I haven't made sausage in years.

[forktender]

I sure could use a little help trying to replicate my Papa's/ Gramp's Italian ring sausage.

I called up my Ma, between her and my Auntie that lives with my folks, they remembered what my Papa used to call his ring/ pinwheel sausage, it was called "Chevalatta".

It wasn't what most people think of when they think of Italian sausage, it looked like this. And it was about the diameter of my thumb, granted I wear a size 18 wedding ring.
I know this because my wife and I were in SF yesterday selling off some of our gold as we are upgrading our wedding sets. They have to custom make my wedding band because they don't carry rings anywhere near my banana finger size. LOL!!!

The coils would cover the whole grate of a 22" weber kettle.

My Ma & Auntie, remember helping Poppa make the Chevalatta sausage.
They said it was just basic Italian kitchen ingredients.

Pecorino cheese, lots of it. = 2 hands cupped together full. LOL!!!

Italian parsley, lots of it. = Same as above.

Fresh garlic chopped. =A palmful of.

Dry white wine. =A cup or two of good Pinot Grigio.

A palmful of coarse sea salt & black pepper.

A small palmful of toasted fennel seed & a few pinches of fennel pollen. I used to eat the pollen by the teaspoon when I was a kid, I love fennel.

A small palmful of oregano.

A few pinches of fresh chopped rosemary.

A few pinches of dry Calabrian chili flake, minced in a mortar.

A touch= a squirt of two of honey.

Oh boy, my family recipes definitely leave a little to be desired. LOL!!!


This is what they could remember, I'll have to do many fry tests and write down the grams of ingredients so I can replicate the recipe more accurately in the future.

I'm ordering up the ingredients that I don't have on hand, along with some 20-22 sheep casings. I have a small Lem grinder, and a 5lb Lem stuffer, if I get back into this the grinder will be upgraded.

My family used small hand crank grinders, and I've made many pounds of burger, so I know my little grinder will be ok for my first attempt. I've never used the stuffer, it was a gift from a friend on a duck hunting forum that I used to be a Mod on.
(If you can believe that) me as a moderator, talk about loose standards.
My general response to guys complaining about others, was,
"you're a grown ass man deal with it."
Or, "If they bother you that much, use the ignore feature." I don't have time for this petty sh!t. LOL!!!

When I get ready to attempt this, I'm sure I will have questions regarding which grinding plate to use and many others. LOL!!!
I'm sure it will come back to me slowly, at least I hope it will.

Here is a picture of what I'm shooting for, you can see the grind in the photo.

To my eyes, it looks like a coarser grind than your typical dego sausage, what do you think?


This sausage was a big part of our family get-togethers. We had it on all of our family reunions, birthdays, holidays, and Sunday night football games at Noni & Papa's.

This sausage recipe, once perfected, will be called, "Noni & Papa's Pinwheel Sausage" To be handed down to future generations of my friends & family.

As you can see, reviving this old family recipe is very near and dear to my heart.
I want to nail this, and with your help, I know that I will.

THANK YOU ALL, SO, SO MUCH !!!

¡¡¡Mangia!!!

Dan.

Tonights supper, was one of the pinwheels I got from Frank & Sal's in NY. For size reference, although I think I'm gonna go a touch larger on my casings.

I got a good laugh when I asked my Mom " how much ground meat are we talking"? She held up her hands, which was about 2' by 1.5' and said 4 to 6 lugs full to the top. LMAO!!!

Im glad I asked that question or my 20lb batch would've been way over seasoned. Im gonna start with 1/4 of the above ingredients. If I have to add more meat I will, or more spices I will.
I had planned on grinding my scrap along with 2 whold butts so I could make up some breakfast sausage as well. So I'll have extra grind on hand in case I need to add it.

 

[thirdeye]

At least you have a list of ingredients to work with. This should be a fun experiment. I have a recipe for a Sicilian sausage with some of the same "signature" spices, cheese and wine, so I sort of understand the flavor profile you are going for.

When modifying a sausage recipe, or reverse engineering a recipe, this link below can be helpful. Drop down to the section that lists a starting point for various spices and check that against your list of "pinches" and "palm full" measurements.

Are you planning to work in bulk in small batches until you get your flavors and salt percentage dialed in?

Sausage Recipe

Sausage Recipe Secrets

www.meatsandsausages.com

 

[thirdeye]

A quick search came up with this:

The small-diameter coiled Italian sausage you are looking for is known as cervellata (or chevalatta / gevolad), often prepared as a cheese and parsley or wine-infused pinwheel rope.

