Italian Fennel Sausage
A rustic Italian fennel pork sausage made with whole fennel seed and spices. Perfect in patties, packed into casings, or used in soups, pasta sauces, pizza and more.
Servings: 20
Cost: 20
Equipment
- 1 Meat Grinder
- 1 Sausage stuffer or sausage attachment for a stand mixer
- 1 8 inch chef's knife
- 1 2 gallon mixing bowl or similar
Ingredients
- 5 lbs pork shoulder diced
- 22 g kosher salt (1.3 tablespoons) 1% the meat's weight in salt
- 1.5 tablespoons tellicherry black peppercorns
- 2 tablespoons fennel seed preferably wild
- 1 tablespoon red pepper flakes fresh, see note
- 20 ft natural hog casings contact your butcher or buy online
Instructions
Prepare the Meat
- Separately toast the black pepper and fennel in a dry cast iron skillet until aromatic. Coarsely crush the peppercorns in a mortar and pestle and combine with the fennel, red pepper flakes, and salt.
- Put the meat in a large bowl and refrigerate overnight, covered.
Grind and Pack the Sausage
- The next day, soak the casings in a change or two of fresh water, swishing them around to remove as much salt as you can.
- Freeze the meat for an hour to firm it up, this is optional, but improves the texture of the finished product and protects against the meat smearing in the grinder.
- Grind the meat through a medium die of a meat grinder, then chill while you clean the grinder parts, and set up a sausage stuffer attachment or a dedicated stuffer.
- Cook a small patty (1 oz or so) in a pan and taste the sausage, if you want to adjust the seasoning for heat, fennel, or salt, knead in a bit more and repeat with another test patty until you like the flavor.
- Wipe the stuffing tube with water, then thread the casings onto the stuffer attachment or stuffer, leaving the end untied to prevent air pockets.
- Pack the sausage into casings, twisting them to form links.
Storing
- As it's an uncured sausage, it will have a shorter shelf life than others. It'll only keep for 3-4 days in the fridge, so I prefer to make it in advance and freeze it so it's ready in a flash.
- Wrap the sausage in butcher paper, then vacuum seal, label, date and freeze until needed.
- The sausages can be grilled, sauteed, braised, or cooked loose for crumbled sausage. When preparing whole links, cook them to 150 F internal temperature and allow to rest for at least five minutes before slicing.
Notes
Crushed red pepper flakes lose flavor and heat quickly after opening. I keep mine in the fridge. 1 tablespoon in the recipe will make a mildly hot sausage. If you want a mild fennel sausage, decrease the amount to 1 teaspoon of pepper flakes.
The quality of the fennel is also important. Although you can absolutely make it with fennel seed from a store, home grown or wild fennel will give the finest result.