Home Sausage Making

For juicy, flavor-rich Italian sausage, you first need a well-marbled pork shoulder (one with plenty of fat streaking throughout). Ask your butcher to coarse-grind the shoulder (aka butt), or take it home and grind it yourself. You should end up with roughly five pounds of meat. You may substitute meats to make turkey Italian sausage or venison Italian sausage.

Next, procure a package of natural hog casings online or from your local butcher. Prep casings by rinsing thoroughly to remove excess salt. Snip off into manageable lengths (about one foot per pound of sausage).

Once you’ve gotten these two items, fresh sausage is only three steps away:

1. Place the meat in a large bowl and season with:
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons fennel seeds
• ¼ cup dried Italian herbs
• red pepper flakes to taste (substitute 1 tsp. dried basil for sweet Italian sausage)
• ¼ cup Parmesan cheese

Mix with hands to combine. Chill overnight if desired.

2. Stuff sausage into casings, twist, prick, cook and enjoy!