Pepperoni
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Pepperoni is an American variety of spicy salami made from cured pork and beef seasoned with paprika and chili peppers.
Before cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red. Sliced pepperoni is one of the most popular pizza toppings in American pizzerias.
Traditionally made pepperonis curl into "cups" in the pizza oven's intense heat; commercialization of the production of pepperoni created slices that would lie flat on the pizza. The curled "cup and char" style of pepperoni remained popular in pockets of the Midwest.
Etymology
The term pepperoni is a borrowing of peperoni, the plural of peperone, the Italian word for bell pepper. The first use of pepperoni to refer to a sausage dates to 1916 at the latest.<ref>Template:Cite news Template:Open access</ref> In Italian, the word peperoncino refers to a chili pepper.Template:Citation needed
History
The first printed mention of Pepperoni was in 1888 in the Times of London.<ref name=":0" />{{ safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst||date=__DATE__ |$B= Template:Fix }} In 1919 it was mentioned as being available in New York City.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> It is a cured dry sausage, with similarities to the spicy salamis of southern Italy on which it is based, such as salsiccia or soppressata.Template:Citation needed The main differences are that pepperoni is less spicy, has a finer grain (akin to spiceless salami from Milan), is usually softer in texture, and is usually produced with the use of an artificial casing.Template:Citation needed
Production
Template:Infobox nutritional value Pepperoni is made from pork or from a mixture of pork and beef.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref> Turkey meat is also commonly used as a substitute, but the use of poultry in pepperoni must be appropriately labeled in the United States.<ref>Food Standards and Labelling Policy Book, USDA, pp. 133–134.</ref> It is typically seasoned with paprika or other chili pepper.<ref name="Moskin-2011">Template:Cite news</ref>
Prior to cooking, pepperoni is characteristically soft, slightly smoky, and bright red.<ref name="Moskin-2011" /> Curing with nitrates or nitrites (usually used in modern curing agents to protect against botulism and other forms of microbiological decay) also contributes to pepperoni's reddish color, by reacting with heme in the myoglobin of the proteinaceous components of the meat.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Serving
Template:Pizza Sliced pepperoni is one of the most popular pizza toppings in American pizzerias.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> According to Convenience Store Decisions, in 2009 Americans consumed Template:Convert of pepperoni annually, on 36% of all pizzas produced nationally.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>
Pepperoni is also used as the filling of the pepperoni roll, a popular regional snack in West Virginia and neighboring areas.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In the Canadian province of Nova Scotia, deep fried pepperoni served on its own (usually with a honey mustard dipping sauce) is common pub food.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Cup and char
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Pepperoni has a tendency to curl up from the edges in the heat of a pizza oven; historically, all pepperonis showed at least some of this tendency to curl in the oven.<ref name="Lukas-2019">Template:Cite news</ref>
As commercial suppliers became the main suppliers to pizza shops, they developed a sausage stuffing technique that resulted in a pepperoni that does not curl.<ref name="López-Alt-2012">Template:Cite web</ref> An additional benefit of non-curling pepperoni is that it eliminates the small deposits of hot grease that formed in the cupped pepperoni, therefore also eliminating any possible liability for customers who burn themselves on it.<ref name="López-Alt-2012" />
The original style became known as "cup and char" pepperoni and remains popular in parts of the Midwest and Great Lakes areas, particularly around Cleveland, Ohio, and Buffalo, New York, and regained popularity in other areas in the 2010s.<ref name="Lukas-2019" /><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite web</ref> It is more expensive to produce.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
See also
References
Further reading
- Smith, Andrew F. (2007) "Pepperoni". The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink. p. 447. Template:ISBN.
- Palumbo, S. A., et al. (January 1976). "Microbiology and Technology of the Pepperoni Process" (abstract). Journal of Food Science. Volume 41, Issue 1. pages 12–17. Template:Subscription required
- Palumbo, S. A. et al. (July 1977). "Kinetics of Pepperoni Drying" (abstract). Journal of Food Science. Volume 42, Issue 4. pages 1029–1033. Template:Subscription required