ottawa foodies

Does anyone know where I can get good pepperoni in Ottawa? I have tried ziggys,maestro,produce depot's,farm boy's,nicastro's,luciano's and a few others and just can't seem to find anything that good. I'm thinking I might have to make my own which will probably be time consuming and difficult.

The tricky part is what defines good pepperoni? What your thinking of is more to the terms of a low class charcuturie, so pepperoni does not necessarily come in high end brands. What I would recommend is a good salami, Cacciatora, or some other cured italian meat.

In St. Lawrence county, pepperoni is sold as "salad meat"...

I guess I will have to go to Watertown or Syracuse and stock up.

what brand of pepperoni does watertown & syracuse have? maybe if you explained what you were looking for people could help you.

The stuff sold as salad meat in St. L. county is really just ordinary pepperoni. Pre sliced. but I think it's interesting that they sell it not just in the deli, but in produce as "salad meat". and you often get it thrown on green salads in restaurants there too.

Ken, not sure if you saw this but it is apropos:

www.nytimes.com

As suggested by Mystery Chef, I`d check out some hot calabrian-style salamis.

What are your "beefs" with the pepperoni that you`ve tried? Too lean/fatty? Weak flavour? Gristly?

We make 4 types of Salami at Lavergne, though they are all just the same thing with different spicing. There is regular German, Spicey German (regular with peppercorns), Mild Hungarian (regular German with some hot spices like cayenne or something) and Hot Hungarian (even more hot spice)

They are all lightly smoked which may or may not appeal to you. Ingredients are very good quality with only nitrite (nitrate?) being the nefarious one. I use the hot hungarian on pizza and the boys love it on their sandwiches.

hff syracuse had an assortment of brands can't remember off hand their names. What I'm looking for is something with a stronger flavour. Something maybe with some fennel or anise seeds in it and on the hotter side. Thanks for the info zym that may be what I may have to purchase. Good article tracinho. Most of the pepperoni I have come across is pretty bland.

If you want fennel flavour your best bet is some form of italian cured meat, something from sicily maybe.

KenV you could try Quality Meats Smoked New Yorker Italian sausages, nicely flavoured with fennel. It's in 1 kg bags at many grocery stores. I've never put it on pizza but use it in a marinara sauce on spaghetti, in soup, baked ziti, or bbq'd on a bun.

The pepperoni in most Montreal pizza joints is either Roma or New Milano, literally a cartel. I believe New Milano is better. I think they both have anise. I don't know if they sell retail, look em up. The pepperoni the various pizza joints here use generally is crap. Some places it looks, feels and pretty much tastes like bologna.

If you're looking at home-made pizzas and not wedded to pepperoni per se, the salamis at any Loblaws are pretty damn good. SLiced thin, though, which makes them less juicy than thicker pepperoni disks.

My favorite pizza meat before working where I do used to be Genoa Salami from Costco

Bacon I.V I tried looking up Roma and new Milano no luck they exsist but looks like they sell large quantities. New Milano looked promising but their website was not working at the moment. I have never had Montreal pizza but I hear it's very good. The search continues.

This IPad sucks does't bring up so many sites. Just found New Milano on the tower computer. Guess I'm taking a trip to Montreal. Thanks Bacon I.V.

Yeah Ken, as I suspected they probably only sell wholesale. Regarding the quality of Mtl pizza, depends on who you talk to. I, personally, don't care for it. I prefer it to the myriad of Lebanese-owned Ottawa joints, with their mystery brown sauce and cheap toppings, but I'll take American pizza over anything Canadian, any day. Whether deep dish Chicago style or thin-crust Brooklyn pies, the USA has us beat in this department.

Good luck on the pepperoni search!

"... with their mystery brown sauce ..."

Isn't that just from oxidized tomato sauce caused from sitting around ?

Agreed on the pizza comment Bacon I.V. That mystery meat supposed to be pepperoni is just awful on most Mid East style pizzas. I did read that New Milano is available in some grocery stores. Have a friend bringing smoked meat from Montreal I will enquire about pepperoni. The deep dish from Lou Malnatis is awesome. I dream that something like that would come here. But would people wait the 50 minutes for it to be made? I know I would. Wonder if there are any seat sales on Porter?

have you tried the spicy soppresata with fennel at the bottega?

Bank St sausage co has store made pepperoni.

They also make a dried "pepperetz" sausage that is very good-but I don't think it is to use for cooking..just snacking.
Bank st sausage they also have some other dried sausages they make in store.

Swiss pastries usually sells some of the Bank St sausage made products and they have a Swiss pastry at Billings Bridge that is open till 9pm weekdays (the actual Bank sausage closes at 5-6pm I think).

www.banksausagedeli.com

Also the people who are at the Lansdowne Farmer's market-they have a good pepperoni...but that is not for a while.

I also belong to Marche Outaouais.com- a kind of online farmer's market and I'm sure some of the vendors they sell all kinds of meats and sausages.

marcheoutaouais.com

Ken, last year I inquired at Giordano's site if they ship their frozen pies to Canada. No dice. I never tried Lou Malnati's though. Definitely worth the wait for the deep dish in the restaurant.

Update on the pepperoni: checking out the packaged deli meats and bacon section at my IGA in Aylmer, presto: New Milano 250g vacuum-sealed package for $2.99 if I recall. No indication of fennel or carraway, nor could I see any hint of any seeds, just a catch-all 'spices' on the ingredients list. Looked like the real thing though.

Check it out sometime. The store also carries Moishe's cole slaw and beef sausages, if that interests you. Ever been to Moishe's in Mtl? Steak house par excellence!

A few weeks back on a trip to Schwartz's to get a sandwich and some smoked meat to take home we stopped at an Italian grocery store and I was able to find some pepperoni that looked interesting. It has quite the list of ingredients that I'm not fussy on but it beats anything I can find in Ottawa. Just wish it had a little fennel in it. Tastes good by itself. Now to try on a pizza tonight. Was able to find Habitant sour mix pickels that my wife loves and we can't find here.

Ken, if I recall, New Milano is better. But Roma is decent, too.

Your post reminded me to check IGA again yesterday. No New Milano, maybe they were out. I did see a Compliments pepperoni (IGA's private label) but it looked crappy. Too uniform in texture, hot dog or bologna like.

You can get the New Milano Pepperoni only in Montreal. I live in Ontario and travelling up to Montreal to pick it up in bulk until the next travel.

Here's the website you can browse

www.newmilano.com/

I have been looking for that quintessential Montreal pepperoni and I think this is it! But, if I get 5lbs of it, I will eat 5lbs of it. Any idea which stores carry it?