The overall process for making the Pepperoni is nearly identical to that of the Soppressata, except that it does not need to be pressed.
Pepperoni (started 12/24/20)
- ~8-10 lbs Pork butts well trimmed of all soft fat and much of the hard fat
- Salt 2.5%
- Cure #2 0.25%
- Dextrose 0.2%
- White sugar 0.3%
- Cracked Black Pepper 0.3%
- Sweet Paprika 0.6%
- Fennel Seeds – cracked / crushed 0.3%
- Cayenne pepper – ground 0.15%
- Gochugaru – Korean red pepper flakes 0.15%
- B-LC-007 Starter culture 0.02%
- Water (for the starter culture) 1/4 cup
- Bactoferm 600 mold culture
Process as above for the Soppressata but there is no need to press. Smaller 32- 45mm or so casings would be desirable, but all I had left were 60 mm.
The first sampling at 4 weeks had hit the low end of the target weight loss (~35%) but were still a bit soft for my liking but made good pizza. This sausage is much leaner than commercially made sausage. There were NO puddles of grease on top of the pizza and it tasted very good.
Later, at 6 weeks (2/10/21) and 50% weight loss, the flavor and texture were MUCH improved for eating fresh. I can’t wait to try some on pizza!
Mark Bronkalla