Plainest Italian Sausage
Submitted by lindajo
Make your own Italian sausage from scratch: coarse-ground pork seasoned simply with fennel, pepper and dry red wine, stuffed into casings and cured two days. The plain, classic base sausage.
YIELD
1 batchPREP
30 minCOOK
0 minREADY
4 daysThere’s deep satisfaction in making your own sausage, and this is the place to start: the plainest, most classic Italian pork sausage, seasoned with nothing more than salt, black pepper, fennel seed, and a splash of dry red wine. It’s a clean, honest base you can build on however you like.
Good sausage is all about the grind and the fat. You grind boneless pork together with a generous amount of pork fat, because lean sausage is dry, sad sausage, then mix in the seasonings and wine and stuff it into rinsed casings, supporting the tube as it fills so it doesn’t tear.
Patience finishes the job. After twisting the rope into links and working out any air pockets, the sausages rest uncovered in the fridge for 48 hours, turning once or twice.
That seasoning time lets the flavors meld and the fennel bloom through the meat, turning a tube of ground pork into proper Italian sausage. Keep everything cold as you work, since warm fat smears instead of grinding cleanly.
Chef Tips
- Keep the meat, fat, and equipment cold throughout. Warm fat smears and ruins the texture.
- Don’t skimp on the pork fat. That ratio is what keeps the sausage juicy instead of dry.
- Support the filling casing with your hands to prevent rips, and work out air pockets as you link.
- Let the links season uncovered in the fridge the full 48 hours so the flavors develop.
Variations
- Add crushed red pepper for hot Italian sausage, or a little sugar for sweet.
- Stir in garlic, paprika, or fresh herbs to make it your own.
- Skip the casings and use the seasoned meat as loose bulk sausage for sauces and pizza.
Ingredients
Directions
SCRAPE THE LOOSE SALT OFF the sausage casing and set the casing in a bowl of cold water to soften for at least 30 minutes.
Cut the pork and fat into pieces that will go through your meat grinder and grind them, using the coarse blade.
Mix the salt, pepper and fennel seeds thoroughly into the ground meat.
Then mix in the wine. Drain the casing, open one end gently with your fingers and run a stream of cold water into it, to flush any remaining salt out of the interior.
Thread the casing onto the stuffing horn and fit the horn over the meat grinder.
Feed the sausage meat through the horn, supporting the emerging tube of sausage with your hands to prevent rips.
When all the sausage meat is in the casing, lay the filled tube on the work surface and pinch it at 4-inch intervals to produce individual sausage links.
At the same time, fill and firm any air pockets in the casing.
Tie off the links with kitchen string. Coil the sausages onto a plate and set it, uncovered, in the refrigerator to season for 48 hours.
Turn the sausages over once or twice during that time.
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