Hi Fred,
You wrote:
(One of these days I will try pepperoni, just don't have the equipment to "dry cure" or knowledge yet to get into a science like this)
This is a post on
"Project P" from last year. It uses T-SPX culture and drops the acidity to proper levels in
2 days! No waiting, my friend... and plenty of tang for pepperoni. Here is a link to the project:
http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5113
Sausage makers... if you have had experience making fresh sausage, cured-cooked-smoked sausage, and perhaps a few others... and you feel that you have the skills to venture into making "fermented sausages", then join us in this project. Get a real jump on the project by reading, "The Art Of Making Fermented Sausages"... by Stan and Adam Marianski. It's available from Bookmagic.com.
T-SPX is so quick, if you live in a moist area, you may not even need a curing chamber. However, to build your own "curing chamber", read the material in "Project A" (salami). It's in the Microbiology Of Meats forum. The specifications for the curing chamber are exactly the same for this project.
- Project "P" Pepperoni -
Dry-Cured Italian Pepperoni (Using T-SPX)
In a dry-cured sausage like pepperoni, we are going to purposely spoil the meat... but it will be controlled spoilage - (fermentation). In the meat, we`ll use lactobacillus and pediococcus, feeding on sugar (carbohydrates) to produce lactic acid. This beneficial bacteria competes for nutrition with undesirable spoilage bacteria and pathogenic bacteria of several varieties. Of greatest concern are staphylococcus aureus, clostridium botulinum, listeria monocytogenes, escherichia coli, salmonella, clostridium perfringens, campylobacter jejuni, shigella, and bacillus cereus.
The acidity produced by the lactobacilli renders the meat safe to consume as it increases to a point between 3.8 and 5.5 on the pH scale. Bacteria simply do not do well in an acidic environment. As the lactobacilli increases the acidity in meat, the pH drops to a point and becomes safe to consume.
The acidity of a sausage is determined by the amount and the type of sugar placed into the recipe. The speed of the fermentation period is increased as the temperature is increased inside the chamber. It ceases when no more lactic acid is produced. This happens when there is no more sugar available to the lactobacilli. It will also stop when the temperature is lowered below 53°; F., or heated beyond 120°; F. Fermentation will also discontinue when there is no longer free water available to the lactobacilli. In other words, if the sausage dries too quickly due to either (a.) low humidity, or (b.) too fast an air speed, while in our fermentation chambers, fermentation will cease. We must also remember to use a specific amount of nitrate/nitrite to combat any possible clostridium botulinum. The toxins of the spores are deadly. Measure carefully.
While the lactobacilli go to work increasing the acidity, we must contain the growth of the pathogenic and spoilage bacteria somehow. The most convenient method is to simply lock up or "bind" their water supply. This is accomplished by the use of salt, and a prescribed amount will bind their reserve. As the "water activity" drops to a point below Aw 0.86, a meat product has dried enough to consume safely.
You may be wondering why the salt doesn`t affect the lactic acid-producing bacteria also. Well, it does... but not to the same degree. Lactobacilli and pediococci are somewhat resistant to salt. Not only that, but they perform rather well having a limited water supply.
Summing it all up, we allow the sausage to ferment as lactic acid microorganisms go to work producing acid. This is where we get the "tang". When it reaches proper acidity, it become safe to consume. While this is happening, we also start drying the sausage to achieve a point below .86 Aw. All this takes time... time in which pathogenic and spoilage bacteria may also grow in number by competing with the food supply. As we "bind" their supply of water, they start to die and the beneficial bacteria eventually take over. So... in essence, there are TWO things going for us. Acidity and dehydration. Both work! They`ve worked for thousands of years. But they MUST be controlled.
Let`s make a traditional air-dried, fermented, pepperoni made from 70% pork and 30% beef. Pepperoni is lean and Stan Marianski`s recipe contains less than 30% fat. This is a "slow" fermenting sausage with more subtle flavor and less "tang" than a quickly fermented pepperoni. Italian pepperoni is not smoked.
Stan Marianski`s Dry-Cured Italian Pepperoni
(11 lb. formula)
140 g. salt
12 g. cure #2 (do not use cure #1 in this recipe)
10 g. powdered dextrose
30 g. sugar
15 g. black pepper (freshly ground - coarse)
30 g. paprika
13 g. anise seeds (cracked) OR 15 g. fennel seeds
15 g. cayenne pepper
0.6 g. (1/4 tspn.) Bactoferm™ T-SPX culture
----- Bactoferm Mold-600
Directions:
Preliminary steps: Keep a logbook! Record everything you do. Write down dates, times, measurements, etc. Believe me, you`ll refer back to it several times during the process. Save your notes for the next batch. They will be invaluable. Don`t ignore this step. It only takes a few seconds to write down the information you may really need later on.
Thaw the Bactoferm™ T-SPX and Mold-600 following the directions on the package. Measure .6 gram (1/4 teaspoon) of the culture and mix it with a little warm, distilled water. Follow the directions and allow 12 hours for the "lag phase" - the time necessary for the penicillium nalgiovense bacteria to "wake up".
Follow these steps carefully. There is no room for compromise. Stick to the recipe!
1. Grind the pork and beef through a 3/16" plate.
2. Mix all ingredients with the meat.
3. Stuff the meat firmly into beef middles or 2" fibrous casing.
4. Weigh the sausages (green weight) and record it in a notebook. Spray or dip sausages using Bactoferm Mold-600
5. Ferment the sausage at 68°; F. in 90% humidity for 72 hours.
5. Dry the sausage at 55°; F. in 85% humidity, decreasing to 80% humidity in 6 to 8 weeks.
6. Weigh the sausages after the 6th week. A yield of 70% should be achieved with a shrink of 30%.
7. Store pepperoni at 50-59°; F. in 75% humidity.
OK pepperoni lovers... start grindin` and stuffin`! And for goodness sakes, WASH YOUR HANDS!
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
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and actually Danish industrially produced Pepperoni is usually quite tangy too (...too much so for my taste) but that is also an effect of the fast production methods employing fast starter cultures which enables sliceability even if loss of moisture has been minimal (a good way to keep price down 
) So an opened package of Danish pepperoni can turn into a mouldy affair in a matter of days if left outside of the frigde.