About Cervellata Sausage

Shape and Size: Formed into a continuous spiral coil or ring, secured with skewers, and stuffed into a thin natural casing (such as sheep or lamb casing) for a delicate bite.
Flavor Profile: Traditionally crafted from pork mixed with hard Italian cheeses (like Provolone, Pecorino Romano, or Parmesan), fresh parsley, and a splash of dry white like Pinot Grigio.
Regional Roots: Brought to American Italian-American communities (especially around New York and Long Island) by immigrants from Puglia and Bari, Italy

 

[chopsaw]

Dan , I sent you a link .

 

[thirdeye]

I think your family's ingredients sound wonderful for a sausage. This link below barely hit's a few of the flavors... but it's worth a look while you are nailing the old school recipe.

Italian Ring Sausage (Chevalatta)

Italian ring sausage, or Chevalatta, is a delicious summer sausage for BBQs and family parties, perfect to serve with broccoli rabe or pasta!

alwaysfromscratch.com

 

[Fueling Around]

I'm following and wishing you success in this venture.
Family recipes has been a long search for my German wife and finding her father's sausage recipe. I'm getting closer every try.
I've noticed some sausage uses a mix of fine and course grind.

...
And it was about the diameter of my thumb, granted I wear a size 18 wedding ring.
...
Dan.

I met 1 other person as you many years ago. Office tradition was a guy getting married wore a ball and shackle for a week. The ball was a 16# bowling ball and he palmed it.

 

[forktender]

At least you have a list of ingredients to work with. This should be a fun experiment. I have a recipe for a Sicilian sausage with some of the same "signature" spices, cheese and wine, so I sort of understand the flavor profile you are going for.

When modifying a sausage recipe, or reverse engineering a recipe, this link below can be helpful. Drop down to the section that lists a starting point for various spices and check that against your list of "pinches" and "palm full" measurements.

Are you planning to work in bulk in small batches until you get your flavors and salt percentage dialed in?

Sausage Recipe

Sausage Recipe Secrets

www.meatsandsausages.com

I was planning on making up a 15 to 20lb batch.
Even if it doesn't taste like what I'm looking for I know friends will love it.
Thanks so much for the link. I'll check it out tonight when I'm up in the midle of the night. LOL

 

[forktender]

Dan , I sent you a link .

Thanks a bunch, Rich, I'll check it out now.

 

[chopsaw]

Im glad I asked that question or my 20lb batch would've been way over seasoned. Im gonna start with 1/4 of the above ingredients.

This would be a rough per pound starting point for me .
Salt- 9 grams
Black pepper - 1 gram
Oregano - . 5 grams
Parsley - . 5 grams Don't miss the decimal point on these 3 .
Rosemary - . 5 grams
Fennel seed - 2 grams ( I like fennel )
Garlic - 1 clove fresh
Pepper flakes - to taste . 1/4 tsp starting point . Probably on the mild side .

Pecorino - to taste , 1/4 cup .
White wine - I add by eye , don't get to wet . If you do use Pecorino to tighten it up .
Just be aware the cheese brings some salt with it .

Honey ? Personally I would add dextrose ( for browning ) Honey ,,, maybe a 1/2 tsp .

That should get you close if you choose to use it .

Maybe you can get a reference from these . Judging by the pic above I'd say those are 28mm
i bet that was some awesome sausage .
22mm

28mm

 

[zwiller]

@forktender You got this! Gonna take a few trials and tribulations but you are talking to a guy that never made sausage and a have a few bucket lists things crossed off. You are WAAAY farther ahead than you realize as you have all the ingredients just not the amounts. I would highly suggest making much smaller test batches in metric and %. 1Kg is 1000g and is 2.2lbs is what I would do. Makes the math easy. I personally would not even stuff and just make patties. Looks to me you were already given the SIGNATURE ingredient, fresh rosemary. Agree with you looks like a rather course grind. One thing that is coming to mind is that you will likely need to reduce your salt using THAT much pecorino. Thanks for thread and totally in for the ride. That sausage sounds FANTASTIC.

My take:
1000g course ground pork butt
10% pecorino which is 100g
10% pinot is 100g
1% salt is 10g
1% BP is 10g
1% garlic is 10g
1% parsely is 10g
1% honey is 10g
.2% fresh rosemary is 2g
.2% calabrian pepper is 2g

Be sure to the hold the mix 24hrs and let marry before fry test. After testing, if you want to increase an ingredient double it, if you want reduce, halve it. Also, when eating, I routinely sprinkle spices and stuff on cooked sausage to see if it gets better or worse.

 

[bill ace 350]

I sure could use a little help trying to replicate my Papa's/ Gramp's Italian ring sausage.

I called up my Ma, between her and my Auntie that lives with my folks, they remembered what my Papa used to call his ring/ pinwheel sausage, it was called "Chevalatta".

It wasn't what most people think of when they think of Italian sausage, it looked like this. And it was about the diameter of my thumb, granted I wear a size 18 wedding ring.
I know this because my wife and I were in SF yesterday selling off some of our gold as we are upgrading our wedding sets. They have to custom make my wedding band because they don't carry rings anywhere near my banana finger size. LOL!!!
View attachment 737857
The coils would cover the whole grate of a 22" weber kettle.

