Fermented Sausage

Backwoods Pepperoni

Classic Style Pepperoni

Backwoods Pepperoni is a fermented, dry-cured sausage built on a 50% lean meat / 50% pork blend, using lean wild game or lean beef. Smoke at 65-70°F / 18-21°C (cold smoke) and dry to 35-40% weight loss, stuff into 2 inch fibrous casings or beef middles, grind at 3/16". Exact amounts scale to any batch weight in the DeepWoodz Smokehouse app for iPhone and Android.

Real dry-cured pepperoni, not the cooked stuff that comes in a plastic sleeve. Anise seed is the note everybody recognizes from pizza and almost nobody can name. It ferments, then dries to weight, and it will ruin store-bought pepperoni for you permanently.

• Spicy
• Smoky
• Tangy

Internal temp

35-40% weight loss

Smoker temp

65-70°F / 18-21°C (cold smoke)

Casing size

2 inches

Casing

Fibrous Casings or Beef Middles

What goes in it

• Kosher Salt
• Cure #2
• Dextrose
• Coarse Black Pepper
• Cayenne Pepper
• Paprika
• Red Pepper Flakes
• Anise Seed
• Garlic Powder
• Starter Culture (T-SPX)
• Fennel Seed

Amounts are calculated for your batch weight in the app — including the cure, which is held at a fixed, food-safe rate.

The meat

Lean Wild Game · Lean Beef · Pork Butt · Pork Shoulder

Bear or wild hog: take it to 160°F and hold 3 minutes. Freezing, smoking and curing do not kill trichinella — only heat does.

How it's made

1. Grind meat through a 3/16" plate for a fine, uniform texture. Keep below 34°F.
2. Dissolve starter culture in distilled water per package directions.
3. Mix all dry seasonings together. Add dissolved culture.
4. Mix into ground meat until very tacky and well-bound.
5. Stuff into 2" fibrous casings or beef middles. Pack tight, no air pockets.
6. FERMENT: Hang at 85-90°F, 85-90% humidity for 18-24 hours until pH drops below 5.3.
7. SMOKE (optional): Light cold smoke at 65-70°F for 4-6 hours.
8. DRY: Move to 55°F, 75-80% humidity. Dry for 2-4 weeks until 30% weight loss.
9. Slice thin. The flavor develops more over the first week after drying.
10. SAFETY: Cure #2 and starter culture amounts are locked. Do not reduce.

Wood

Oak · Beech

Before you start

• Cure #1 vs Cure #2
• Venison to pork fat ratio