Homemade Italian Sausage Recipes 



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Charcuterie is the area of cooking that focuses on prepared meat products, like bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, galantines, ballotines, pâtés, and confit. Originally, charcuterie was mainly derived from pork. Today people are using a variety of meats to produce an amazing variety of charcuterie. 

Homemade Italian sausage.Italian Sausage Recipes From Scratch

Charcuterie is part of garde manger. Originally, it was intended as a way to preserve meat before refrigeration became commonplace. Now they are prepared for their flavors which are derived from the preservation processes.

Sadly, it is an area that is all but overlooked in many culinary programs. Once, in the not too distant past, that was not the case. In fact, one of the many requirements, on the way to becoming a chef (not a cook, a chef, as in executive chef) was mastery of charcuterie.

I hope to encourage you to study and learn charcuterie, or at least understand it. While store bought sausages can be good, and some are very good, they'll never be like the sausage you can make at home.

Homemade sausage requires craftsmanship in the kitchen, and careful attention from the cook. However, you can adapt your homemade sausage to your particular liking. You can use better cuts of meat rather than the scraps that the butcher usually uses. Learn to love the sausage. It is a perfect package of seasonings and juiciness and may very well be the definitive comfort food.

Homemade Italian sausage seasoning in clear ramekinsHomemade Italian sausage seasoning: kosher salt, granulated sugar, fennel seeds, anise seeds, coriander seeds, paprika, cayenne pepper, fresh oregano, fresh basil, red pepper, and black pepper.
Toasted fennel, coriander, and anise seeds on a plate.Toasted fennel, coriander, and anise seeds.
Fresh basil and fresh oregano on a plate.Fresh basil and fresh oregano.
The pork butt and pork fat cubed for the grinder.The pork butt and pork fat cubed for the grinder.
Toss the meat mixture with the seasonings.Toss the meat mixture with the seasonings.
Grinding the sausage.Grinding the sausage.
Soaking the hog casings.Soaking the hog casings.


Rinsing the inside of the hog casings by running water through the casing.
Rinsing the inside of the hog casings by running water through the casing.

After soaking the casings it is important to rinse the inside of the casings, to remove any excess salt.

Feed the casing onto the stuffer tube of your grinder.Feed the casing onto the stuffer tube of your grinder.


The casing has been fed onto the stuffer tube.Notice the entire casing has been fed onto the stuffer tube, save an inch or so.
Sausage being stuffed into hog casing.As you feed the ground sausage into the stuffer/grinder you need to gently guide the casing off the tube as it fills with meat.
Italian sausage rope on a sheet pan.When the casings are filled they will look like this. Notice the liquid on the pan. That's water. You want some water on the pan to allow the sausage to slide as you are stuffing it.
Sausage, twisted into links.Sausage, twisted into links.


Italian Sausage Recipes

Important: before you make this recipe see note 6.

Yield: about 24 six-inch sausages

Prep Time:3 hours

See the recipe in Ounces or Grams.

Italian sausage typically comes in two varieties hot or sweet. Sweet Italian sausage recipes are not sweet as in sugary-sweet, rather, they lack heat from spices.

Sausage links resting on a kitchen towel.

Italian Sausage Recipes In Pounds

Ingredients 

Hot Italian Sausage Recipe

  • 4-1/2 pounds boneless pork butt, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 1-1/3 pounds pork fat, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted
  • 1 tablespoon anise seeds, toasted
  • 1 tablespoon coriander seeds, toasted
  • 3 tablespoons paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 4 tablespoons fresh oregano leaves, rough chopped
  • 4 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
  • 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
  • 2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup ice water, divided
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, chilled, divided
  • 4 drops anise oil
  • 10 feet hog casings, soaked in room temperature water for 30 minutes and rinsed

Ingredients

Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe

  • 4 pounds boneless pork butt, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 1.2 pound (19 ounces)pork fat, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 3 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fennel seeds, toasted
  • 1 teaspoon anise seeds, toasted
  • 2 tablespoons paprika
  • 3 tablespoons fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
  • 2 teaspoons coarse ground black pepper
  • 3/4 cup ice water, divided
  • 1/4 cup red wine vinegar, chilled, divided
  • 10 feet hog casings, soaked in room temperature water for 30 minutes and rinsed

