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Italian Sausage

It's very hard to find Italian sausage here, so I make my own.

I start with a whole pork shoulder, a little over 8 pounds. After trimming and removing the bone, I have about 7 pounds of meat. Keep the pork as cold as possible so the fat doesn't melt. This will ruin the texture of the sausage.

I have a Waring Pro MG100 meat grinder, but you can also get a meat grinder attachment for a Kitchen Aid mixer. The stand-alone meat grinder has a much larger feed tube, and is therefore faster.

I use a blade-type coffee grinder to grind the spices. You could also use a mortar and pestle.

I've used natural casings before, but they are tricky to use, and spoil quickly. I much prefer collagen casings. They are much easier to use, and you can keep them in an air-tight container forever. I get mine here.

  1. Grind the pork into a large bowl.
  2. Clean the grinder. Run a piece of stale bread through the grinder to help clean it. Wash and dry the parts. You'll need the machine again to fill the casings, but you're done with the blade and plate.
  3. Grind together the black pepper, and crushed red pepper.
  4. Add this mixture, the salt, the fennel, the garlic, and the red wine to the pork.
  5. Mix well, and refrigerate for 4 hours so the flavors blend.
  6. Fry and taste a small piece of the sausage and adjust the seasoning if necessary.
  7. At this point, I usually remove 2 pounds of the mixture to be used as bulk in tomato sauce, and freeze it in two 1 pound packages.
  8. Tie off one end of the casing with kitchen string.
  9. Attach the sausage funnel to the meat grinder.
  10. Fill the casing, trying to avoid air pockets.
  11. Twist the sausage at 4" intervals to create links.
  12. Refrigerate for 2 more hours so the collagen sets up.

You can use the sausage right away, or freeze it using double freezer bags.