Pepperoni Tips

[Brian Reiber]

Hello,
I'm looking for some help with making pepperoni. I've been smoking salmon for years and have that dialed in but today was our first foray into pepperoni. I picked up a 1/2hp Pro Series DC grinder from Cabela's last week. It's a nice machine and it works well but I wish I had bucked up for something a little more heavy duty. This will be good for a few years though I'm sure. I did not buy a stand alone sausage stuffer and I realize now that was a mistake. The grinder has the stuffing attachments but I think a stand alone unit would work a lot better. I made a batch of salmon pepperoni and another of duck pepperoni today. They are sitting in the fridge overnight and will go in the smoker tomorrow. I used the high mountain original kit as I wanted to keep the first batch simple. I cut the cure #2 back to about 2/3 as I find it makes that batch way to salty otherwise. Ultimately I'd like to start making my own recipes as the kits aren't cheap. So, here are my questions:

1. Does anyone have a fool proof base recipe for pepperoni? I will likely customize it to my taste later but I'm looking for a good base to work from. IronNoggin and Wolf...........I think you guys have years of experience in this game.
2. What size casing do you use for pepperoni sticks or snack sticks as some call them? I'm using a 21mm it looks fine but maybe a bit thick. I'm not sure if I'm over stuffing or if I should use a smaller casing.
3. What do other's do to finish the link off? With the batch of duck we twisted the casing every 8" or so to create a portion. With the salmon I ran it long and then just made a twist at the 1/3 points. I even considered leaving the whole thing long and then just cutting it into portions after it is smoked. I found if you aren't careful the twists keep unravelling on me. Maybe I'm doing something wrong.
4. What is the preferred source of extra fat? I added some ground pork and a bit of fatty bacon ends at a about 15% of the total batch. It seems good but I wonder if I should have just gone to a butcher and bought some fat.

I can't wait to smoke this tomorrow and try it.

Thanks for any help or suggestions,
Brian

1. 

 

[codfather]

Brian, here is the place I use for all my stuff.

https://www.stuffers.com/

 

[Brian Reiber]

Brian, here is the place I use for all my stuff.

https://www.stuffers.com/

Thanks Mike and thanks for the samples. Delicious stuff.

 

[wolf]

The cure isnt what creates saltness , salt is!!!! those kits are packed full of salt hence why i do my own spicing .
nitrates are there to stop food born pathogens to grow and it should be prague number 1 not 2 as number 2 is used for dry cured meats and slow over months, DO NOT reduce that amount as its there for a reason its only .5 of a once per 10 lbs last thing you want is to get food born illness as a smoker is a huge breeding ground if not careful low temp, humidity ,and heat make sure the internal temp gets reached of 155 F to ensure you do kill any pathogens dont go past the 163 mark as the fat will emulsify and you will end up with sawdust...

for pepperoni i use 26 mm and i do about 22 inchs long as i want to fill the smoker shorter links take up too much space then i cut in half to vac seal. in a 10 lb batch i only use 2 cups of water as you want it a nice gooey mess but not watery should look like this all nice a gooey yes its from my huge hobart but when i did it by hand would take about 5 mins of mixing to get that constancy and it will be sticky and stick to your fingers...if its unraveling you have too much water and not stuffed enough .. you will get it trust me ive made about 3000 lbs of the stuff and ive found all meat is different when it comes to moisture content and texture etc ,

im lucky as i get farm pork and most dont want the fat so im stocked up trying to find pork fat is like hens teeth

 

[Captain PartyMarty]

Hey Wolf what kind of casing do you use? I have been using the collagen stuff from stuffers and its terrible. Texture wise it feel very thick and chewy, really disappointed with the Stuffers casing

 

[Brian Reiber]

Thanks Wolf
The Prague #1 definitely contributes to the saltiness. It is 94% salt. The kit pepperoni tasted fantastic with the cure reduction and nobody got botulism which is the bacteria you are referring to.

However, I'm not a fan of kit anything. I was really hoping that someone would offer up a basic recipe so I could try it out and then tweak to my own satisfaction I will come up with something on my own. I dont think its rocket science. I will definitely stick to the normal cure ratios with that. I will still reduce the ratios to finish the kit that I have.

I'm using the 21 mm smoked collagen casings from Cabelas and they were great. I understand that some people dont like them.

I hand mixes my two batches and damn that is cold on the hands. I'm looking at mixers now.

