When you make Italian Sausage for Pizza... Do you use....

[HowlingDog]

Good Evening All,

When you are making a pizza with sausage, do you use "normal" sweet Italian sausage with fennel as the main spice or another type??

I am thinking I want to try to concoct a pizza specific sausage, like what you might get at your local pizza house, but the recipe I use for sweet Italian (from Sausage Maker) is good, but not what I think of for pizza. I did a quick search and saw Walton's Supreme Pizza Bratwurst seasoning. Also saw another thread that suggested jazzing up breakfast sausage with Italian flavors such as oregano and garlic. Both sound interesting.

I was curious what you use for pizza sausage. Thx.

 

[Bigheaded]

I've used both sweet and hot, I like the hot myself, but honestly, I don't notice any spicey in the hot. And the sweet isn't exactly sweet to me. There's definitely different spices in them. While not a traditional pizza. I make a breakfast one with Farmer John's breakfast sausage, over easy eggs, cracked black pepper & Mike's Hot Honey drizzled on it, and BBQ sauce instead of tomato sauce. It's pretty good, while I never tried it I'm sure I'd like breakfast sausage on a regular pizza instead of the Italian kind.

 

[chef jimmyj]

I'll be watching the progress of this thread.
The best pizza sausage, I've had, seems to be unique. No Fennel, Garlic or Oregano distinguishable. None of the Sage flavor of Breakfast Sausage either. Can Pizza Sausage be as simple as Salt and Pepper only?...JJ

 

[olecrosseyes]

Fennel seeds, garlic and quite a bit of paprika then red pepper seeds to your liking. There could be other seasonings like oregano and,,,,,.

 

[sawhorseray]

I've been making the same stuff for over 15 years now, it's what works for me. I eat it on pizza, on a French roll, on a dinner plate with some pasta, it's good stuff.

33 Pounds of Italian | Smoking Meat Forums - The Best Barbecue Discussion Forum On Earth!

For breakfast I like a maple sausage that I cook on my flattop. That with a few slices of my maple bacon, country taters, four eggs and toast, good for the day. I like to make the breakfast sausage into patties, I believe they get a more even cook. RAY

 

[forktender]

Good Evening All,

When you are making a pizza with sausage, do you use "normal" sweet Italian sausage with fennel as the main spice or another type??

I am thinking I want to try to concoct a pizza specific sausage, like what you might get at your local pizza house, but the recipe I use for sweet Italian (from Sausage Maker) is good, but not what I think of for pizza. I did a quick search and saw Walton's Supreme Pizza Bratwurst seasoning. Also saw another thread that suggested jazzing up breakfast sausage with Italian flavors such as oregano and garlic. Both sound interesting.

I was curious what you use for pizza sausage. Thx.

Buy the book the pizza bible and Tony G. has his recipe for sausage in it and the stuff is flat out AMAZING!!!
This gives you an idea of some of the main things in it.

• fennel seeds
• honey
• anise seeds
• serrano chiles
• Calabrian peppers
• ground pork shoulder

 

[chopsaw]

My opinion is it's the anise that reminds people of pizzeria sausage .

 

[bill ace 350]

Fennel, Anise and crushed red pepper add great flavor

 

[jbo_c]

I’m firmly in the garlic, fennel, red pepper camp for Italian sausage.

Jbo

 

[HowlingDog]

Thank you for the suggestions!! Anise, eh?? My Mom made an anise cookie that was among my favorites.

There seems to be a theme of garlic, anise and red pepper....

Need to continue my research and start playing with a recipe.

 

[crazymoon]

I love crumbled hot Italian on my pizza, here is my go to recipe(compliments of Eldon Cutlip with a few tweaks) :
10 pounds pork butt, ground once through a 1/4 "plate
4 tbspn salt
2 tbspn paprika
2 tbspn crushed red pepper
1 tbspn cayenne pepper(or less if so inclined)
3 tbspn whole fennel seed
2 tbspn whole anise seed
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tbspn sugar
1 cup water
Mix all with the ground pork and let set for a day to meld the flavors

 

[bill ace 350]

Here is one i used for a 7.5 pound pork
7.5 Pounds Boneless Pork Shoulder
6 Teaspoon Fennel Seed
3 Teaspoon Anise Seed
3 Tablespoon Coarse Kosher Salt
1.5 Tablespoon Coarse Ground Black Pepper
1.5 Tablespoon Garlic Powder
1.5 Tablespoon Crushed Red Pepper
1.5 Teaspoon Basil
1.5 Teaspoon Oregano
1 Cup Red Wine

 

[HowlingDog]

Thanks CrazyMoon and BillAce350 for the recipes!! I will have to go find some anise seed and give it a go.

 

[chopsaw]

I will have to go find some anise seed

The anise can be hard to find . Like I said above , I think it's what people taste in a good pizzeria sausage pizza . I had to order it online . The cookies are made with anise extract .

 

[olecrosseyes]

Might have to go on-line like Penzeys or some other specialty spice store.
Here in DSM we are lucky to have 2 seperate companies with a brick and mortar store with in 10 minutes of our home..

 

[HowlingDog]

I am going to go out tomorrow and see if I can track some down. I used to have some as I used them in cookies. The cookies use anise seed, not extract. My Mom called them Hats because if done right, they look like this:


I would have to find the recipe but there are separated egg white and egg yolks involved, and the batter has to sit in a cold dry place overnight. All I remember is my Mom's rarely came out (lived in SoCal) and my Grandmother's always came out (lived in Michigan). These are a Christmas cookie so I am certain weather plays a role in whether the set up or not.

 

[forktender]

Anise seed can be found at damn near any store that sells McCormick spices but it's pricey buying it that way.
You're much better off buying a bag off Amazon.

 

[chopsaw]

The cookies use anise seed, not extract.

My Grandma did a German Anise cookie . They are cut square and have a design in the top .
She uses the extract . Guess it depends on who's making the cookie .