Battistoni Pepperoni, 7oz stick

After trying a number of pepperonis settled on this being the best available. Taking inspiration from spicy salamis of southern Italy so despite pepperoni being an American made salami you still get the typical Italian spice palette of Paprika at the forefront with fennel and garlic that the claims of being Old World Flavor aren't false. Not overly garlic forward so it's better than some other brands for those with a mild allium intolerance it won't set it off as something that is more garlic forward like Boar's Head. Casing is relatively easy to remove should you opt to and the pepperoni itself chars nicely. Relatively little grease compared to other brands and a medium hardness making it fairly easy to cut compared to some of the much harder brands.Easily identifiable flavors and not being garlic heavy puts this pepperoni above other products like Boar's Head for my personal taste, but Boar's Head or Margherita might be more suitable if you're looking for the taste reminiscent of that you'd get on chain restaurant pepperoni pizza.Similarly to salami this pepperoni pairs well with cheese eat on a charcuterie or eaten as a sausage. When adding to pizza would recommend a diced approach rather than cutting them like pizza slices, cooking them separately in a skillet and then adding them to a cooking pizza when appropriate based on your crispness preferences. Partially cooking the pepperoni separately allows you to remove some of the grease that would otherwise end up on your pizza and helps ensure you get the right texture for your individual preferences. Cooking this pepperoni as thin slices like you'd find in a chain pizzeria, they will very slightly curl, but not totally, but they will still crisp, but Battistoni has a product design specifically for sliced pepperoni in the Cup and Char that would likely be better suited for that style of pizza.Allergen/Food considerationsProduct is Beef and Pork so it's not Kosher as well as not being safe for practitioners of Hinduism. It is Gluten-Free so it should be safe for those with Celiac Disease or a Gluten sensitivity. It definitely has atleast some garlic in the ambiguous "spices" on the ingredients label so if you have a severe allium allergy it'd be best to avoid the product, but it isn't as forward as other products so mild allium sensitivities might have better luck with this product over other popular brands. It's probably safe to assume that under that same label of spices it has mustard seed, black pepper, some cayenne and red pepper flakes since they're very common in pepperoni and this pepperoni has a mild heat to it indicative of cayenne and red pepperflakes. Preservatives are listed on the ingredients and include BHA, BHT, and Sodium Nitrite. Finally there are partially whole fennel seeds in the product so those with a fennel allergy as well as those who have to avoid small particles like seeds and nuts should probably avoid this product.

Tasty, will order again when needed.

Eh, it’s not the most flavorful pepperoni ever, BUT it is the ONLY one I have found that does not contain onion, which I appreciate given I am allergic. So I would likely purchase again.

Just what I needed for cooking. No longer could get this product in grocery store where I live.

Not too oily, not too salty, not dried out. You can actually taste this stuff.I am a true lover of pepperoni.Which is the greatest invention on Earth? Good Pepperoni or Air Conditioning? Right now the temp. is 104 F so I am being persuaded.

BridgeFord: 2/5- Highly flavored, so much so that it seems like they are trying to hide some other flavor. But it does have the classic pepperoni flavor- A bit on the spicy side, this has to do with the amount of flavoring in the stick but has a clear pepper flavor to it.- Extremely oily. There is so much oil in this stick that it is just messy and nasty- The casing is difficult to remove and tears easily like paper.- Consistency of the meat isn’t good, and it is clear low quality meats are used in its preparationFortuna: 2/5- Flavor is relatively mild, with a slight spice to it.- Casing appears to be a slim plastic case of some sort and again not easily removed- Meat quality again doesn’t appear to be great- Several spots of mold on the casing- This is certainly a serviceable pepperoni but not something I would consider great.Battistoni: 3/5- Flavor is slightly more than mild, with a good spice to it. Not enough to be a problem, but enough to add some flavor. It has a slight breakfast sausage flavor hidden behind the classic pepperoni flavor as well.- Casing again appears to be some sort of slim plastic- Meat is a slightly better consistency than the Bridgeford and Fortuna- Another extremely oily stick, on par with the Bridgeford in how much oil is in it again making it messy to work with.- The stick is a tad on the softer side compared to some of the others making it a tad easier to cut- Overall again a reasonable pepperoni, but the breakfast sausage flavor underneath kinda throws me for a little bit of a loop. Not necessarily a bad thing as I enjoy breakfast sausage, but unexpected in a pepperoni.Vermont: 4/5- The flavor is a nicely balanced and well-rounded flavor with a little smokiness to it. There is not a lot of spice to it, just a hint so if you are looking for a spicy pepperoni this is probably not the one for you. However, the overall flavor is still very nice.- The casing appears to be a natural casing, it is a smooth casing (not wrinkled like most of the others), it removes cleanly from the meat, and relatively easily.- The meat has a nice consistency and appears to use higher quality meats than found in some of the other sticks.- This stick is a little wider than some of the others- This stick is pretty oily, not quite as bad as the Bridgeford and Battistoni, but not much better either.- For some reason I found this stick slightly harder to cut than the others. I am not certain why that is.- Overall a very solid pepperoni choice, an optional spicy version could be useful, and cleaning up some of the oil would be nice. This is a pepperoni I would recommend for those looking for a nice flavor with hints of smoke in it.Boar’s Head: 4/5- Flavor is a pretty classic pepperoni flavor with a little heat working its way in at the end. The heat appears to come on gradually and gets fairly strong near the end.- The meat consistency is pretty good, similar to the Vermont in that regard.- This still has a bit of oil to it (as all pepperoni likely do), but it is not nearly as bad as the Bridgeford and Battistoni.- The casing is again round and smooth making it easier to remove than some of the dried wrinkled sticks. Though it tears like paper similar to what was seen with the Bridgeford casing.- Overall another very solid pepperoni choice, particularly if you like a little heat in your pepperoni.Margherita: 5/5- Flavor is a very nice pepperoni flavor with depth to it. There is a little heat at the end, slightly less than in the Boar’s Head but it had a similar build-up near the end.- The casing is similar to what was seen in the Bridgeford and Boar’s head where it tears similar to paper.- This is again a round (not wrinkled) pepperoni stick so the casing comes off fairly easy.- This is the least greasy of the brands I tried which I found to be a very nice change of pace.- The meat is fairly consistent, one of the best brands for consistency if not THE best.- This was one of the easiest pepperoni to cut into consistently sized slices.- In my opinion this is the best of the pepperoni brands I tasted. It hit all of the right notes, was easy to work with, and not overly oily like many of the others. The flavor profile was very clearly pepperoni, but with a depth of flavor that most of the others missed, with a nice heat at the end that was not overpowering, but helped add to the flavor.#1 – Margherita is a well-rounded Pepperoni that hits all of the right notes.#2 – Vermont is another great choice, particularly if you are looking for a slightly smokey flavor.#3 – Boar’s Head is a great alternate choice. It is similar to the Margherita, but I simply felt that the Margherita was a little better quality over all.I would suggest staying away from the Bridgeford and the Fortuna’s as those were the worst of the bunch.

This was a pleasure to eat . To many times today a product doesn't live up to the description, but this did. A nice spicy (but not too much) flavor that was a welcome addition to my pizza.

Loved it