Pepperoni in the United States is a raw sausage made of beef and pork, or pork only. Products made of 100% beef must be called beef pepperoni. Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper. Prior to cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red.
Pepperoni is a dried, cured, spiced sausage made from beef and pork. As with all sausages, making pepperoni requires using the right cuts of meat to obtain the correct meat-to-fat ratio. For pepperoni, that ratio is around 70 percent lean to 30 percent fat. Additionally, achieving the desired texture—not too coarse and not too fine—means that the meat and fat need to be ground to a granulation of about 2 to 3 millimeters.
The ground meat is then combined with seasonings, including salt, sugar, and spices such as paprika and garlic powder. This mixture is inoculated with a culture of lactobacillus bacteria, which produce lactic acid, a crucial ingredient in curing the sausage as well as in giving the pepperoni its characteristic tangy flavor. Lactobacillus is the same bacteria used for making yogurt and cheese, and it's also produced by the wild yeasts in a sourdough starter.
Pepperoni is a dried, cured, spiced sausage made from beef and pork. As with all sausages, making pepperoni requires using the right cuts of meat to obtain the correct meat-to-fat ratio. For pepperoni, that ratio is around 70 percent lean to 30 percent fat. Additionally, achieving the desired texture—not too coarse and not too fine—means that the meat and fat need to be ground to a granulation of about 2 to 3 millimeters.
The ground meat is then combined with seasonings, including salt, sugar, and spices such as paprika and garlic powder. This mixture is inoculated with a culture of lactobacillus bacteria, which produce lactic acid, a crucial ingredient in curing the sausage as well as in giving the pepperoni its characteristic tangy flavor. Lactobacillus is the same bacteria used for making yogurt and cheese, and it's also produced by the wild yeasts in a sourdough starter.
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