Making your own pepperoni

[old_alex]

A friend and I decided to make pepperoni, this is closer to its Italian roots than American, 10 days curing, 3 -4 weeks to go.

[kbrede]

Very cool! I was researching this the other day. Keep us updated.

[fitzgen]

Nice! They look great and your chamber looks good as well!


Given the timeline, it sounds like you’re using pp #2 and did a slow ferment rather than a fast ferment? What pH did you ferment to? My understanding is that a slow ferment will generally have higher pH than a fast ferment and pepperoni is usually fairly acidic. Interested to hear how this turns out.


What culture did you use? I’ve got some flavor of Italy that I plan on trying a with some pepperoni.


Do you plan on smoking it when it is done curing?


You might be interested in this thread too if you haven’t seen it: [size=78%]https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=73435.msg701630[/size]

[old_alex]

These are dry cured I do not do fermented sausage, the old way did not use fermentation (salt cured 2.3% and I use pink #2). I make soppressata (Calabrian), finocchio (Roman fennel with red wine), Coppa (capicola) Bresaola (beef with red wine) none use any cultures. I learned in Westerly RI from the Calabrians there and the commercial makers there. Fermenting, while you get a better yield the added tang is not what I want, I dry mine to 41-44% loss for sausage and 36-38 for whole muscle. When fermenting you can eat it at about 30% weight loss It is a matter of taste. In Westerly it is a household thing but the science is a little more detailed than they let on. I did tons of research and even wrote a book about it. I may be adding chapters this spring and include this depending on the results.  https://www.amazon.com/dp/1691680990/?tag=pmak-20

[Travinos_Pizza]

I fear that I eventually will do this…