PEPPERONI
[COLOR=“Blue”][SIZE=“4”][B]The name of this type of sausage is derived from the word “pepper”, indicating that pepper is used in its spicing. Pepperoni are often produced as an air-dried product. They can also be produced either as all-pork or all-beef products.
FORMULATION
Basic ingredients for 100 kg
50 kg pork trimmings
30 kg beef chucks, hearts, cheeks
20 kg pork jowl
Additional (nonmeat) ingredients
Addition of nonmeat proteins, such as whey or soy products to pepperoni mixture is sometimes practised.
Characteristic seasoning formulae per 1 kg
28.0 g nitrite salt for curing
0.5 g sodium or potassium nitrate
0.5 g chili
2.0 g allspice
1.5 g fenugreek
3.0 g ground pepper
4.5 g red pepper
1.5 g anise
10.0 g sugar
0.3 g peeled garlic
2.5 g dextrose
30.0 g nitrite salt for curing
1.2 g monosodium glutamate
4.0 g pepper
2.0 g red pepper
0.2 g chili
3.5 g dextrose
0.2 g garlic
Casings
Pig rounds: 28–32 and 35–44 mm in diameter
Processing and handling
Pork and beef are passed first through a 10–12 mm plate and then run through a 3 mm plate. The mixing and seasoning of meat is performed in a mixer for at least 5 minutes. The meat mixture may be then either cured in pans, 15 cm deep, for two days at a temperature of 2°C or immediately stuffed. After curing, the cured mass is remixed and stuffed into casings without delay and linked in pieces of 24–25 cm. The linked sausages are dried or smoked and dried. Drying is carried out according to consumer taste.
If the mixture is not cured in pans but stuffed directly into casings, the sausages are held for about 10 days at 3°C prior to placing them in a green room at 22–24°C with a relative humidity of 80 percent for 48 hours. Smoking is performed at 32–34°C for 2–3 days. The sausages are further dried at 14°C.
An alternative method, especially if starter culture is added, is to ferment stuffed pepperoni mixture for 24 hours at 35°C and dry it at 12–14°C for 4–5 weeks or until desired firmness is obtained.
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