Luigi pepperoni from Giants NY. | Nathan Williams/Eater Portland
Pepperoni may sound Italian, but it has no known origin in the old country. The red, soft-cased, smoked sausage has more in common with Portuguese linguica or German Thuringian sausage than any Italian cured meats. However it emerged, pepperoni has become the most popular pizza topping in America. And yet, many gourmet pizza restaurants in Portland skip the pedestrian pepperoni for more traditionally Italian cured meats: soppressata, capicola, pancetta, prosciutto, and more.
Those delicious cured meats have their place, but when the craving strikes for simple comfort pizza, skip the kale and fennel sausage pies
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