
Homemade, spicy Italian sausage
BY: ANDREA ALDEN
This recipe is all about how to make spicy Italian sausage. Wait a minute. I have to start over. I've waited almost a year to finally do this. Making my own sausage. I originally wanted to make a slightly milder sausage, but I ended up with a much spicier flavor than I intended. But the flavor is FULLY pronounced, it's not just about spiciness for spiciness's sake. I started with some research. I actually wanted to make something that was easy and needed to source good ingredients. Then I had to make sure we had the spices that would create the flavor we envisioned. And finally we just had to do it. I think what stops people the most is the sausage casing and stuffing. Sausage casings are either artificial or come from slaughtered animals. They don't smell great and are really disgusting. But they are an essential part of the process. I recommend you go to your local butcher (ours is Barrie Butchers) and talk to them about what sausage casings they use and if they can give you any tips and tricks. This means you get a lot more for your money. We got enough meat to make four times the amount of this recipe! Now about the pork. You can use a pork shoulder and add pork fat or ask for leftover pork. Then you literally get a bag of some pork. But it does give you enough meat to do something with - which is good - and it's probably cheaper than buying a whole pork shoulder for this project.
INGREDIENTS
- 1125 g pork
- 225 g solid pork fat
- 2 tbsp fresh garlic, grated/crushed/chopped/pressed
- 1 tbsp paprika
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp cayenne powder
- 3/4 tsp ground aniseed
- 2 tbsp dried parsley
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 2 tsp chili flakes
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tsp fennel seeds
- 1/2 tbsp rosemary
- 1 tbsp peppercorns
- natural sausage casings
Kitchens - Appliances
- Meat grinder
- Sausage stuffer (standalone or as an attachment to the meat grinder)
- Mortar and pestle or spice mill
PREPARATION
- It is important to start with partially frozen meat and fat. So if you purchase your meat fresh, freeze it for at least an hour before starting.
- Cut the fat and pork into pieces about 2 cm in size. Use a kitchen scale to make sure you get the right amount.
- In a small frying pan or saucepan, combine the fennel seeds, peppercorns and rosemary. Roast the seeds on a low heat until the scent hits your nose. Grind the spices you just roasted together using a mortar and spatula or a spice grinder. Then mix these spices with the remaining spices.
- Add the spices to the pork fat and the pieces of meat and freeze the whole thing again for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Take the grinder of your meat grinder for fine grinding - I personally like to use the stand mixer attachment on my food processor - and grind the pork and fat with the spices into a large bowl. Do the palm test to make sure you have the right ratio of meat to fat. Take a handful of ground meat. Form it into a small patty in your hand. It should hold together for about 5 seconds. Now the taste test. Fry the small pie on the second lowest heat and taste it. Does the meat hold together? If not, add another 113 g of fat to the grinder. Mix the ground fat with the meat and do the test again. Does it taste good? Add as much seasoning as needed, but don't overdo it. When you are satisfied, freeze the meat again for 15 minutes.
- Prepare your sausage stuffer. If you are using a food processor, remove the blade and fine grinding disk. Insert the spacer (a round thing with two arms that fits onto the “auger”), insert the large meat funnel into the cover collar and screw the whole thing onto the device. Wet your fingers and then the meat funnel before placing about 1/4 of the sausage casings over the meat funnel. Cut the sausage casings where you think there is enough length. Do not tie the end of the sausage casing. Instead, pull the sausage casing down about 2 1/2 inches from the meat funnel before you start filling it with meat. Hold the sausage casing closed as you fill it with meat until you have about a sausage length full. Then don't think about it anymore until you've finished filling the sausage casings.
- Fill the dispenser to the top with the ground meat mixture and continuously press the meat through the funnel into the sausage casings using the slider. Two people have to do this task together (and with the help of the food processor anyway). So make sure you have someone to help you with this whole process.
- Filling the sausage casing is an instinctive process. The first time, you will panic as soon as the meat starts to slide out of the funnel and into the sausage casing. But just keep your hand steady and you'll quickly figure out how to do it. Be sure to support the part of the sausage closest to the funnel. Maintain constant pressure and fill the sausage casing completely before releasing it slightly to move the sausage forward. Don't think about how you're going to get the individual sausages later until you've stuffed all the meat into the sausage casing.
- Once you have used all of the meat, pull a little excess sausage casing off the funnel and trim it about 2 1/2 inches from the end of the sausage. Tie both ends. This is important to avoid air pockets. Now you can cut your sausage into individual pieces. Measure out a piece, pinch it where you want the sausage to end/start, and twist the rest of the sausage casing around that point. Repeat this along the entire length of the sausage casing.
- Store your sausage in the refrigerator overnight before cutting the individual pieces apart. This will make the sausage casing slightly stiff. At the same time, this allows the flavors to combine with each other, which takes some time. But then you can cook the sausages straight away if you want. Heat the grill to a low setting, maximum approx. 150°C, and grill the sausages over indirect heat for approx. 30 minutes. When a thermometer inserted into the end of a sausage reads about 165°F (75°C), turn up the broiler setting and grill the sausages directly over the burner until they begin to brown. This takes up to 15 minutes.
- You can easily store the sausages in the refrigerator. Or you can cut them after cooking to use in a pasta dish or jambalaya. Whatever you use them for, you'll love these sausages.
It's easy to learn how to make spicy Italian sausage. I did it in one day. And no joke. I calculated it, it was almost 180 cm of meat. Can you imagine if I thought that wasn't enough? AND that I wanted to do more? ASAP? We haven't even eaten all the sausages from the first load! This recipe contains no nitrates or preservatives of any kind. You don't need them. Firstly, you'll eat them so quickly that you don't need any preservatives and secondly, they freeze really well so you can easily store any leftovers. This is a great project to do on the weekend. It's a great learning experience and fun too. What do you like to cook most on the weekend? Would you try making sausages? Write a comment and let us know!
Grill community
Become part of our grilling community and share your experiences on social networks.
Show us your favorite grilled dish on our pages MaennerLeben, Grills Facebook and Grills Instagram.
Our hashtags:
#men's life
#NapoleonGrill





Manufacturer information:
0