Homemade Italian sausage is a bit of a lost art, but for those who process game, or can’t resist when the grocery store puts pork butts on sale for half price, here is a recipe you can try. This was my Mom’s recipe, she grew on Chicago’s south side with a best friend whose last name was Genoveses, which if you know anything about Chicago in the 1960s, you know they never waited for a table at Italian restaurants. Sweet Italian sausage is a bit of misnomer as it’ snot really sweet, it’s just not hot. I am presenting this recipe using grocery story products, but you can easily substitute game such as deer or elk for the meat. I also present this as a small recipe, which you can easily scale up.
Ingredients
- 2 lb Lean Pork (or game) – cubed in 1″ pieces
- 1 lb Pork fat – cubed in 1″ pieces
- 2 Garlic cloves – pressed
- 1 TBL Kosher salt
- 2 tsp fennel seed or powder
- 0.5 tsp ground pepper
- 1 tsp Crushed red pepper
- 3 TBL Dry red wine (optional)
Process
- Mise en Place – measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
- Mix the pork and fat cubes in a bowl and then grind in medium setting.
- Press garlic, crush fennel (if using seeds), and blend with salt and pepper.
- Add enough boiling water to cover spices, cover with film and allow to re-hydrate.
- Add dry red wine to punch up the taste and appearance.
- Using your hands, pour the spice paste over the ground meat and work around to get an even spread.
- Package – loose of in casing
- If keeping loose: put sausage in three 1 lb vacuum bags and seal.
- If casing: fill casing loosely and twist tight in lengths of 4-8 inches.
- Leave packaged sausage in frig for 24 hrs before cooking or freezing.
- Cooking
- Boiling: can cook cased sausage in boiling water for 20 mins.
- Save water for sauce
- Baking/grilling: can bake or grill the cased sausage.
- Bake at 350 F for 20 mins.
- Saute: the loose and cased sausage can be sauted until cooked through.
- Boiling: can cook cased sausage in boiling water for 20 mins.
