Fresh Italian Sausage

Ok so on this post I wanted to do a fresh sausage recipe, I have made this once before but I didn't keep record of the percentages of everything for the recipe.  This time i did.  If you plan on making something more than once it's a good idea to know exactly what you did the first time that way you can make corrections

Step 1: Weigh and then rough cube your cut of meat.  For me I used 4 and 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder.  A lot of pork sausages recipes will tell you to use a lean meat and a portion of fat back or pork belly.  I didn't have fat back or pork belly so i just used the shoulder, there is a good fat to meat ratio on a pork shoulder anyway usually 70% meat 30% fat.

Step 2: Put meat in the freezer and get your spices together.

This is what i used.

4.5lbs (2016g) pork shoulder 100%
30g kosher salt 1.5%
20g sugar 1%
14g fennel .7%
10g paprika .5%
8g red pepper flake .4%
8g black pepper .4%
9g (two cloves) crused garlic .45% (roughly)
1 cup white wine

Step 3: Mix dry ingredients into cubed pork and put back in freezer for at least 15 minutes. Keeping the meat cold ensures that the fat doesn't smear into the meat.

Step 4: Grind meat.  I use the meat grinder attachment for the Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer but you can use whatever grinder you prefer.  The grinder plate is the larger one of the two.

Step 5:  After the meat is ground you can mix the wine in.  I use my hands to mix.

You'll notice that the bowl is in a larger bowl that is filled with ice water.  This is another technique to keep the meat constantly cold.  After the wine is incorporated put it back in the freezer for another 15mins.

Step 6: Stuff.  I'm using hog casings here.  You can link the sausages as you go as I'm doing here by twisting or you can use twine.

And the final product.

To cook, I pan fry on low heat so that the casings don't burst but you can experiment with numerous cooking techniques.  Lastly and most important, enjoy!