One of life’s greatest delights is picking the luscious little cupped disks of baked pepperoni off a pizza slice. Other than its hugely important role as America’s favorite pizza topping, however, pepperoni seems to play a surprisingly limited role in American food traditions. Often one of several deli meats on an Italian-style submarine sandwich (aka hero, hoagie, or grinder), pepperoni might also show up, almost as an afterthought, sliced and tossed among the cheddar cheese and Ritz crackers on a Super Bowl snack platter.

If you are from West Virginia or border regions like western Pennsylvania or southern Ohio, you are also undoubtedly familiar with the pepperoni roll–a much-beloved, grab n’ go food. Thought to have been developed by West Virginia coal miner wives in the early 20th century, pepperoni rolls kept well over the course of a day and were therefore an easily transportable meal for their husbands who usually worked long shifts deep underground. Consisting of a few slices of pepperoni (and sometimes mozzarella cheese) baked inside a yeasty, billowy ball of bread dough, pepperoni rolls were commercially produced by 1927 and are now widely available at any convenience store in West Virginia and surrounding areas. In fact, most grocery stores and bakeries within the pepperoni roll cultural region have their own version of this tasty treat. In April 2021, the West Virginia state legislature passed a bill to declare the pepperoni roll as the official state food and it has since been under review by the state senate. (click here for a fascinating history of the pepperoni roll).

Given it’s undeniable association with Italian cuisine, surprisingly, pepperoni is not an authentic Italian food. It was actually developed by New York City Italian-American butchers around 1920, in their attempt to recreate the small, spicy dry-cured sausages from regions of Italy such as Calabria, while using the limited ingredients available in North America (click here for a history of pepperoni). It wasn’t until the 1950s that pepperoni became commonly available as a pizza topping, as evidenced in a 1950s era photo of a wall menu in a New Haven, Connecticut pizzeria called The Spot.

As a pizza topping, sandwich meat, or stuffing for bread dough, pepperoni definitely has a place in the pantheon of beloved American snacks–foods that invariably are meant to be eaten out of hand and without a fork and knife. So, the thought of pepperoni as the star ingredient in a pasta dish seems oddly inappropriate. Nonetheless (and trust me on this), it totally works! So much so that the end result can be a surprisingly elegant, delectably creamy creation.

Rigatoni con Pepperoni: The Story

I first encountered this dish thanks to the adventurous culinary spirit of my Mom, who for a 1970s rural western Pennsylvania mom, would fearlessly whip up some unusual, but much-appreciated dishes to serve for family dinner; such as spiced lamb curry, oyster stew, or coq au vin. This recipe first made its appearance on the family dinner table in 1984, around the time I was a senior in high school. It was an instant hit and we were all thrilled when it showed up in the rotation.

My Mom got the recipe from the now-disgraced Frugal Gourmet, Jeff Smith (1939-2004), who was a Methodist minister and had a highly successful cooking show on PBS, along with a string of popular cookbooks throughout the 1980s and 1990s. His cookbooks usually had decent recipes, but, most importantly, they were highly readable, with tidbits of his travel experiences abroad, as well as the cultural histories of certain cuisines, as well as the origins of specific dishes. His shocking fall from grace took place in 1997, when seven men filed a civil lawsuit against him claiming he had sexually assaulted them as children while running his local Tacoma, Washington-based charity, Chaplain’s Pantry. A settlement for an undisclosed amount was reached in 1998, and although no criminal charges were subsequently filed, all sponsorships were immediately dropped and Smith’s career came to a disgraceful end.

Once I reached full adulthood, with my own kitchen and some firsthand cooking experience under my belt, I soon turned to this family favorite and I’ve since made it countless times over the past thirty years. Aside from the fact that it is a fantastically flavorful dish (the pepperoni infuses the creamy tomato sauce with an intriguing, uniquely delicate spiciness), it is almost laughably easy to prepare, with very few ingredients. If it weren’t for the fact that both pepperoni and heavy whipping cream are not the healthiest of foods, this recipe would definitely show up far more often in my dinner rotation. As it is, plating up a heaping bowlful of this deliciousness every few months, always makes for an especially happy night! I hope you’ll give it a try and that you love it as much as I do!

Rigatoni con Pepperoni Recipe

Makes two hearty portions

Recipe adapted from “The Frugal Gourmet Cooks With Wine” by Jeff Smith, William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1984.

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ALL TEXT WRITTEN BY STACEY. PHOTOS BY STACEY UNLESS OTHERWISE INDICATED.