Pepperoni (Slow fermented, dry sausage)
Traditional pepperoni is a dry sausage, smoked, air dried, sometimes cooked. Pepperoni can be made from beef, pork or a combination such as 30% beef and 70% pork. Pepperoni is a lean sausage with fat content < 30%. Cheaper, fast-fermented (semi-dry) and cooked types end up as toppings to pizzas worldwide to give flavor. Traditionally made Italian pepperoni was not smoked.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| pork | 700 g | 1.54 lb. |
| beef | 300 g | 0.66 lb. |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| salt | 28 g | 5 tsp. |
| Cure #2 | 2.5 g | ½ tsp. |
| dextrose (glucose), 0.2% | 2.0 g | ⅓ tsp. |
| sugar | 3.0 g | ⅓ tsp. |
| black pepper | 3.0 g | 1½ tsp. |
| paprika | 6.0 g | 3 tsp. |
| anise seeds, cracked, (or fennel seeds) | 2.5 g | 2 tsp. |
| cayenne pepper | 2.0 g | 1 tsp. |
| T-SPX culture | 0.12 g | use scale |
Instructions
- Grind pork and beef through 3/16” plate (5 mm).
- Mix all ingredients with meat.
- Stuff firmly into beef middles or 2” fibrous casings.
- Ferment at 20º C (68º F) for 72 hours, 90-85% humidity.
- Optional step: cold smoke for 8 hours (< 22º C, 72º F).
- Dry at 16 -12º C (60-54º F), 85-80% humidity. In about 6-8 weeks a shrink of 30% should be achieved.
- Store sausages at 10-15º C (50-59º F), < 75% humidity.
Notes
Original Italian pepperoni is not smoked.