 

[Brian Reiber]

Wolf,
Take a look at my pepperoni compared to yours. Yours look like pepperoni. See how mine look smooth like a hot dog or a sausage. Am I over stuffing them?

 

[wolf]

The Prague #1 definitely contributes to the saltiness. It is 94% salt. The kit pepperoni tasted fantastic with the cure reduction and nobody got botulism which is the bacteria you are referring to.

At .5 of a ounce (tbsp) per 10 lbs of meat your not going to taste it and trust me you cannot taste botulism its the silent killer do what you want but the cure is there for a reason. When I was taught way back over 30 years ago by my German chef we watched videos and read a whole ton on all that stuff. please do not deviate from what you do with nitrate if you doing home based recipes

I use devro or nippi brand collegian casings yes it takes a bit to getting used to using . I have mine on heat in smoker for about 3 to 5 hours depending on humidity and texture on meat then smoke for a hour or so then you can either put heat back on smoker to get pepperoni up to the 155 mark or do what I do into my convection oven to finish it off low and low my oven is et to 165 any higher it wrecks it .
Every batch is a guessing game really honey garlic is super moist and sugar content , the triple H is the easiest to make it has 3 types of peppers in it cayanne ,habanero,and ghost pepper. All my recipes ive custom made (no im not sharing) I will tell you that my recipes I use what the call promine or Arcon (its a soy powder) stuffers has it. I only use 2 cups of moisture (water ) per 10 lbs so with my honey garlic thats 1 cup of honey to 1 cup of water . and yes use ICE COLD water and yes your hand get cold suck it up I did it for many many many years till i spoiled my self with a 30 gt stand up hobart mixer LOL LOL

for recipes there really is only 1 good source ive ever found along with the MANY books I have I suggest you do some reading on it as the reasoning behind chemicals for preserving is intense and a bit confusing but you will understand the reason why (just trying to help u)

http://lpoli.50webs.com/AlphabeticalList.htm

this guy is guru better put a few hours aside and start reading as there is so much info on there and do what i did get a notepad and write down the recipes you find interesting cause finding them again is well impossible as there is so many good ones there ,really read about nitrates and how it can kill you..

Good luck wolf

 

[wolf]

Ill add if your in the vic /sooke area your more then welcome to come see what i do and ill show you how etc . im busy as all hell cutting right now but in December ill be making everything

 

[getbent]

At .5 of a ounce (tbsp) per 10 lbs of meat your not going to taste it and trust me you cannot taste botulism its the silent killer do what you want but the cure is there for a reason. When I was taught way back over 30 years ago by my German chef we watched videos and read a whole ton on all that stuff. please do not deviate from what you do with nitrate if you doing home based recipes

I use devro or nippi brand collegian casings yes it takes a bit to getting used to using . I have mine on heat in smoker for about 3 to 5 hours depending on humidity and texture on meat then smoke for a hour or so then you can either put heat back on smoker to get pepperoni up to the 155 mark or do what I do into my convection oven to finish it off low and low my oven is et to 165 any higher it wrecks it .
Every batch is a guessing game really honey garlic is super moist and sugar content , the triple H is the easiest to make it has 3 types of peppers in it cayanne ,habanero,and ghost pepper. All my recipes ive custom made (no im not sharing) I will tell you that my recipes I use what the call promine or Arcon (its a soy powder) stuffers has it. I only use 2 cups of moisture (water ) per 10 lbs so with my honey garlic thats 1 cup of honey to 1 cup of water . and yes use ICE COLD water and yes your hand get cold suck it up I did it for many many many years till i spoiled my self with a 30 gt stand up hobart mixer LOL LOL

for recipes there really is only 1 good source ive ever found along with the MANY books I have I suggest you do some reading on it as the reasoning behind chemicals for preserving is intense and a bit confusing but you will understand the reason why (just trying to help u)

http://lpoli.50webs.com/AlphabeticalList.htm

this guy is guru better put a few hours aside and start reading as there is so much info on there and do what i did get a notepad and write down the recipes you find interesting cause finding them again is well impossible as there is so many good ones there ,really read about nitrates and how it can kill you..

Good luck wolf

I agree 100%...haven't made the amount over the years that Wolf has but the % of cure required SHOULD NOT be changed for any reason and use the right one...#1 is for some fresh and smoked sausage and #2 is for cured meats.
The amount is so small in regards to salt it is basically negligible.