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Does anyone know if the Colessessano's out by the interstate is as good as the old one tucked away on the back side of downtown Fairmont? I love them hot with cheese, but I don't care for the hot dog sauce.
Both locations are marginal and owned by the same people. (another Italian family who bought the name from the original family) Here's Why!
When Buster, Dave and Nona operated the original beer garden in Belleview, they had access to the best Italian Pepperoni, Peppers and Sauce (were homegrown and home made)....and the thing that made them simply the best was a common grade of blended Italian flour that does not exist in or day.
Those buns were rebaked in a huge pizza oven that melted that imported Provalone and gave that bread a flavor and crusty goodness that cannot be duplicated.
Each December the entire family would take vacation to the old home place in Italy.
The new resturants are new...clean and very nice...a few of the old pics decorate the walls.
The pepperoni is not the same quality, nor is the flour...hence, the product is not the same, but good.
And the Peppers and Sauce is not the same either.
None of it duplicates the flavor that a bun and an Iron City draft had in the 60's and 70's because the ingredients are not available.
Urban blight and the old people dying left a gaping hole in the Fairmont legacy of eating treasures.
Also on the menu was a great huge Giavonni sandwich called a 'Spyder's Special...several Italian meats and cheeses...One was enough for 2...
Next week some friends are coming up from Raleigh...Collies will be our date eatery...and we will reminise...How things have changed and how they have stayed the same...
Hope this helps. Get some good frozen (Rhodes brand) bread dough...Hormel pepperoni and make your own..
Get some good frozen (Rhodes brand) bread dough...Hormel pepperoni and make your own..
Can you offer up a good recipe? Miss those pepperoni rolls when we lived in WV.....yummmmm. My son is in college and I would love to make him some and send them to him.
The real secret is to cut the pepperoni in lengths about 4" long and segment it into pencil size peices.
The oil in the pepperoni leaches into the bread dough as it bakes and gives it a better flavor.
Many people use sliced pepperoni and it works but not as well, as the bread must be rolled into the meat.
The original pepperoni buns were small loaves of bread, similar in size to our present day hoagie rolls.
I've seen them fried in a large cast iron skillet and that does wonders...old russian lady would do them that way and we would eat them until we couldn't walk...and they were small in size but so delicious.
The Collisessano Pepperoni bun after being baked was sliced open and filled with provalone cheese and toasted in the Pizza oven...the peppers were green and red bell peppers in a tomato sauce.
In todays world:
Let the frozen bread dough rise. pull out the amount of bread dough flatten to about 1/2 inch and wrap in the sliced pepperoni. bake on a metal cookie sheet...or a slab of baking stone if you have one. they are better if you coat them with eggwhite. Makes them crusty and golden brown.
so easy, a kid can do it and we are teaching the grand kids about making this simple, delicious food.
Those bell peppers and sauce? gallon can of Red-Pac or Hunts tomato sauce. clean and cut bell peppers into large peices.
quick-fry them in a large skillet in italian cooking oil. Pack the peppers in pint jars and fill with simmering sauce.
Will pack/seal themselves as they cool.
Hot banana peppers as a taste to order thing that should be included.
That 'Spyder sandwich that I mentioned in the previous post had fried peppers on it...simply out of this world.
Simply the best food for hunting or football...
Last edited by David Kennedy; 10-02-2009 at 01:05 AM..
You are right David......don't use the sliced pepperoni, you need the sticks so that the grease can seep through the bread.
I buy Rich's frozen dough already in roll size (makes it easier and uniform), I let the dough thaw and them place the pepperoni inside (I usually take the links and depending on how fat cut a few inches long and than in 4's) and let them rise. My little secret is that when they come out of the oven I take a butter stick and roll over the top of them. I like mine soft. My family has been after me to make them.
Reminder........Make sure you take the casing off of the pepperoni .
Also in this same area is a new competitor to the Pepperoni Bun business...Chunky's Pepperoni Rolls.
Began by Chunky Selan of Grant Town, Wv. Chunky worked in the coal mines and died from black lung and cancer several years ago, but I had the pleasure to know him and respect him as a person. When he became disabled and couldn't work, he began that business. Some of his family have carried it on and built it into a very profitable enterprise.
If you see them on the shelf, buy them as they do a very good job in creating a 'ready to eat treat.
In 1985, we considered building a Collisessano Style Pub in Harrisonburg, Va at James Madison University.
The state of Virginia had laws prohibiting the sale of meat baked into bread...
Chunky was starting his business then and we were talking with him about providing the rolls...
Virginia laws made that impossible and we stayed in Wv instead...a descision I have never regretted.
I use a sourdough French Bread recipe for the bread. After the 1st rise, I pat (no rolling pin) the dough out, then form the roll around the pepperoni sticks. I then let the rolls rise for another 30-45 minutes before baking. Mine are about 2/3 the size of a hot dog roll.
Probably a little "crustier" than Janipoo prefers, but all the voids in the bread create wonderful pockets for the grease to collect in.
Thanks for all the great ideas......but we're missing what I consider to be the second most important ingredient CHEESE. I saw one of you said they used to eat it with provolone. Is that the preferred cheese for them? Do you put the cheese in at the same time as the pepperoni?
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