My family loves Italian sausage and we especially like to have fresh homemade sausage to celebrate the New Year. It’s difficult to find good quality sausage where I live, so I usually have to make it myself. If you’ve ever made sausage, it’s very time consuming and requires more than one pair of hands. The most arduous part of the process is having to cut and grind the meat. You can cut considerable time and work by having your butcher grind the meat for you. I go to a local market that has a butcher shop that makes sausages and ask for ground pork shoulder, sausage grind. Then I just add the seasonings and stuff the casings. It’s a whole lot easier.
To make the sausage you will need a Kitchenaid mixer with a grinder attachment and larger sausage stuffer attachment, or sausage stuffer machine. Alternatively, you can form the sausage meat into patties.
EASY HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE (SASIZZA/SALSICCIA)
Difficulty Rating: Easy for bulk sausage. Medium for sausage links.
Makes 2 1/2 pounds (approximately 11 sausages)
INGREDIENTS:
2 1/2 pounds pork shoulder, sausage grind
1/4 cup red wine
1 tablespoon fennel seeds
2 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 lemon
4-feet natural hog casing (32 -35 mm)
In a large bowl, combine the pork, wine, fennel, black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes. Mix well with your hands for a few minutes until the mixture becomes sticky. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Squeeze the lemon in a small bowl, add the casing and enough water to cover. Soak for 1/2 hour. Rinse thoroughly by running cold water from the kitchen faucet through the casing.
Using the sausage stuffing attachment on the mixer, slip the casing over the stuffer nozzle and tie a knot at the end. On low speed, start running the meat mixture through and into the casing. A second pair of hands is especially useful at this point.
The object is to get as little air as possible into the sausage. Twist off into 5-inch sausage links. Cook as desired. Refrigerate uncooked sausage for 2 days or freeze up to 3 months.
