-
Italian Sausage
Total Project Time: 3 hours
When Italians have a hefty amount of leftover pork shoulder, they grind it up and make a sausage similar to what’s featured in this recipe. There are a thousand variations to making Italian sausage, so feel free to shift things up to make it sweeter, hotter, or more herbaceous.
You can make this recipe either by packing the sausage loosely, or casing it in 6-inch links. Add it to tomato sauces or throw it in a hoagie on gameday. With Italian sausage, you simply can’t go wrong.1. Intro
2. Procure Equipment
3. Buy Ingredients
4. Dice the Pork
5. Mise-en-Place
6. Prepare the Casing
7. Let's Roll
8. Taste Test
9. Stuff that Casing
10. Pack Loosely
11. Dunzo
-
2. Procure Equipment
Before Event
Before the event, procure the following equipment:
• Chef's Knife
• Cutting board
• Mixing bowls
• Meat Grinder
• Sausage Stuffer
• Baking sheet
• Kitchen Scale, if packing loosely
• Food preparation gloves
• Butcher Paper or plastic wrap
• Sealable freezer storage bags
• Masking tape
• Sharpie -
3. Buy Ingredients
Before Event
The day before the event, procure the following ingredients:
• 9 lbs. pork shoulder
• 1 lb. pork fatback or pork belly
• ⅓ cup salt
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. fennel seeds
• ¾ cup paprika
• 1 ½ tbsp. cayenne powder
• 1 ⅔ tbsp. ground black pepper
• ¼ cup dried oregano
• 3 tbsp. ground coriander
• ⅓ cup red pepper flakes
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
If Casing:
• 2 tbsp. white wine vinegar
• 20 ft. Hog Casing -
4. Dice the Pork
Day 1
Place a baking sheet, 2 large mixing bowls and the Meat Grinder attachment in the freezer.
Dice the pork shoulder and pork fatback / belly into ½ inch pieces and place in the chilled mixing bowls.
Place the diced pork in the freezer during any downtime to keep the meat cold.
Keeping the equipment cold will help the grinding move quickly. Keeping the pork cold will ensure that the pork remains at a safe temperature. -
5. Mise-en-Place
Day 1
Measure out the following ingredients. If any ingredients were purchased whole, use a Spice Grinder to pulverize them to the appropriate measurements listed below.
• ⅓ cup Kosher Salt
• 3 tbsp. sugar
• 3 tbsp. fennel seeds
• ¾ cup paprika
• 1 ½ tbsp. cayenne powder
• 1 ⅔ tbsp. ground black pepper
• ¼ cup dried oregano
• 3 tbsp. ground coriander
• ⅓ cup red pepper flakes
• 1 ½ cups water
• ½ cup red wine vinegar
Mix the dry spice ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.
Mix together the water and red wine vinegar in a liquid measuring container, and place in the refrigerator to chill the liquid. -
6. Prepare the Casing
Day 1
If you’re placing the Italian sausage in casing, at least 30 minutes before using the casing:
Add 4 cups water and 2 tbsp. white wine vinegar to a bowl.
Place the 20 ft. of Hog Casing in the water / vinegar mixture. -
7. Let's Roll
Day 1
Prepare the Meat Grinder for use.
Place half of the meats and half of the spices in each of 2 large mixing bowls. Mix together well. Place each bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes to chill the meat before grinding.
Remove the mixing bowl from the freezer. Grind the meat mixture, allowing the ground meat to drop into the chilled bowl.
Once the meat mixture has been ground, add the chilled red wine vinegar and water; mix together well. Set aside a small amount of meat for the taste test, and place the meat mixture back in the freezer. -
8. Taste Test
Day 1
Remove a small portion of meat that is large enough to make a small patty, and saute the sausage. Taste, and adjust the seasoning as needed.
-
9. Stuff that Casing
Day 1
If casing, prepare the Sausage Stuffer for use.
Press meat through the stuffer until the ground meat just barely pokes through the end of the spout.
Push the open end of the Hog Casing over the end of the stuffer, and continue to push the casing onto the stuffer until you reach the end of the casing. Tie a knot at the end of the casing.
Stuff the sausage into the Hog Casings, twisting into links every 6 inches, and allow the links to fall onto the chilled cookie sheet. -
10. Pack Loosely
Day 1
If packing loosely, weigh out the sausage mixture ½ pound at a time.
Wrap each ½ pound of sausage in Butcher Paper or plastic wrap. -
11. Dunzo
Day 1
Place the cased sausages and / or the wrapped ½ pound loose sausage in sealable freezer storage bags. Using a Sharpie, label each package Italian Sausage: made May 22, 2013.
Refrigerate for at least 24 hours before consuming, to allow the flavors to mingle.
Refrigerate the sausage up to 1 week, or freeze the sausage up to 2 months.
Please cook the Italian Sausage before consuming it.
