Pepperoni Sticks - Italian Style
Submitted by tinkerky
Homemade Italian pepperoni sticks smoked and dried from scratch with beef, anise, allspice, and hot chili peppers. A serious charcuterie project for sausage makers.
YIELD
6 servingsPREP
12 hrsCOOK
READY
4 daysThis is not a weeknight project. Homemade pepperoni sticks from scratch require grinding, stuffing, smoking, and days of controlled drying to produce that firm, spicy, anise-scented charcuterie you know from Italian delis and pizza shops. The recipe is scaled for 100 pounds of beef (cow meat, cheeks, flanks), but the spice ratios and technique work the same if you scale down.
The flavor profile is built on ground anise seed, allspice, hot chili peppers, sugar, and curing salt. That anise is the signature note that separates real Italian pepperoni from generic salami. It’s assertive, and it intensifies during the drying phase as moisture leaves and flavors concentrate.
Smoking happens in two stages. The first round at low temperature dries the casings and starts building smoke flavor. The overnight cold smoke after initial cooling is what gives the sticks that deep, penetrating smokiness all the way through.
Pro Tips
- Keep the meat ice cold during grinding and stuffing. Warm meat smears instead of grinding cleanly, and you’ll get a greasy, crumbly texture instead of the firm bind pepperoni needs.
- Use lamb casings, not hog casings. The narrow 24-26mm diameter is essential for proper drying. Thicker casings dry unevenly and risk spoilage in the center.
- Monitor humidity during drying. 70% relative humidity at 60-65°F (15-18°C) is the target. Too dry and the outside hardens before the center dries (case hardening). Too humid and mold becomes a problem.
- The finished product should weigh about half of what it did going in. That 50-55% yield means most of the water is gone, giving you concentrated flavor and shelf stability.
Variations
- Add fennel seed alongside the anise for a more complex, slightly sweeter spice profile.
- Use a pork and beef blend instead of all beef for a fattier, more traditional texture. If using pork, follow the higher smoking temperature noted in the directions.
- Skip the smokehouse and air-dry only for an unsmoked style closer to a dry-cured Italian soppressata.
Ingredients
Directions
Ingredients for 100 lbs.
Meat in Pounds Boneless cowmeat 50 pounds, Beef cheeks 20 pounds, Beef flanks or plates 30 pounds.
Grinding and Mixing: Grind all the meats thru a 3/16” grinder plate.
Remove to mixer and add all the ingredients mixing evenly, regrind thru ⅛” grinder plate.
The meat is now ready for stuffing. Stuffing:
It is essential that the meat is well chilled to avoid smearing the meat.
The meat should be stuffed into 24 to 26 mm lamb casings.
Smoking: Preheat smokehouse to 125 degrees F and place pepperoni in smoker.
Have dampers wide open without smoke until the casings are dry.
Close the dampers ¼ open and apply a heavy smoke raising the temperature to 140 degrees.
Hold this temperature until the internal temperature of the product reaches 130 degrees.
When using PORK, raise the temperature to 150 degrees and hold until the internal temperatue reaches 138 degrees.
Remove from the smokehouse and chill with cold tap water until the internal temperature is reduced 105 degrees to 110 degrees.
Return to the cold smokehouse at 110 degrees and apply a heavy smoke for at least 12 hours or overnight.
Leave dampers ¼ open.
Drying: The drying room should be kept at 60 degrees to 65 degrees and a relative humidity of 70%.
The drying time will vary because of the amount of moisture that has been removed from the sausage during smoking.
It usually takes 3 to 4 days to make a satisfactory pepperoni.
When fully dry, the pepperoni will yield from 50 to 55% of the original product.
Alternate Drying Method without smoking: Hold pepperoni at 70 degrees for about 2 days maintaining a relative humidity of about 75%.
The product should be kept in a cooler for at least 20 days from the time the cure had been added to the pepperoni.
Be sure that casins used are not over 1-3/8” in diameter as this formula applies only to casings below this range.
From: Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing Shared by: Pat Stockett
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