Make Your Own Italian Sausage

Make any meaty Italian dish stand out with this amazing sausage

I have a confession: I am a very picky eater. Whew! It felt good to get that off my chest. I know, I know, how can someone who spends all day, every day obsessed with food be picky? I’m not sure myself. Maybe it’s because I am the youngest child (by many years) and by the time I came around, my parents were more inclined to pick their battles. (A shout out to difficult siblings paving a smooth path for rule-following me.) I was allowed to refuse many culinary offerings. My list of “yucky” foods is long. Fresh tomatoes, bananas, pickled beets, horseradish, mustard, ketchup, salad dressing, mayonnaise. Actually, condiments as a category really turn my stomach. In my defense, Geoffrey Zakarian the famous chef, Food Network executive and judge on many popular Food Network shows, really hates fresh onions. If a world-famous food personality has quirks, I guess it’s okay for me to have some hang-ups as well.

I also have a list of foods I don’t enjoy but will tolerate. On the top of that list is fennel. That licorice-y flavor does not appeal to me. Unfortunately, the oldest member of the Do-Little Tribe LOVES all things licorice. He eats black jelly beans - on purpose. He also really loves Italian food including fennel-laden Italian sausage. Sadly, he has not been able to find a commercially produced Italian sausage worthy of his wood-fired pizza. So we created our own recipe.

Otto Von Bismark is quoted as saying: “To retain respect for sausages and laws, one must not watch them in the making.” While I agree with the sentiment, this sausage can be respected. Making your own sausage is a good idea because you know exactly what goes into your meat and it is much cheaper than buying a package of Italian sausage from the store. Plus, it’s shockingly easy. I can whip up a pound of Italian sausage in about 5 min. Once you try this, you’ll never go back.

Start with one pound of ground pork shoulder. (Sometimes grocery stores carry it prepackaged. If you can’t find it in the meat case, your local butcher can grind pork shoulder for you.)

Add the spices:

1 Tbs. fennel

1 tsp. salt

1 tsp. red pepper flakes

1 tsp. garlic

Using your hands, thoroughly mix the spices into the pork. (I usually use gloves for this step)

If time allows, let the meat mixture sit for an hour or longer. This allows the flavors to blend and the meat to tenderize.

Four ingredients transform bland ground pork into amazing Italian sausage

Next, cook the sausage in a large skillet. It’s that easy. Use it in all of your meaty Italian cooking. It's great in lasagna, ravioli and makes a fantastic meaty pasta sauce (if you like fennel). We most often use it on our wood-fired Neapolitan pizza. But that is a post for another day.