Wish to make restaurant-quality cup and char pepperoni pizza at residence? On this submit, you may study which kind of pepperoni works greatest, what makes it curl, and find out how to get essentially the most scrumptious leads to a normal oven.
What Precisely is Cup and Char Pepperoni?
Properly, it is precisely what it seems like: pepperoni that curls up into cups and chars across the edges when it is heated. Regardless of what numerous firms need you to consider, you shouldn’t have to purchase a product labeled “cup and char” with the intention to get ‘roni cup outcomes. In actual fact, labels will do you little to no good most often, for the reason that several types of pepperoni are not often labeled as such.
If you would like pepperoni to cup up in your do-it-yourself pizza because it bakes, it is advisable to select the best-quality stick pepperoni you could find and lower it into skinny (however not too skinny) slices with a pointy chef’s knife.
Nonetheless undecided what I imply? Here is what to search for when shopping for pepperoni for a cup and char pizza:
- Don’t purchase the super-thin pre-sliced pepperoni that is often displayed within the deli part of your grocery retailer. Although scrumptious in its personal proper, any such pepperoni will lay flat (or curl just a bit) when it is baked on a pizza.
- Select a stick of pepperoni that’s brick-red in coloration, exhausting, and lumpy on the surface. These are the traits of what’s generally known as “outdated world” or artisan pepperoni, which is the very best cupping choice due to its pure or collagen casing and smaller circumference.
- Lower the pepperoni your self into thin-ish slices. Pizza guru J. Kenji López-Alt recommends a thickness between .1 inch (2.5 mm) and .225 (5.6 mm), however I’ve had the very best outcomes with slices which are roughly ⅛ inch (3.2 mm) thick.
Experiment Time: Does it Matter How You Bake the Pizza?
Out of curiosity (and since Lopez-Alt left this out of his personal cup and char pepperoni examine for Critical Eats), I carried out an experiment to see whether or not pepperoni slices cup up otherwise relying on how a pizza is baked. I used the identical three sorts of pepperoni (pre-sliced, American-style stick pepperoni, and “old-world” stick pepperoni) for every of two pizzas, in addition to the identical sauce, cheese, and dough. I baked one of many pizzas on a pizza pan at 500°F. Then, I preheated my baking stone to 550°F for an hour, switched to Broil on excessive, and baked the opposite one straight on the stone.
Take a look at #1: Can I get pepperoni cups on a pizza pan?
This was a nice shock. The high-quality (“old-world”/artisan) pepperoni cupped up properly on the pan pizza, and the American-style stick pepperoni curled up just a bit on the edges.
Take a look at #2: Will all three sorts of pepperoni cup up on a high-heat baking stone pizza?
Since I would already made numerous cup and char pepperoni pizzas on my baking stone, I knew this technique would produce scrumptious “outdated world” ‘roni cups. What shocked me was the efficiency of the American-style variations.
Whereas the artisanal pepperoni slices cupped up gorgeously, as anticipated, they weren’t alone. The sliced-by-hand American-style stick pepperoni curled nearly into cups, too, and even the bigger pre-sliced model baked into shallow bowls.
Conclusion
If you would like the very best cup and char pepperoni, get the good things and slice it by hand to a uniform ⅛-inch thickness (or barely thinner). The roni cups will probably be barely extra outlined should you bake them on the highest warmth on a baking stone, however they may even curl up properly on a pizza pan or baking sheet at 500°F.
FAQs
Nope! Your greatest guess is to move over to the deli space of your grocery retailer or, even higher, the closest cheese and/or charcuterie store, and discover a stick of pepperoni with pure or collagen casings. Then, once you’re able to make pizza, slice the pepperoni thinly (about 1/16 to ⅛ inch thick) with a giant chef’s knife.
In contrast to the American (“new world”) model, which is decrease in fats, cured for shorter quantities of time, and made with an artificial casing, “outdated world” pepperoni is larger in fats, has pure casings (both pork gut or collagen), a deeper purple coloration, and a tougher, dryer, lumpier texture. That is the kind that’s closest to the unique pepperoni, based mostly on Italian dry-cured salami recipes.
If you happen to’re a purist, the one different toppings you want are purple sauce and cheese. Nonetheless, I do love the addition of sliced inexperienced bell peppers and/or mushroom, which add a welcome trace of sweetness. (Talking of which, have you ever tried my Pepperoni and Broccoli Rabe Pizza with Sizzling Honey? It is amazeballs.)
