Trying new things.

[drinksgin (deceased)]

I have started trying a few new things, I wanted some lunch meat, the last package of high dollar beef salami was somewhere between poor and sorry.
The same for pepperoni, so I got out my Kutas book, read some and then started working on a recipe using things I have on hand.
HEB had boneless chuck roast, nice lean ones, for $2 a lb, I got some, ground it through an 8mm plate.
I made a spice mix of 1/2 cup tender quick, (I have #1 and #2 pink salt on hand, but wanted to try something off the shelf), 1/4 cup coarse ground black pepper, 1/4 cup mustard seed, 1/4 cup garlic powder and , to my taste, 1 TBSP of cayenne, that will be to your taste.
I added 2 TBSP of whole peppercorns, some like them, some do not.
To make pepperoni , I increased the cayenne 2 TBSP and added 1/4 cup sweet paprika.
I used 1 TBSP of the mix for 2 lb of meat, made it into a log/roll, wrapped in plastic wrap, I made mine about 2" diameter, cured them in the refrigerator 4 days, unwrapped them and cold smoked for 8 hours, then cooked them 1 hour at 300', while on a rack to drain any grease.
I also tried 1 lb of 80-20 ground pork as salami, it was not bad, but the beef is better. I used 1 TBSP of the mix.
I need to try it with pork loin and see how it does, I expect it to be better than the 80-20 .
HEB has beef and pork on sale this week, I am going tomorrow and shall get some stuff to try.
This does not require anything except a grinder, hand or powered and some plastic wrap, plus a smoker of some kind.
As I have said, it would be possible to make a smoker for almost nothing, card board box, old refrigerator grates, a couple of throwaway pie pans ,a few bricks to support the grates , a garage sale hot plate and some sort of steel can to heat the wood in, I use a 1lb sardine can.