. It’s a different taste, but it’s a good taste.

About the oregano and basil. Fresh basil is essential but somehow we find dried oregano makes a more “authentic” taste. If we can’t get basil, we often use spinach. It’s a different taste, but it’s a good taste.

About the tomatoes. The reason we remove the seeds and jelly is because they are very watery and they can make the crust soggy. To do this, cut off the stem end, hold it cut end down over the trash can, and squeeze.

About the olives. If they are large, split them in half.

About the salt. Remember, kosher salt is half the concentration of table salt so if you use table salt, use half as much. Click here to read more about salt and how it works.

Options are unlimited. Slices of jalapeño are nice, as are capers, sun dried tomatoes, hot red pepper flakes, and, of course, Italian sausage, pepperoni, and anchovies.

Approximate Nutrition

Calories: 92kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 5gFat: 7gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 14mgSodium: 429mgPotassium: 97mgFiber: 1gSugar: 1gVitamin A: 442IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 124mgIron: 1mg

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