Fairmont pepperoni roll.

Today was Higher Education Day at the Capitol. All the schools had their booths up and ready: the technical colleges, the community colleges, the universities. Some lured onlookers with candy, one with little cakes, one with a chocolate fountain, one with barbecue. But what better way to fill the West Virginia collegiate space than our pepperoni rolls? Thanks Fairmont State.

Sadly, I don't know from which company/individual these hail. I could have asked, but the Fairmont rep was having serious college-talks. I didn't want to be the one: Hey Mister, where'd ya get this here pepperoni roll!? On to the roll and my main point of contention: pepperoni sticks. I am just not a fan of the pepperoni stick. Besides that, there just wasn't enough pepperoni stick anyhow. The roll was a little too light for its size which means, by my calculations--besides the lack of meat--there was something amiss with the remainder, i.e. the breading. Bread that's TOO airy just won't cut it; technically, the bread was simply too dry. With a little more meat the bread could have attained that perfectly greasy state, and with perhaps a dab of cheese, we could have had something good here. Pepperoni rolls math says MORE PEPPERONI.

Don't let me down again, Fairmont State whatever. You school represents the city that represents the finest of pepperoni rolls--the birthplace of the p.r., in fact--yet you presented the state with this dreck. Your face to the world is a subpar pepperoni roll. I'm saddened, honestly. But thanks for the free stuff!

Home Industry Pepperoni and Cheese Roll

These are perfectly regular-sized. If you halved them, they would be perfectly snack-sized. There is a good amount of pepperoni. I think there is some cheese in there (mozzarella?). My only complaints are that the pepperoni near the ends was a little discolored (try gray) and that the roll is a little boring. I know I've complained about other rolls being too sweet. This one doesn't taste like anything. Just big old bread. I'd kinda like it to be a little more light and airy. This roll is a little dense and hard, but not doughy dense, just plain dense dense. I give it one and a half pepperoni fists.

Roger's and Mazza's 2

Abbey's comments re: Rogers and Mazzas regular pepperoni rolls.

This is a pepperoni roll. It's heavy. Cause there's lots of pepperoni. That's important; it makes for a delicious and well-formed pepperoni rolls. I will say the roll itself is a little too sweet, but all that pepperoni tends to overwhelm the sweetness. The sweetness is not necessary, though. Despite it's similarity and great overall taste and mouth feel, because it's in a bun shape, it doesn't quite resemble the more square school lunch pepperoni rolls from the days of yore, the holy grail of pepperoni rolls. Overall, very good. I give it two pepperoni roll fists.

Roger's and Mazza's

Walt's edited comments re: Rogers and Mazzas pepperoni rolls.

The hot pepper cheese version is very similar to the regular version but with a punch of hot pepperness. Imagine 3 cubes of hot pepper cheese from a cheese platter melted inside a pepperoni roll. This is about it. If you ate it real quick, as I did, you will find the pepper cheese to be more of an afterthought. I was hesitant to go down the pepper cheese path, and although i might not go down that way again, I wouldn't turn down a free hot pepper cheese pepperoni roll if offered to me. It was a nice change of pace from the normal pepperoni roll.

Kroger Pepperoni Rolls

Walt's edited comments re: Kroger's Pepperoni Rolls:

They are imposters. They took a roll and they stuffed some pepperoni in it. The bread sucks, and way too much of it. They clearly don't have the on-site baking facilities to handle the preparatory tasks that go into making pepperoni roll. The middle's all right, I guess.

In Kanawha City, where people need the pepperoni rolls the most, where they need to forget their downtrodden lives, they phoned it in.

How hard is it to make rolls and shove pepperoni in?