HBO's Big Love: Season 2 Finale Tonight

9 pm on HBO

The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA

I caught up with the two episodes of HBO's Big Love I missed while I was on vacation last night. Donna Fargo may have written the song "I'm the Happiest Girl in the Whole USA" and made it famous, but Rhonda Volmer (played by Daveigh Chase) owns it now, man. Brava, Daveigh!

You Watched the Sopranos Last Night

So you deserve to know what capicola is for chrissakes. Especially if you ain't Italian. Anyways, if you recall, in last night's episode, Tony gets a sammich at Satriale's which I believe contained mozzarell', vinegah peppehs, and capicola ham. Capicola comes from the head of a pig (the "capo"), so that particular order, well, wasn't no accident, people. It's symbolic of his tryin' to re-assert his head honcho status and shit, right? Anyways, Tony pronounced it "Gabbagool," as he would. Then he gets so bummed out after chattin' with that dude who tells him that somebody's out for his own capo, that he throws the sammich in the garbage after only too, tree bites, maybe. "Gawwbidge."

Capicola (from wikipedia):
Capicola is an Italian cold cut or salumi. The name is from "Coppa," Italian for cured meat (alternatively from capo—head), and "collo," the shoulder (and neck) of a pig. It is esteemed for its taste and is more expensive than most other salumi It is usually sliced thin for antipasto or sandwiches, such as Muffulettas and hoagies, as well as some Italian Pizzas.


[edit] Ingredients
The official ingredients listed in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's 2005 Food Standards and Labeling Policy Book are:

"Boneless pork shoulder butts which are cured and then cooked. The cool curing process may be dry curing, immersion curing, or pump curing. The cured product is coated with spices and paprika before cooking. This product shall always be labeled with "Cooked" as part of the product name. Water added is permitted."

[edit] Trivia
Capicola is seen frequently in the HBO television series The Sopranos, and is usually pronounced "gab-buh-GOOL" in the Italian-American dialect of its characters. Most famously, Tony Soprano suffers an anxiety attack which is induced directly by a package of capicola. His psychiatrist, Dr. Melfi, uses a similar Italian-American pronunciation, "Let's get back to the gab-buh-GOOL." Capicola is also seen in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, and Artie Lange's Beer League with a similar pronunciation.