Pepperoni is the most ordered pizza topping in the country, which means most of us have eaten an awful lot of it without ever stopping to ask where it came from. We asked. The answer is PROPERONI, and the reason we work with them is that they take the long way round on purpose.
Made the proper way
Properoni pepperoni is naturally cured, slowly smoked over real beechwood and air-dried using traditional methods. No additives, no nitrites, no starter cultures, no shortcuts to speed up the clock. Just salt, smoke, air and time, in that order, for as long as it takes.
That patience is the whole product. Natural curing builds flavour in layers instead of stamping it on at the end, so what you get is deep and savoury rather than sharp. Beechwood smoke is gentle, it perfumes the meat instead of overwhelming it. And air-drying concentrates everything, which is why a single slice carries so much more than its size suggests.
Why it ended up on our menu
We're fussy about our ingredients, and always have been. It's the habit we picked up driving a three-wheeled Piaggio Ape 4,500km back from Naples in 2012, stopping at every pizzeria worth stopping at and asking a lot of questions.
What we learned on that trip is that Neapolitan pizza has nowhere to hide. Four or five ingredients, sixty seconds in the oven, no sauce to cover anything up. Our 72-hour, double-fermented dough is prepared fresh every morning. Our tomatoes are San Marzano DOP. Our mozzarella is fior di latte. Everything that goes on top has to hold its own in that company.
PROPERONI's pepperoni does. We put it on our Double Pepperoni & Hot Honey, twice over, alongside our house-made hot honey, because the salt and smoke of a properly cured pepperoni is exactly what that sweet, slow chilli heat was looking for. It's become one of the pizzas people order without reading the rest of the board.
Still reading? Here's your reward.
Good. You've earned this.
It's National Pepperoni Pizza Day, and to celebrate we're doubling the double.
Show this page to your server between Sunday 20th and Sunday 27th September and we'll upgrade your Double Pepperoni & Hot Honey to quadruple pepperoni, free.
Four portions of beechwood-smoked, naturally cured PROPERONI on one pizza. All Pizza Pilgrims pizzerias, one week only.
Consider it a thank you for caring where your pepperoni comes from.
