Italian Sausages 2
Makes 10 6-inch (15cm) sausage links.
By Dennis W. Viau; modified from my original recipe for Italian Sausages.
I’ve made Italian Sausages before. In that earlier recipe I used natural hog casings. I wanted to experiment with collagen casings and with fresh basil and sun-dried tomatoes in the filling mixture. I also used a prepared sausage seasoning mix I purchased from Amazon. The sausages were good, but I think natural casings might work better when cooking. They’re less likely to burst.
Ingredients:
2½ pounds (~1.1kg) pork shoulder and fat cut into strips
2 pounds 3 ounces (~1kg) pork shoulder meat
5 ounces pork fat (142mg) or pork belly
1 ounce (85g) fresh basil leaves, chopped
2 ounces (142g) sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
5 teaspoons seasoning mix*
2½ fluid ounces (74ml) water
Collagen casing
Directions:
Using a meat grinder, or a grinder attachment for a stand mixer, grind the meat using a medium grinding plate (5/8mm). Partially freezing the meat and fat (20 minutes in the freezer) will help the meat pass through the grinder more easily.
In a large bowl, mix the meat with the basil and tomatoes. Add the seasoning mix* and water. Blend well to thoroughly distribute the seasoning. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or two to let the mix flavor the meat.
Set up your sausage stuffer or your meat grinder with a horn (stuffing tube) using a tube slightly smaller than the collagen tubes (mine are 32mm and the horn is 19mm). Arrange the casing on the horn and push enough meat filling through the horn until it just begins to exit the tube. Tie the end of the casing with kitchen twine. Fill the casing to a length of 6 inches (15cm), or to a length you prefer. Tie the end of the sausage link with twine, cut it from the casing and tie the casing with more twine for the next sausage. Continue filling casings until you use all the meat in the stuffer. Use a sausage pricker to poke little holes where there is air trapped. You can also prick the sausages in several places to help prevent bursting when cooking.
Refrigerate the sausages for about an hour, then cook in your favorite recipe. Remove the strings from the ends before they are cooked. The collagen casings might burst while cooking.
The sausages should be thoroughly cooked before serving. An internal temperature of 160°F (71°C) is recommended to kill bacteria.
*I used “LEM Custom Blended Backwoods Fresh Sausage Seasonings: Sweet Italian” mix, purchased on Amazon. You can also search the internet for seasoning recipes to blend you own mixes.
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