Authentic Homemade Italian Sausage Recipes

HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE RECIPE

Steps:

• Mix the red wine vinegar with the pork meat in a bowl.
• Sprinkle it with all the remaining ingredients (seasoning, herbs and vegetables)
• Knead it making sure that they are all spread evenly throughout the meat.
• Split the sausage into three long parts, wrap each of them in plastic and put them in a freezer bag before letting them cool in the freezer. You want to use a freezer bag for them, to avoid freezer burn.
• Let them cool in the freezer for 12 hours before taking them out.

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Get out about 15 to 20 feet of hog casings and soak them in warm water.
• Cut the meat and fat into chunks you can fit into your meat grinder. Mix together the salt, sugar, half the fennel seeds, black pepper, nutmeg, oregano and fennel pollen, then mix this with the meat and fat until every piece has a little on it. Put in the freezer until the meat and fat are between 30°F and 40°F. Put your grinder parts (auger, dies, blades, etc) in the freezer, too, and put a bowl in the fridge.
• Grind half of the mixture through the coarse die on your grinder, and half through the fine die. This creates a more interesting texture. If your meat mixture is still at 35°F or colder, you can go right to binding. If it has heated up, you need to chill everything back down. Use this time to clean up the grinder.
• Once the meat is cold, put it in a large bin or bowl and add the remaining fennel seeds, white wine and parsley. Mix well with your (very clean) hands for 2 to 3 minutes -- a good indicator of temperature is that your hands should ache with cold when you do this. You want to to mix until the meat binds to itself. You can also do this in a stand mixer set on its lowest setting, but I find you don't get as good a bind as you do when you do this by hand.
• You now have Italian sausage. You can leave it loose, form it into patties, or link it. I link mine most of the time. Put the loose sausage into a stuffer and thread a casing onto it. Stuffing sausage is easier with two people, one to fill the links, the other to coil, but I do it solo all the time. Stuff the links well but not super-tight, as you will not be able to tie them off later if they are too full. Don't worry about air pockets yet. Stuff the whole casing, leaving lots of room on either end to tie them off; I leave at least three inches of unstuffed casing on either end of the coil.
• To form the individual links, tie off one end of the coil. Now pinch off two links of about six inches long. Rotate the link between your hands forward a few times. (Here's a quick video on making the links) Look for air pockets. To remove them, set a large needle or a sausage pricker into a stovetop burner until it glows (this sterilizes it), then pierce the casing at the air pockets. Twist the links a little and gently compress them until they are nice and tight. Repeat this process with the rest of the sausage.
• Hang your links on a wooden clothes drying rack for at least an hour, or up to overnight if you can hang them in a place that doesn't get any warmer than 40°F or so. This lets the links cure a little, filling their casings and developing flavor. Once you've taken the links off the hanger, they can be refrigerated for up to 3 or 4 days, or frozen for up to a year.

HOMEMADE BULK ITALIAN SAUSAGE, CHICAGO STYLE

Steps:

• Blend together all of the ingredients with the exception of the ground pork until they are thoroughly and uniformly mixed.
• With your clean hands blend the mixture of seasonings into the ground pork until it is well and uniformly blended inches
• Place the sausage in the refrigerator overnight in a covered container so that the flavors can blend before use.
• When I make I usually use 1/3 of it rather quickly on a deep dish pizza and freeze the rest for later use.

HOMEMADE SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Mix together all the seasonings in a bowl (salt, pepper, sugar, fennel, onion powder, garlic powder, smoked paprika, thyme, and oregano).
• Combine the pork, seasonings, and optional red wine in bowl and make sure all spices are blended into the ground pork. If unsure of flavor, heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Cook a small patty and then taste test. Adjust seasonings if needed.
• Divide into patties, or portions for what ever you want to cook it with. You can freeze the sausage too.

HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Cut pork shoulder into cubes. Place in a bowl and refrigerate while preparing the other ingredients.
• Grind garlic with a pinch of salt in a mortar to make a paste. Add fennel, anise, and black pepper. Bruise spices lightly with a pestle to release the flavors. Add red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, oregano, marjoram, coriander, mustard, allspice, sugar, and a splash of water. Stir to combine.
• Add the spice paste to the pork cubes. Mix thoroughly by hand. Add the remaining salt. Cover and refrigerate until flavors meld, 8 hours to overnight.
• Process the cold pork through a meat grinder on the slowest speed.
• Push a casing onto the stuffing tube of your meat grinder. Feed the sausage meat through the filling tray. Run the meat through the casing on the slowest speed until all the casing is used up. Tie casing at the end into a knot. Pinch and twist the meat to create links if desired.
• Place sausage onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Refrigerate uncovered for 24 hours.
• Preheat a charcoal grill for medium heat. Separate the links and grill them until browned, about 5 minutes per side.

HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Put the pork in a bowl and add all remaining ingredients. Mix well to distribute the seasoning evenly throughout the meat.
• Cover and refrigerate for up to 3 days, or freeze for future use.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE - TUSCAN STYLE

Steps:

• Using a spice grinder or food processor, pulverize the salt, black pepper and sugar. In a large bowl, mix together the pork shoulder, back fat, garlic powder, mace, coriander, cayenne and ice water. Mix in the salt, pepper and sugar. Use latex gloves when mixing to avoid contamination of the meat, and keep the mixture cold.
• Stuff the sausage mixture into the casings and twist off in 3 inch lengths. If you do not have a stuffer, the sausage can be formed into patties or rolled into logs. Refrigerate and use up in one week or freeze for up to 6 weeks.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE RECIPE

Steps:

• Place the ground meat in a bowl and add all remaining ingredients. Use your hands or a stand mixer paddle attachment to thoroughly combine the ingredients. Wrap and chill for at least 6 hours before using, preferably overnight for best flavor.The sausage will keep in the fridge for 3 days or can be frozen, well wrapped, for up to 3 months. Makes 1 pound of ground sausage.

HOMEMADE MILD ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Combine the pork butt, garlic, paprika, fennel seeds, salt, pepper, cayenne, anise, parsley, and red wine in a large bowl and toss well to coat. Refrigerate covered overnight or up to 24 hours.
• Pass the mixture through a meat grinder fitted with a medium die. (Alternately, transfer to a food processor in 2 batches and process until finely ground.) To test the seasoning, heat 1 teaspoon oil in a small skillet, and cook about 2 teaspoons of the mixture. Adjust seasonings, to taste.
• Using the sausage attachment on a mixer, stuff the meat into the casings, if being used. Twist and tie off to make 4-inch sausages. Alternately, shape into patties. Cook sausage in usual manner, making sure the internal temperature of the sausage links reaches at least 150 degrees F. Uncooked sausage can be stored in the refrigerator up to 3 days or freeze and use within 3 months.

ITALIAN SAUSAGE MANICOTTI

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x13-inch baking dish.
• Cook and crumble Italian sausage in a large nonstick pan. Once you have it broken apart, add the onion. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink.
• Add garlic, Italian seasoning, and crushed red pepper flakes and cook 1 minute.
• Turn heat to low and add cream cheese. Stir until melted. Remove from heat.
• Let cool slightly and then stir in 3/4 cup of mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, and pepper.
• Stuff the mixture into the manicotti shells. You can either use a spoon or fork to push it in or you can transfer the mixture ot a large ziptop bag and snip the corner and pipe it in.
• Pour about 1/2 cup of sauce in the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly. Place the filled manicotti tubes on top of the sauce.Pour remaining sauce on top of manicotti.
• Cover and bake for 25 minutes.
• Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese and Parmesan cheese. Bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.

HOMEMADE ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
• Cover & refrigerate at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours.
• Cook in a skillet until no pink remains.