My Ma & Auntie, remember helping Poppa make the Chevalatta sausage.
They said it was just basic Italian kitchen ingredients.

Pecorino cheese, lots of it. = 2 hands cupped together full. LOL!!!

Italian parsley, lots of it. = Same as above.

Fresh garlic chopped. =A palmful of.

Dry white wine. =A cup or two of good Pinot Grigio.

A palmful of coarse sea salt & black pepper.

A small palmful of toasted fennel seed & a few pinches of fennel pollen. I used to eat the pollen by the teaspoon when I was a kid, I love fennel.

A small palmful of oregano.

A few pinches of fresh chopped rosemary.

A few pinches of dry Calabrian chili flake, minced in a mortar.

A touch= a squirt of two of honey.

Oh boy, my family recipes definitely leave a little to be desired. LOL!!!


This is what they could remember, I'll have to do many fry tests and write down the grams of ingredients so I can replicate the recipe more accurately in the future.

I'm ordering up the ingredients that I don't have on hand, along with some 20-22 sheep casings. I have a small Lem grinder, and a 5lb Lem stuffer, if I get back into this the grinder will be upgraded.

My family used small hand crank grinders, and I've made many pounds of burger, so I know my little grinder will be ok for my first attempt. I've never used the stuffer, it was a gift from a friend on a duck hunting forum that I used to be a Mod on.
(If you can believe that) me as a moderator, talk about loose standards.
My general response to guys complaining about others, was,
"you're a grown ass man deal with it."
Or, "If they bother you that much, use the ignore feature." I don't have time for this petty sh!t. LOL!!!

When I get ready to attempt this, I'm sure I will have questions regarding which grinding plate to use and many others. LOL!!!
I'm sure it will come back to me slowly, at least I hope it will.

Here is a picture of what I'm shooting for, you can see the grind in the photo.

View attachment 737870

To my eyes, it looks like a coarser grind than your typical dego sausage, what do you think?


This sausage was a big part of our family get-togethers. We had it on all of our family reunions, birthdays, holidays, and Sunday night football games at Noni & Papa's.

This sausage recipe, once perfected, will be called, "Noni & Papa's Pinwheel Sausage" To be handed down to future generations of my friends & family.

As you can see, reviving this old family recipe is very near and dear to my heart.
I want to nail this, and with your help, I know that I will.

THANK YOU ALL, SO, SO MUCH !!!

¡¡¡Mangia!!!

Dan.

Tonights supper, was one of the pinwheels I got from Frank & Sal's in NY. For size reference, although I think I'm gonna go a touch larger on my casings.View attachment 737887



I got a good laugh when I asked my Mom " how much ground meat are we talking"? She held up her hands, which was about 2' by 1.5' and said 4 to 6 lugs full to the top. LMAO!!!

Im glad I asked that question or my 20lb batch would've been way over seasoned. Im gonna start with 1/4 of the above ingredients. If I have to add more meat I will, or more spices I will.
I had planned on grinding my scrap along with 2 whold butts so I could make up some breakfast sausage as well. So I'll have extra grind on hand in case I need to add it.

Wow! You sure didn't forget how!

 

[forktender]

@forktender You got this! Gonna take a few trials and tribulations but you are talking to a guy that never made sausage and a have a few bucket lists things crossed off. You are WAAAY farther ahead than you realize as you have all the ingredients just not the amounts. I would highly suggest making much smaller test batches in metric and %. 1Kg is 1000g and is 2.2lbs is what I would do. Makes the math easy. I personally would not even stuff and just make patties. Looks to me you were already given the SIGNATURE ingredient, fresh rosemary. Agree with you looks like a rather course grind. One thing that is coming to mind is that you will likely need to reduce your salt using THAT much pecorino. Thanks for thread and totally in for the ride. That sausage sounds FANTASTIC.

My take:
1000g course ground pork butt
10% pecorino which is 100g
10% pinot is 100g
1% salt is 10g
1% BP is 10g
1% garlic is 10g
1% parsely is 10g
1% honey is 10g
.2% fresh rosemary is 2g
.2% calabrian pepper is 2g

Be sure to the hold the mix 24hrs and let marry before fry test. After testing, if you want to increase an ingredient double it, if you want reduce, halve it. Also, when eating, I routinely sprinkle spices and stuff on cooked sausage to see if it gets better or worse.

Great advice, you have no idea how much I appreciate your help.
Someone mentioned a dual grind, that sounds like a good call to me.
I'm gonna try that with a few for the test batches to see what that does to the texture.
Thank you so much.

Dan.

I'm thinking of going with a 26mm or 28mm casing, seeing that I want it a little bigger than the sausage in my last picture, above.