Sweet Italian Sausage

I've been wanting to make sausage at home for quite some time.  Finally acquired the rest of the equipment...and the raw materials of a Boston Butt roast and hog casings...

My Kitchenaid stand mixer, my friend for almost 30 years, is the work horse along with the grinder and sausage stuffing attachments.  If I enjoy sausage making, I'll make the investment for a metal meat grinder...but all in time.

Here's the recipe.  I change from Anise seed to Fennel seed doubling the amount in the recipe and I added a little more garlic.  I'll try to scan this to a document and post with my changes.

Here's an example of a Boston Butt or Picnic Roast.  It's actually from the shoulder of the pig.  So there is sinew and good marblization.  I also added about a quarter pound of saltpork that I cut and blanched to get the salt out.  Should have added even more.  Today's pig - unless your being locally grown Heritage breeds as so much leaner than 10 or 15 years ago.

As you can see, the marbling.  The five pounds had to be cut into 1" squares.  Thanks for my 10" chef knife that had just recently been professionally sharpened! 

Then, you need to put in the freezer for a few to firm them up before grinding.

Next, grinding.  This took a lot more time than I had anticipated and my hands were sore by the end of the process.

Then mix!  One of the chef's I follow recommended adding a little water to the sausage and mix with the paddle of the Kitchenaid to make a smooth filling.  Mines a little rustic, but that didn't bother me.

Next comes the stuffing part.  Supposed to lube the tube with Crisco, which I couldn't find in the pantry, so I used veggie oil.  I'll buy Crisco for the next batch!  It took a little bit to get the diameter of the sausage the same and not go too fast and not get enough sausage in there.  Oh, and you have to manually fill the stuffer as well.  A lot to manage.

Then the money shot.  I figured that the width of my hand was a good size for the links.  It made about twenty sausages and I had some left over mix that I froze as well.  Total cost of the ingredients (pork and salt pork) was about $27 for 5lbs, might not be a bargain, but you know what's in it.

Happy Eating!