Italian Sausage......

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Barefootdog

Newbie
Original poster
Mar 22, 2022
18
19
Been a lurking new member here for a while.
I've been impressed with the knowledge and experience base of the members.
Great resource.

I've made sausage for a number of years now. Mostly loose breakfast sausage and some stuffed Italian sausage.

Have always used the slow and painful Kitchenaid grinder and stuffer. It did the job but what a pain in the neck. The product has always turned out good and reminds me of the butcher sausage we used to get back in the neighborhoods growing up (Newark, Elizabeth, Asbury Park, Long Branch ((New Jersey)). It's tough to get good ethnic food out here in Oregon. If it's going to taste like home I have to do it myself. sausage pix 1.jpg sausage pix 2.jpg

Here's my last batch. 10# is about my patience limit using the Kitchen Aid for stuffed sausage.

....and the good news is that upgraded equipment has been ordered.

Avantco SS-11V 11 lb. vertical stuffer and a 32mm Vevor meat grinder off Amazon. The grinder appears to be the generic version of the prior model Cabelas Carnivore 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 hp grinder. This is going to get a lot easier next week when the new gear arrives. I'm looking forward to it.....

Smoked Kielbasa and Chorizo are the next projects.
 
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Looks great! I only made a couple batches with my kitchen aid grinder before upgrading to dedicated equipment. It is a game changer, especially to stuffer.
 
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Looks mighty good. Welcome to the forums from Mississippi. Look forward to more of your posts. Lots of sausage makers on here.

Jim
 
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Been a lurking new member here for a while.
I've been impressed with the knowledge and experience base of the members.
Great resource.

I've made sausage for a number of years now. Mostly loose breakfast sausage and some stuffed Italian sausage.

Have always used the slow and painful Kitchenaid grinder and stuffer. It did the job but what a pain in the neck. The product has always turned out good and reminds me of the butcher sausage we used to get back in the neighborhoods growing up (Newark, Elizabeth, Asbury Park, Long Branch ((New Jersey)). It's tough to get good ethnic food out here in Oregon. If it's going to taste like home I have to do it myself.View attachment 679543View attachment 679544

Here's my last batch. 10# is about my patience limit using the Kitchen Aid for stuffed sausage.

....and the good news is that upgraded equipment has been ordered.

Avantco SS-11V 11 lb. vertical stuffer and a 32mm Vevor meat grinder off Amazon. The grinder appears to be the generic version of the prior model Cabelas Carnivore 1 1/2 or 1 3/4 hp grinder. This is going to get a lot easier next week when the new gear arrives. I'm looking forward to it.....

Smoked Kielbasa and Chorizo are the next projects.
Looks great bro. I look forward to your future projects.
 
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Great looking Italian Sausage!

Recipe?

I love trying different Italian Sausage recipes.
The recipe is nothing special. Simple sausage recipe based upon the mild/hot recipe in Rytek Kutas book "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" The only changes I make are toasting the Fennel and Caraway seeds then cracking before adding to the mix, increasing the pepper flake quantity and (sometime) adding 1tsp hot smoked paprika to the 10# mix.

If it has to stand up to a 3 meat red sauce (or 4 with braciole) I up the spice. For cooking on the stove or w/peppers/onions either plain or modified works good. For the sausage/peppers/onion stove top prep I add additional ground mixed fennel/caraway to the pan while cooking. It ups the "sausage profile" of the pan. Sometimes I do the sausage/peppers/onion thing on the grill and add a smoke tube under the grill cover. My mom did not like me adding smoke to her peppers and sausage recipe...no she did not.

Just different ways of dancing around the same thing.

This is just a basic thing.

Don't get me started on eggplant parm.......
 
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Homemade Italian sausage has me so spoiled that I won't eat commercial anymore - unless it's on a pizza. Last small batch I made, earlier this month was just a little batch (I really don't eat it but 1/2 dozen or 10x a year) but I made it a different way. I ran it though the grinder 2x as usual but added all the spices before the second grind. I usually add the fennel and anise after because I like the whole pieces. Grinding it all gave me still chunky but broken bits of fennel and anise and I really liked how it came out. More of the profile came though. I also used pork loin and belly - wonder if that had a positive effect over using butt. Was the best I'd ever made.

Barefootdog Barefootdog - looks great! Maybe I'll toast my fennel and anise a little next time. I don't use caraway. I'm craving I/S meatball subs now.
 
The recipe is nothing special. Simple sausage recipe based upon the mild/hot recipe in Rytek Kutas book "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" The only changes I make are toasting the Fennel and Caraway seeds then cracking before adding to the mix, increasing the pepper flake quantity and (sometime) adding 1tsp hot smoked paprika to the 10# mix.

If it has to stand up to a 3 meat red sauce (or 4 with braciole) I up the spice. For cooking on the stove or w/peppers/onions either plain or modified works good. For the sausage/peppers/onion stove top prep I add additional ground mixed fennel/caraway to the pan while cooking. It ups the "sausage profile" of the pan. Sometimes I do the sausage/peppers/onion thing on the grill and add a smoke tube under the grill cover. My mom did not like me adding smoke to her peppers and sausage recipe...no she did not.

Just different ways of dancing around the same thing.

This is just a basic thing.

Don't get me started on eggplant parm.......
Best Italian sausage recipe there is - in my humble opinion.

Man do I miss my grandmother's braciole...

Off topic - try hot smoking (smoke roasting) a few of those Italian sausages over hickory - you won't believe it.
 
The recipe is nothing special. Simple sausage recipe based upon the mild/hot recipe in Rytek Kutas book "Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing" The only changes I make are toasting the Fennel and Caraway seeds then cracking before adding to the mix, increasing the pepper flake quantity and (sometime) adding 1tsp hot smoked paprika to the 10# mix.

If it has to stand up to a 3 meat red sauce (or 4 with braciole) I up the spice. For cooking on the stove or w/peppers/onions either plain or modified works good. For the sausage/peppers/onion stove top prep I add additional ground mixed fennel/caraway to the pan while cooking. It ups the "sausage profile" of the pan. Sometimes I do the sausage/peppers/onion thing on the grill and add a smoke tube under the grill cover. My mom did not like me adding smoke to her peppers and sausage recipe...no she did not.

Just different ways of dancing around the same thing.

This is just a basic thing.

Don't get me started on eggplant parm.......
Never thought of caraway. Just anise and fennel.
 
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