# Chicken in pepperoni **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** food-cooking\ **Created:** [November 27, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783 "2023-11-27T20:02:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/1 "2023-11-27T20:02:57Z")
Looking at frozen pizzas and some packages of pepperoni, most have chicken as an ingredient. Why? I assume cost but beef and pork can be pretty cheap. Is it a lower fat thing? ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/2 "2023-11-27T20:10:45Z")
A lot of people don’t eat beef or pork for religious reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Saint\_Cad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saint_cad/32/18907_2.png) [@Saint\_Cad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saint_Cad)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/3 "2023-11-27T20:14:05Z")
This pepperoni I’m talking about is made from beef, pork and chicken. Hence why add chicken to a proper pepperoni? ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/4 "2023-11-27T20:14:54Z")
I’ve seen (and have bought) turkey pepperoni at the grocery store. It’s not as greasy as regular pepperoni. So, for me at least, less heartburn later. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/5 "2023-11-27T20:20:05Z")
Pepperoni is a sausage. Sausage is traditionally made from scraps of meat. Pepperoni is heavily spiced; what the actual meat is doesn’t really matter all that much. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/6 "2023-11-27T20:28:37Z")
If you can make hot dogs out of chicken, you can make pepperoni too. Why not? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/7 "2023-11-27T20:36:38Z")
I’m assuming cost. At least at the retail level, I could find chicken for less than a buck a pound (bone-in, though), the pork at about two, beef at four. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/8 "2023-11-27T20:47:12Z")
> [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > This pepperoni I’m talking about is made from beef, pork and chicken. Hence why add chicken to a proper pepperoni? Cost could certainly be a factor, but that list is oddly familiar, and it’s because it’s one of the two main varieties of Italian-style meatballs in tomato sauce at a certain upscale grocery where I assure you cost is never a factor, and judging from the price tag, it sure as hell wasn’t a factor here! The other combo involves veal and I think is a mix of pork, veal, and chicken. I presume those combinations are used because they provide a tasty and balanced flavour. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/9 "2023-11-27T20:52:36Z")
Interesting. Beef-pork-veal is pretty common. I could see swapping out chicken for the veal, for both cost reasons and because some people are squeamish about eating veal. Veal and chicken would be strange to me. ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/10 "2023-11-27T20:59:25Z")
I could be misremembering the second combo. It might be beef, pork, and veal. But chicken and veal need not be strange. This place also makes a wonderfully excellent chicken and veal sausage with fennel. They’re great on the barbecue, or baked in the oven on a bed of coarsely chopped white onion and bell peppers and coated with pizza sauce. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/11 "2023-11-27T21:59:01Z")
If you this thread got you thinking about the movie _[Seems Like Old Times](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0081480/)_ you might be wondering how to make Chicken Pepperoni, an original concept used in the movie. It’s not any well known dish by that name but here’s a recipe for **[Aurora’s Chicken Pepperoni](https://wildflourskitchen.com/2016/09/09/auroras-chicken-pepperoni-true-movie-character/)** that I haven’t yet tried but I think it will be delicious. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/12 "2023-11-27T22:18:25Z")
Just to set expectations, if someone is thinking “I bet they don’t put chicken in pepperoni in the Olde Country”… they never made pepperoni in the Olde Country. It’s not a traditional European sausage. It’s a US invention (albeit loosely related to some traditional Italian _salumi_ sausages). > **[Pepperoni | History](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepperoni#History)** > > In 1919 Italian immigrants in New York City created pepperoni. It is a cured dry sausage, with similarities to the spicy salamis of southern Italy on which it is based, such as salsiccia or soppressata. The main differences are that pepperoni is less spicy, has a finer grain (akin to spiceless salami from Milan), is usually softer in texture, and is usually produced with the use of an artificial casing. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 27, 2023, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/13 "2023-11-27T22:58:58Z")
Usually, when you see “Chicken, pork, and beef” it means that each batch is made mostly from whatever’s cheapest at that moment, and they list all three so they don’t have to keep changing the label. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/14 "2023-11-28T03:28:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > whatever’s cheapest at that moment I think this is what it comes down to. The source species for the emulsified protein slurry feedstock used in large scale production hot dog, pizza sausage, lunchmeats, etc doesn’t matter much for taste or quality parameters and is selected for cost. > [@Saint\_Cad](#): > > This pepperoni I’m talking about is made from beef, pork and chicken. Ya, well, you only said chicken. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/15 "2023-11-28T13:54:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > I’m assuming cost. We buy turkey pepperoni at the turkey farm store. It is less greasy, lower in fat, and I prefer it. It is more expensive than regular pepperoni though. The same is true for their turkey “ham” salad, which is delicious but has no ham. Of course they have turkey bacon as well. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/16 "2023-11-28T14:27:14Z")
Sure , but that’s straight turkey. Turkey is a common healthier substitute for red meat, see: turkey bacon, turkey burgers, turkey ham. Chicken I tend to find in the cheap bottom-of-the-barrel hot dogs, chorizos, and the such. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/17 "2023-11-28T14:29:53Z")
Agree. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/18 "2023-11-28T15:18:28Z")
Oh, and you also see the same thing with “vegetable oil (corn, soybean, sunflower, and/or canola)”. All of the vegetable oils are interchangeable in the recipe, but in any given time and place, one is going to be cheaper than the others. ---
**Author:** ![Common\_Tater](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/common_tater/32/13846_2.png) [@Common\_Tater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Common_Tater)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/19 "2023-11-28T16:55:42Z")
What I recall reading somewhere, Pepperoni was ordinarily made out of gamey tasting boar meat, the heavy spices or seasoning intended to cover up what is otherwise essentially unsaleable. ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [November 28, 2023, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783/20 "2023-11-28T17:50:59Z")
> [@jnglmassiv](#): > > The source species for the emulsified protein slurry feedstock used in large scale production hot dog, pizza sausage, lunchmeats, etc There’s food porn, and then there’s whatever this sentence is. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chicken-in-pepperoni/993783.md?page=2)