In this post, I’ll show you how to make Pfefferbeisser yourself. They are straightforward to make, taste spectacular and are great to take along as a snack or for the perfect snack.
The literal translation for Pfefferbeisser is “pepper bites”. They are a cured cold smoked sausage with pepper as the main spice.
Here you can find the complete Pfefferbeisser recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck! I would be happy if you leave me a comment if you succeeded.
Making your own Pfefferbeisser – What do you need?
INGREDIENTS PER 1 KG Pfefferbeisser
- 75 % pork shoulder (750g)
- 25 % pork backfat (250g)
SPICES PER KG OF MEAT
- 21.5 g salt
- 2.5 g Cure #1
- 3 g white pepper
- 3 g black pepper
- 2 g paprika
- 1 g garlic powder
- 1 g mace
Equipment for making Pfefferbeisser
You need a meat grinder to “grind” the meat. The meat is chopped into small chunks with it.
Spice grinder / mortar
To grind your spices, it is best to use a spice mill. Alternatively, a mortar is also suitable. Or you can use already ground spices. I recommend to grind them yourself.
Sausage filler / attachment for the meat grinder / hand filling funnel
You need this to get your meat mass into the casing. For starters, a filler attachment for your meat grinder or a hand filler funnel will work for this. I use this one.
Natural casings
For filling your mass you need natural casings. I use here a sheep saitling caliber 22/24.
Smoker
You need the smoker to smoke your pepper bites.
Cold smoke generator and smoking flour
The cold smoke generator burns for about 12 hours. This saves you to constantly refill the smoking flour.
Making Pfefferbeisser – Step-By-Step Instructions
1. Cut your meat and back fat into strips. The size varies depending on how big your meat grinder is. The bigger the grinder, the bigger your pieces of meat can be.
2. Put the meat in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help later on with the grinding process and the temperature.
3. Grind your spices into a fine powder. If you want, you can also grind some pepper coarsely and add it later on.
4. Now it’s time to grind the meat. Depending on how coarse you want your final sausage meat, you can use different perforated discs here.
I use the medium perforated disc (4.5 mm).
5. Add the spices, the salt and the Cure #1 to the meat mass.
6. Mix the mass to a firm sausage meat. You can do this either by hand or with a machine with a dough hook.
7. You can fill the mass into the casings. Make sure that not much air gets into the casings. I use sheep saitling caliber 22/24.
8. Now it is time to link them. You can decide for yourself how big your Pfefferbeisser should be. Simply twist off one sausage by spinning it away from you, then leave one out and then spin it again.
9. Hang the Pfefferbeisser at room temperature 20 -25 °C (68 – 77 °F) and let them ferment for 24 hours. The humidity should be around 80%. You can spray them with water from time to time and hang a damp towel next to them.
10. You can now hang them in the smoker and cold smoke. I made 2 passes here. That means 12 hours of smoke and 12 hours of no smoke each pass. The temperature should ideally be between 15 and 20 degrees Celsius (59 F° – 68 F°).
11. After the second pass, the Pfefferbeisser will have a nice color. If you want them firmer, you can also let them ripen and dry for a few more days. Enjoy them.
What is the shelf life of Pfefferbeisser?
As they are cured, they can be kept for several months. They will dry out even more so you need to vacuum seal them to stop this. As always, the important thing is to see-smell-taste!.
Hi I am currently making a batch of Pfefferbeisser and am curious about the cold smoking process. I am using a smoke tube that uses pellets to generate the cold smoke rather than a maze that uses sawdust, as you’ve done. The tube provides about 4 hours of cold smoke rather than 12, but the smoke it much thicker and more intense than with a sawdust maze. I am curious if I should still follow the 12 hours on/12 hours off smoke method. I fear that I may over-smoke my Pfefferbeisser and make them bitter. I have already used the smoke tube for 8 total hours of cold smoking and the Pfefferbeisser are already dark red and smell quite smokey. Would it be ok to just dry them from here on out? I tried to follow your method exactly, and purchased a spiral sawdust maze that produces a thinner smoke for a longer time, but I could not get it to stay lit. Thanks so much!
Yes you can do this. Just do 4hours – 4hours rest – 4 hours – rest until you like it. However if you can achieve a longer milder smoke this will typically yield a better result.