My uncle Bill used to cook his renowned dry Italian sausage every Christmas Eve, which is one of my earliest and clearest gastronomic memories. After Midnight Mass, they would be cooked and put on toast with roasted red peppers. These served as the basis for this new version. In typical Uncle Billy form, if you can resist the urge to eat them right away, letting them dry for a day or two greatly enhances the flavor and tightens up the texture.
| Prep Time: | 1 hr 10 mins |
| Cook Time: | 20 mins |
| Additional Time: | 1 day 8 hrs |
| Total Time: | 1 day 9 hrs 30 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 sausages |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds pork shoulder
- 4 cloves garlic
- 1 ounce kosher salt, divided
- 2 tablespoons whole fennel seeds, toasted
- 1 teaspoon anise seed
- 2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
- 2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
- 1 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried marjoram
- ½ teaspoon ground coriander
- ½ teaspoon ground mustard
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice berries
- 1 tablespoon white sugar (Optional)
- 2 tablespoons cold water
- sausage casing, soaked in water until soft
Instructions
- Cut pork shoulder into cubes. Place in a bowl and refrigerate while preparing the other ingredients.
- Grind garlic with a pinch of salt in a mortar to make a paste. Add fennel, anise, and black pepper. Bruise spices lightly with a pestle to release the flavors. Add red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, oregano, marjoram, coriander, mustard, allspice, sugar, and a splash of water. Stir to combine.
- Add the spice paste to the pork cubes. Mix thoroughly by hand. Add the remaining salt. Cover and refrigerate until flavors meld, 8 hours to overnight.
- Process the cold pork through a meat grinder on the slowest speed.
- Push a casing onto the stuffing tube of your meat grinder. Feed the sausage meat through the filling tray. Run the meat through the casing on the slowest speed until all the casing is used up. Tie casing at the end into a knot. Pinch and twist the meat to create links if desired.
- Place sausage onto a wire rack set over a sheet pan. Refrigerate uncovered for 24 hours.
- Preheat a charcoal grill for medium heat. Separate the links and grill them until browned, about 5 minutes per side.
- You can also grind meat in a food processor, and there are plenty of videos out there showing how, but then you’ll have to get a sausage stuffer.
- For a little nicer flavor, you can toast the fennel seeds in a dry pan just until you begin to smell them. This goes for any other whole spices you may want to grind and toss in.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 194 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 4 g |
| Cholesterol | 74 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 20 g |
| Saturated Fat | 4 g |
| Sodium | 1465 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 10 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I have made at least a dozen sausage recipes, and this is hand down the best sausages I have ever tasted. Im getting raves from everyone I give these sausages to. Kudos Chef John, you have hit the bullseye!
This recipe was fantastic, I used 5lbs of pork shoulder and adjusted all the spices accordingly, except the cayenne pepper which I kept the ratio for 3lbs of meat. I also added in 1 package of store bought fresh basil which I finely chopped. I would have considered my results to have been a medium heat sausage. Next time I re-make this, I may add even less cayenne to have a mild sausage suitable for toddlers or young kids. Very happy with my results though!
Wonderful flavor!! I substituted 1 tsp garlic powder for the garlic cloves, and I ommitted the cayenne. Yum.
Doubled the spices and loved it!
Chef john makes great videos. This recipe is good. When making sausage for later be sure to read about curing salts first to prevent botulism. AllRecipes used to be really helpful but I can’t save to favorites any more and will likely find another place to save recipes.
This is the BEST Italian sausage I have ever eaten or made! I cut back a bit on the cayenne and made it one with anise seeds and once w/o and I liked it better without the anise.
It was very good. I substituted garlic powder for the fresh cloves. Made a few patties prior to making links and was very pleased.
This recipe is definitely a keeper! I’ve made it linked and bulk, delicious either way. It made a great hoagie with peppers and onions! See my pic. This morning I will be making it again, both linked and bulk.
I’ll be honest with you. I’ve made this recipe so many times. The family thinks its store bought. Until they see so much in the freezer. Totally amazing!
The best sausage recipe ever! Let marinate for longer and I feel it help to develop more flavor. Double or triple the recipe….you’ll want more! (Just freeze the extra as who wants to make sausage over and over when you can freeze this and it turns our incredibly well. About to make my fourth batch tomorrow!)
Not my favorite
I will definitely make this again! I’ve made my own spicy italian sausage before, but never tried with some of the other spices! This turned out very good — the family loves it. I will use this to make my Easter Pizza tomorrow …
The spices are on point for sure. I used half pork and half goose. Left out marjoram but everything else was delicious!
John does it again!
More garlic
This is by far the best Italian sausage I have ever made. Another hit from Chef John. This is my fifth batch of Italian sausage glad to find this one.
My husband is a hunter so I used this recipe to make venison sausage. I used half pork and half venison. We usually get our sausage made at a local butcher shop and it is expensive. I adjusted the quantity so that I could make a large batch.. These sausages are delicious , we will be making our own from now on. They are great done on the barbeque.
Awesome mix! This version did it skinless for breakfast tacos and later with diced potatoes onions and bell peppers for a nice dinner burrito! Next version will use hog liner for an actual sausage!
Don’t have the attachment to put it in casings, so I just made bulk sausage. Whole family loved it!