Who has a great Italian Sauage Spice mix? Care to Share it?

[ddrian]

 
Great thread...   thanks for all your work....   pts..

Thanks Dave. You inspired me brother.

DDR

 

[doubles shooter]

This is the only recipe I use. It came from Italy with my Great g
Grandparents over a century ago. I'm 65yo now and have made or helped make this since I was big enough to turn the crank on the stuffer literally thousands of pounds. Before that, us kids were given darning needles to poke the casings for drying. It was a family affair with three families and a pile of kids in the basement kitchen for a day.

18 pounds of meat (all pork or 50/50 venison/pork)
1C whole fennel seed
3/4C paprika
1/2C salt
1/3C crusher red pepper

My Grandparents had very little freezer space so most of it would be hung in a cool pantry off the main basement. There it would hang until dried. Then it's sliced into around 1" chunks and put into a fry pan with about a 1/4" of water. Cook on high covered until the water is cooked off. a few more seconds to caramelize things a bit, then bite in and enjoy. I like it cooked fresh but really love it dried.
I think the high salt content and spices help preserve it. No body in the family has ever had problems even though there is no cure in it.
I recently scored a home built curing fridge. I don't have a cool place to dry mine. Hopefully, it will do the job. The dehydrator doesn't give the same results.