Italian Sausage Recipes In Grams

Ingredients

Hot Italian Sausage Recipe

  • 2 kilograms boneless pork butt, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 600 grams pork fat, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 40 grams kosher salt
  • 32 grams granulated sugar
  • 16 grams fennel seeds, toasted
  • 8 grams anise seeds, toasted
  • 8 grams coriander seeds, toasted
  • 24 grams paprika
  • 1 gram cayenne pepper
  • 24 grams fresh oregano leaves, rough chopped
  • 24 grams fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
  • 12 grams red pepper flakes
  • 6 grams coarse ground black pepper
  • 185 milliliters ice water, divided
  • 60 milliliters red wine vinegar, chilled, divided
  • 4 drops anise oil
  • 10 meters hog casings, soaked in room temperature water for 30 minutes and rinsed

Ingredients

Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe

  • 1.8 kilograms (1800 grams) boneless pork butt, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 540 grams pork fat, diced into 1-inch cubes
  • 40 grams kosher salt
  • 32 grams granulated sugar
  • 16 grams fennel seeds, toasted
  • 2 grams anise seeds, toasted
  • 16 grams paprika
  • 18 grams fresh basil leaves, rough chopped
  • 6 grams coarse ground black pepper
  • 185 milliliters ice water, divided
  • 60 milliliters red wine vinegar, chilled, divided
  • 3 meters hog casings, soaked in room temperature water for 30 minutes and rinsed

Method

  1. Combine all the ingredients in a very large mixing bowl and toss well to evenly distribute the seasonings. Chill in the refrigerator until ready to grind.
  2. Fill a large mixing bowl half full of ice cubes. Place the bowl of your stand mixer down into the ice.
  3. Grind the mixture through the small die, of your grinder, into the mixing bowl of your stand mixer, that is resting in the ice.
  4. Divide the grind mixture in half. Working with one-half the mixture at a time, add half of the water and half of the vinegar, (and add 2 drops of anise oil, for the spicy sausage) to the meat mixture. Mix with the paddle attachment, on medium, until the liquid is incorporated and the mixture has developed a sticky appearance, throughout, about 1 to 1-1/2 minutes. Repeat with the remaining meat mixture and ingredients. This step is called the primary bind and it affects the texture of the finished sausage.
  5. Cook a small piece of the sausage and taste it to check the seasoning level. Adjust it if necessary.
  6. Place the sausage in a clean bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for an hour or two before proceeding. (You can stop right here and you will have bulk Italian sausage. Just wrap it in one pound logs and use, or freeze, as needed.)
  7. While the sausage is chilling rinse and soak your casings in tepid water for at least 30 minutes. After the soaking period is finished make certain to rinse the inside of the casings by gently running water through the casing. See Note 3.
  8. Stuff the sausage into the hog casings and twist into 6-inch / 15 centimeter lengths. Refrigerate or freeze as necessary until ready to use.

To Cook

  1. Saute, roast, grill or smoke the sausage to an internal temperature of 150° F / 65° C.

Notes

  1. For the hot Italian sausage recipes you can tailor the heat to your liking. If you want it really spicy increase the red pepper by 50 percent. If you like spice but prefer a subtler heat index decrease the red pepper by half.
  2. Italian sausage pairs extremely well with green bell peppers and onions. It also pairs very nicely with sangiovese or chianti, as does sausage and peppers, actually.
  3. Working with hog casings isn't that difficult but it can seem daunting if you haven't done it before. Fill a bowl with tepid water and add the casings. Agitate them slightly to remove the salt and drain the water. Repeat this step 2 to 3 times to remove all of the excess salt. Then refill the bowl and allow the casings to soak until they are pliable, usually about 30 minutes, though you can let them soak longer. When they finish soaking find one end and open it up. gently fit the end onto the faucet and open the cool water valve to little more than a trickle. As the water fills the casing remove any twists in the casing. Allow the water to run all the way through the casing.
  4. When you are ready to stuff the casings place a sheet pan on a work surface under the stuffer tube. splash some water on the sheet pan to allow the sausage to slide as the casing fills.
  5. As the casing fills with meat slide the casing off of the stuffer tube.
  6. Unless you own an electric sausage stuffer (and if you do you're probably not reading this page) stuffing sausage into casings is a two person job. One to fill and push the meat through the grinder/stuffer and one to guide the sausage casing off the tube and onto the prepared pan.

Some Universal Rules For Sausage Making

  1. Work cold. Keep everything as cold as possible. After mixing the meat with the seasonings refrigerate it, or partially freeze it, before grinding. And again, after grinding and before stuffing the casings refrigerate the meat.
  2. Before grinding assemble the grinder unit and place it in the freezer for a half-hour or so.
  3. Make sure that your sausage recipe is between 25 and 30 percent fat.
  4. After grinding the sausage always cook off a piece of the sausage and taste it so that you can adjust the seasoning, before you stuff it into casings.

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