"Paul M. Cook©®" > wrote in
:

>
> "Wayne" > wrote in message
> ...
>> I make a mean pizza, great dough/crust, various and really good
>> sauces and toppings, but I've never been a fan of pepperoni until
>> recently. I always thought it was too greasy, tasted undone (I know
>> it's already cured). Recently, however, I ordered pizzas with friends
>> at an obscure little pizzeria. They ordered pepperoni, and when it
>> came to the table, it
> didn't
>> look like any pepperoni I'd ever seen. It was definitely less
>> greasy, and was somehow cooked to a fair degree of crispness. One
>> taste lead to another and it was really delicious.
>>
>> I asked about the pepperoni and bought the same last week. Made a
>> pizza tonight and it was delicious, but the pepperoni never reached
>> that state
> of
>> crispness. How'd they do that?
>>
>> I bake pizzas in a 550°F oven that's been preheated for 45-60
>> minutes. I use a 3/4" baking stone. My crusts and cheeses are
>> beautifully browned.
>>
>> What should I try? Perhaps pre-cooking the pepperoni before topping
>> the pizza? What might be the best way to pre-cook it? Broil?
>>
>> Thanks for any tips!
>
>
> Well consider that a pizzeria oven is probably cooking around 800
> degrees. They can fully cook a large pizza in 8 minutes or less. That
> kind of heat is just not possible in a home oven. Pizza ovens are
> perhaps 8 inches tall inside, fully lined with brick. They can focus
> intense heat onto the pizza. Again, something quite impossible top do
> at home in a conventional oven.
>
> Some things you just cannot replicate at home unless you have a
> kitchen like Martha Stewart.
>
> Paul

Thanks, Paul. Understood, but that brings about other questions, and one
observation. Most pizzerias don't produce this sort of crispy pepperoni.
I understand the 800 degrees and 8 minutes, but the crust and cheese
doesn't get any browner in their ovens than mine does at 550 degrees and
12-13 minutes, yet there's a distinct difference in only the pepperoni.
In fact, with rare exception, my pizza is superior to most pizzeria
pizza. I still think they're doing something separate to the pepperoni
before putting it on the pizza for baking.

At 800 degrees, I would think the cheese and crust would be burnt at the
point when the pepperoni became crisp.

The other difference was the noticable lack of greasiness from the
pepperoni. In every other case I've experienced, the pepperoni grease
was all over the top of the pizza. This, too, leads me to think that it
must have been partially cooked first.

After my original post I began googling "crisp pepperoni", not
necessarily on pizza. Several hits recommended microwaving the pepperoni
between sheets of paper towel before using in the various recipes. The
timing and degree of "doneness" and/or crispiness ranged from merely
extracting some of the fat to complete crispiness for use as a garnish.
That, or some other pre-cooking method, is probably the answer.

--
Wayne in Phoenix

If there's a nit to pick, some nitwit will pick it.