How to Make Homemade Pepperoni - Recipe
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dtabor This is normal, there are two types of pepperoni dry cured and cooked. The dry fermented pepperoni will be a hard pepperoni where as the cooked will have a consistency closer to summer sausage. We just recently made a batch of Fermented and Dry Cured here and will eventually be releasing a video on the process and the products needed to do it.
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dazza I believe we used Encapsulated Citric Acid (can’t 100% remember but the write up indicates we made it more of an option) so we went right to smoker. However, if you don’t use that or some other cure accelerator you need to hold it overnight to let the cure work in the meat.
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I am asking the experts here before I try to make my own pepperoni. Is there some additive that can used in conjunction with the Walton’s recipe to achieve the orang/reddish color of store-bought pepperoni, without altering the taste of the recipe? I know sure cure will lend some pinkish/red…but I also intend to use encapsulated citric acid for the bite, thus it will hit the smoker immediately. When using ECA and not holding overnight, does the sure cure still give the meat the reddish tint? In terms of the deeper color, I am afraid of just dumping in extra paprika for fear of ruining the product. Advice? Thanks for any suggestions!
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JerL First, the orange color you’re referring to is more based on oils they use than anything else. They are additives to allow them to look like old world pepperoni while using modern techniques. Sorry, that’s all the info I have on that, I don’t know what they are or where they can be procured. However, letting it bloom (hold at room temp after smoking and ice bath) for a few hours is going to really improve your color more than any other additive.
Holding meat with ECA can be tricky, if you rupture too much of it during the mixing you are then giving that acid 12 hours to work in the meat and destroy the bonds in your meat. Paprika absolutely could help though!
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JerL I have spent a LOT of time trying to get that same appearance you are talking about. I make better Pepperoni now than I did back when we released this video but I haven’t succeeded in getting that appearance, so now I just enjoy the taste!
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Well, taste is obviously the most important so I am happy to go for that and not have to worry about trying to make the color “right.” Can I ask you one more sorta related question? I still struggle with the ECA and pink salt directions. I know all about if you use ECA don’t hold overnight so the acid doesn’t release too early, etc. But, can the pink salt be mixed in with the spices and mixed into the meat, then hold the meat overnight and the next a.m. add in the ECA and onto the smoker?
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JerL Yes you can do that but there are some dangers with it and that is the meat setting up before you mix in the ECA. Some people do exactly what you are talking about often if not most of the time BUT if something goes wrong and you mix a little too much and get the proteins really extracted then you might be in trouble. I assume you are asking about this from a time standpoint? Like, get home from work, grind and mix, and then don’t have time to smoke? If possible I’d recommend all at once but we all do what we need to do. I’d recommend you stop well short of protein extraction and then mix more and then add the ECA to sort of loosen everything up. Even better would be ground the first day, mix and stuff the 2nd though.
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Well, taste is obviously the most important so I am happy to go for that and not have to worry about trying to make the color “right.” Can I ask you one more sorta related question? I still struggle with the ECA and pink salt directions. I know all about if you use ECA don’t hold overnight so the acid doesn’t release too early, etc. But, can the pink salt be mixed in with the spices and mixed into the meat, then hold the meat overnight and the next a.m. add in the ECA and onto the smoker?
JerL I agree with Jonathon when I had limited time I would grind and got everything ready for the next day. Making fresh sausage isn’t to much of a big deal, but I would still need to loosen things up to ease stuffing. If I didn’t use an accelerator I would stuff and hang overnight then finishing the next day. Making a cured sausage things get a little more tricky with protein extraction, cure, cure accellerators, etc…
If I needed to go that route I would grind, mix in my seasonings and let sit overnight, the next day add the cure, water as needed, mix to protein extraction, add accelerator, stuff, smoke, cook and enjoy. -
Okay…last rookie question about pepperoni. I made a batch this weekend. I would categorize it as coming out so-so. I followed the recipe to the letter (pork was the coarser grind) except for the smoking part and herein lies my question. It was super cold outside yesterday where I live. I stuffed the casing and hung them in my smoker - it’s a Big Chief electric that only gets to 165 degrees on warm days - so it was never going to get to temp. I let it smoke with apple wood for about 1.5 hrs and finished them on racks in my oven set at 175 degrees and pulled them at 160. Did the proper cooling and wait time before sampling. Taste was pretty good - texture more like summer sausage which I knew it would be. My issue is the lack of particle definition between fat and meat - there was almost none. It looked nothing like the pepperoni picture on Meatgistics showing nice pieces of fat. Going back to the whole process - the only thing done differently was the smoking. The Big Chief isn’t adjustable so the “smoke at 120 for an hour…140 for an hour”…etc. isn’t an option. I think the links were at about 125 degrees after smoking and they went right into the oven at 175. So, is that perhaps the reason for lack of particle definition…that I didn’t stair-step up the temps? What is the purpose of increasing the temps in a graduated fashion?
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JerL Your issue there isn’t going to be your smoke schedule but how you grind. If you want nice particle definition you should grind your lean meat twice, 1st through a 3/8 and then through a 1/8" plate and your fat either once or twice through a 3/8 plate depending on how big you want the particles. Now, when you have large clumps of fat like that in your sausage some of it is going to render almost no matter how slowly you cook it, so just be aware of that. I have done it numerous times and I have always been pleased with the results!
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