Easy DIY Pepperoni

[johnec00]

My pepperoni recipe:

Lean beef - 46%
Pork butt - 32%
Back fat - 22%
Butcher-Packer Pepperoni Seasoning Mix - 4.5%
Cure #1 - 0.25%
Encapsulated citrus acid (ECA) - 0.6%
Water 5%

Cut meat into chunks to fit grinder
Thoroughly mix in all ingredients except ECA then refrigerate for a day
Partially freeze meat and fat then grind through 7mm (or ¼") plate
Mix in ECA and stuff into 1.5" fibrous casings
Optional, smoke for a couple of hours (The ones in the picture were, but I usually don't smoke)
Sous Vide at 145º for 4 hours
Hang in mini fridge (or any non-frost free fridge) for 3-4 days to dry a bit

Fool around with smoke and ECA until it's to your liking
Everything except the 0.25% cure #1 can be varied to your liking

As good as store bought and a lot more fun to make!

[radshop]

Thanks for this. I've never made pepperoni and was just working on a plan to do so. Your timing is perfect!

[Jerod Broussard]

I'm working on a store bought pack of pepperoni right now as a 2am snack with Saltine crackers. Always wanted to make my own.

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[Donw]

Those are good looking pepperonis. Nice distributed grind. Been meaning to make pepperoni for awhile and you have given me the push to go ahead and do it.

[RonB]

Thanx for this.

[HouseHomey]

That looks fantastic!

[JGo37]

THAT IS PRETTY DARNED ECCENTRIC. I am thinking the best reason to take this on IS to smoke it. To get the taste difference. Thanks for sharing - I have a bucket list of things I want to smoke to eat outside the norm and this is now 'in the bucket'.

[Bumby]

Awesome! Something else to try!

[Jerod Broussard]

Got my stuff ordered. I figure a little smoke in the pellee won't hurt before the vide.

johnec00 you use a tube stuffer to stuff? I have a dedicated stuffer.

[Rfuilrez]

I bought a meat grinder specifically because of this post. Weston #22 manual. It came with the stuff for stuffing sausage. It grinds real well. But the sausage stuffing is horrible. The screw doesn’t fit tight enough so if you’re not continually pushing meat in, it doesn’t move it forward. And, a lot slips past and wound up as a meat paste. Gonna buy a dedicated stuffer.

[EdF]

johnec00 - yep made that mistake, but only once. I'm big on spot use of the freezer when making sausage. Still your recommendation is the right one if someone wants to be serious about it! And even though lazy, I do tend to be serious.

Currently, our main impediment to sausage-making and other more ambitious food prep is "kitchen in transition".

[Jerod Broussard]

johnec00 thanks, I have I think a 15 pounder

[Rfuilrez]

johnec00 not sure if I did it right or not. I followed your recipe pretty much to the T. I didn’t smoke, just SV. When I pulled it out of the SC, a lot of the liquid and fat in the meat separated out to the ends and left the meat "floating" in the fibrous casing. Is this normal? It doesn’t appear that it will end up filling out the casing anymore like yours does.

I only just just pulled it out a little bit ago and haven’t let it dry or anything. It sure what to expect.

[johnec00]

Rfuilrez - I'm probably going over my head trying to comment about somebody else's experiences, but it sounds like you had significant fat melting. I think pork fat can melt at the 145º SV temperature if its not well "bound up" with the meat. This binding occurs during mixing and I mix thoroughly by hand for around 10 minutes. During this, the mince should become very sticky. Another issue is "fat smearing" that can happen if the meat is allowed to become too warm during any part of the process. I put the grinder and stuffer canister in the freezer before use and re-cool the meat/mince to near freezing between each step of the process. I can also mention a couple of other details that are not obvious in my OP.
- I've been making pepperoni and other cooked sausages for a number of years, but have only used the SV process a couple of times, so I'm no expert.
- I have been using protein lined fibrous casings.
- Because I like a helper during stuffing, and my helper is only available in the evening, I frequently stuff in the evening then hang in the fridge overnight before cooking. This has happened each time that I cooked using SV.

I have no idea if the stated "details" matter, but pass them along FWIW.

[johnec00]

Forgot one other detail, after cooking I place the sausages in an ice water bath to cool rapidly.

[Jerod Broussard]

johnec00 what temp and how long do you smoke? I was thinking about 225 for a couple hours, then head to SV bath. I know from making link sausage, two things: 1. The stickiness of the mixture tells you the proteins are being extracted; 2. Soaking in cold water immediately after cooking prevents the casings from shriveling up

[johnec00]

Jerod Broussard - I smoked at about 170º for one 6 inch amazin tube with hickory. I guess that's about +-2 hours. Reason for the lower temperature is the original pepperoni recipe I started with some years ago . . Here . . The rig I use for smoking sausage can't quite get up to the Poli's recommended 185-190. I'd be interested in how yours turn out at 225º. You might think about pulling out of the smoker before the IT gets above whatever temperature you decide to use for the SV though.

[Jerod Broussard]

Ok. Was leaning towards a 151 SV temp.

[johnec00]

Another pit member pointed out that the recipe I originally posted had way too much encapsulated citrus acid (ECA). I entered 6% when it should have been 0.6%. It's been edited to fix the error, but I apologize to any other user that tried to follow my original recipe.