What's the deal with pepperoni?

Thanks for the education. I come from three generations of German butchers and sausage makers and we make our own old family recipes. I didn't realize until just now that I actually don't pay attention to the displays of meat in the big retail chain stores, we just make our own or go to local small butcher shops and buy traditional German or Ukrainian types of sausage. So now I know what pepperettes are. Might have to shoot a bear in spring...
 
Longwalker said:
Thanks for the education. I come from three generations of German butchers and sausage makers and we make our own old family recipes. I didn't realize until just now that I actually don't pay attention to the displays of meat in the big retail chain stores, we just make our own or go to local small butcher shops and buy traditional German or Ukrainian types of sausage. So now I know what pepperettes are. Might have to shoot a bear in spring...
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South of the boarder the call them snack sticks.

Rytek Kutas as calls them sausage sticks
 
The Outsider said:
Some hunters don't like the taste of wild meat for some reason, so they make it into sausage.

I love the taste of wild meat, but then I also like sausage, so if I shoot lots of meat, I'll make a little into sausage, sometimes Pepperoni,
but more often smokies!
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Myself as well. Guys I know grind the whole carcass into sausage, backstop, tenderloins hinds and all. I usually use shoulder meat to make a recipe of Garlic sausage which is about 30 pounds.
 
I never understood people who turn an entire harvest into peps. I mean a couple packs is okay or else you get sick of them. Seems that the majority of people I know in southern ontario love them but the more north I go the less popular they are.
 
To each their own. I have a buddy that grinds his entire deer and makes chilli and pasta sauce exclusively. His family doesn’t care for game meat and he likes it best this way. Some people like liver; I can’t stand the smell of it.

I lift weights and eat like 4-5 times a day, so I snack a lot. I like pepperoni from game meat and I like pepperoni as a snack with some cheese and grapes, in an omelette, or mixed into a pasta that already has some ground meat in it. There are lots of ways to eat it. It’s a quick taste of protein when I need it quickly.

I haven’t hunted in quite some time, but I am a huge meat snob .... I like top sirloins, tenderloins, striploins, ribeyes, and such for steaks. Shoulders are good roasts. I think sirloin tips, eye of rounds, outside rounds and inside rounds are for grinding, so why not make some of that into pepperoni?
 
Rugdoc said:
Seems like every season I read about someone getting a "pepperoni bear" or getting half their deer made into pepperoni.

Do people really eat that much pepperoni? I rarely touch the stuff.
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A lot of it stems from people not knowing how or not having the time to cut up their own meat and most butchers suck at cutting up game meat, they do it the same as pork and beef, which is wrong and makes it taste like crap. But most any butcher shop can make sausage/pepperoni that tastes OK, no matter what animal the meat came from.
 
bearkilr said:
A lot of it stems from people not knowing how or not having the time to cut up their own meat and most butchers suck at cutting up game meat, they do it the same as pork and beef, which is wrong and makes it taste like crap. But most any butcher shop can make sausage/pepperoni that tastes OK, no matter what animal the meat came from.
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Never heard that one before. Here you cannot get a shop to make sausage or pepperoni for you
Wish they would
Cheers
 
Pepperoni is always the first to disappear from the freezer. I've taken to hiding a pound or two so the provider can lord over his stash :).
 
One bad thing that almost all commercial butchers do is cut game meat on a bandsaw. That puts tiny shards of bone and fat all over the surface of the meat. Fat oxidizes ( much quicker than domestic meat ) and goes rancid. meat tastes "gamy" So don't cut game meat with a bandsaw. Separate muscle groups from the bone with a knife. Quick, easy and requires less equipment, and results in better meat.
 
bearkilr said:
A lot of it stems from people not knowing how or not having the time to cut up their own meat and most butchers suck at cutting up game meat, they do it the same as pork and beef, which is wrong and makes it taste like crap. But most any butcher shop can make sausage/pepperoni that tastes OK, no matter what animal the meat came from.
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A lot of it comes from knowing what gets devoured no matter what. Never had leftovers from turning deers into sausages/ pepperettes.

Plus its easier to cook over an open fire when you go into the middle of nowhere.

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3macs1 said:
Never heard that one before. Here you cannot get a shop to make sausage or pepperoni for you
Wish they would
Cheers
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Really? That's where ones here (MB) make their money. Getting sausage made is quite pricey, getting a deer cut and wrapped isn't, but you'll be left with bad cuts that have sinew, silver skin and fat on them. Deer fat tastes like mutton, I find. :puke:
 
Rugdoc said:
Seems like every season I read about someone getting a "pepperoni bear" or getting half their deer made into pepperoni.

Do people really eat that much pepperoni? I rarely touch the stuff.

I might have eaten one stick of pepperoni in the last 8 years and that was only because a buddy gave me some of his home made duck pepperoni. And it wasn't very good. Tasted like the generic blend of sausage spices Cabela's sells.

I'm not a snacker, I don't eat between meals and I like my game meat to taste like, well, game meat.

So what's the attraction? Do people sit around and eat pepperoni while watching TV? Driving to work? Make sandwiches? What's the deal?
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Portable protein when camping, keeps for a long time, makes a darn good chili, I rather like the versatile nature of the beast. Plus if you dry the heck out of it, as another has said, you can keep it unrefrigerated and open and it will keep.
 
I ate a bunch of game meat pepperoni once at a friends house... Spent the next few days on the toilet... No thanks. I feel like it's a way to hide rotten meat lol!!!
 
Nova Scotians love pepperoni. It's cheaper to make your own / have it made, using your own meat. It feels good to eat a normally comercially made product, that is made with your own harvest.
 
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