Pepperoni Pizza: Why We Can’t Get Enough of It
Pepperoni yes please! Although pepperoni pizza may not immediately evoke the most refined culinary associations, I adore this spicy sausage, which on a piping-hot pizza releases the perfect little streams of herby fat right between the melted cheese…
There seems to be a little battle raging between the two most frequently ordered pizzas in the Netherlands, with margherita and pepperoni alternating between first and second place. At Domino’s Pizza, it ranks number one, but of course there are more pizza makers in the country. And did you know this about this spicy type of sausage?
Immigrant sausage
When a large wave of Italian immigrants settled in America at the beginning of the twentieth century, they looked for ways to recreate many of their beloved foods using alternative products that were more readily available in their new surroundings. Italian charcuterie is renowned (and now widely available in other countries), but back then it was of course difficult to find suitable ingredients. With a few adjustments to the salami recipe from The Old Country, Italian Americans eventually created a sausage whose popularity would endure trends and the test of time: pepperoni.
The difference from salami
One of the biggest differences from Italian salami is that salami is usually made with pork alone, while pepperoni is a blend of pork and beef. Pepperoni is also given its color with paprika, contains chili pepper for that characteristic heat, and, unlike traditional salami, contains no wine. The meat is ground a little more finely, resulting in a slightly firmer, sturdier sausage whose slices can hold their shape in a blazing-hot pizza oven.
Grease chalice
Speaking of the shape of the slices: ordinarily, they remain beautifully flat while the pizza bakes. But what is a highly Instagrammable trend nowadays that is said to have originated in Buffalo, New York? The ‘grease chalice’, or a little cup filled with fat. Another name for it is cup and char, which is a fairly precise description that the Netherlands Nutrition Centre would probably rather not read: the edges of each pepperoni slice sear and curl upward in the heat, forming a little ‘cup’ in which the released fat collects. And for some pizza lovers, this is a kind of holy grail… All made possible by a natural collagen casing around the sausage, which is not removed as usual but left on so it curls up, and which also contains some sugar to encourage the edges to sear. We really should have included a question about this in our FavorFlav Pizza Quiz !
So, are you salivating by now too? I think I know what my next pizza order will be… pepperoni for the win!
Also read:
- This tip will make your delivered pizza even better!
- Salami vs. cervelaat
- Horror films combined with piping-hot pizzas are hilarious
Source: Chowhound
