Hot Italian Sausage recipe

Hi All;
As a former east coaster in an Italian family ,I grew up with hot and sweet Italian sausage. In over 40 years of living in the NW I have yet to find a store bought sausage that even came close.
Having friends and family send me sausage is expensive and a big hassle for them. After 40 years ... I decided to try to make my own.  Lots of recipes out there... the ones I tried,They obviously never ate hot Italian sausage before!  Most use similar ingredients it was just a matter of refinement and personal taste. My wife(also east coaster) and I  think, I've come pretty close !  

I Hope you ENJOY!  


Mix in bowl)  1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp powdered garlic, 1 tsp blk pepper, 2 tsp smoked paprika, 1 tsp anis,1 tbsp powdered fennel, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1 tsp whole hand crushed fennel,2 tsp red pepper flakes
Add 1 pound ground pork,and 2 tbsp olive oil and hand mix thoroughly.  Cover and place in fridge overnight. Next morning when you open your fridge a wonderful smell will greet you. Hand mix meat again.Cover and return to fridge.  That afternoon cook as desired... hmmm good ! If I do say so myself :)  mangia!!!

I used to go to a certain small neighborhood shop to buy Italian Sausage for a friend that lived out of state.

Thank you for sharing.  Would you share how you eat it?  

What I bought for my friend was a link sausage which she would cook with onions and bell peppers.  Seems like there was a marinara sauce and maybe spaghetti.  Because of the fennel seeds my husband never liked it ... I loved it.

This brings back some fond memories.

Ahh yes Anne:   The neighborhood Italian deli ....  as a little guy, what a magical place it was, the smells , all those sausages and hams, dried peppers, things I didn't even know what they were. Oh my ! Yes those are fond memories.
Your friend was making sausage and peppers a wonderful dish served with a pasta side.
I considered stuffing casings with my sausage but decided that was an extra step we didn't need.  I make them into small meatballs and fry them up in butter and garlic.   Then they can go in the fridge or freezer till needed.

Our favorite way to eat it is on (of course) homemade PIZZA !!!  I have a killer New York pizza sauce that I make , to go on my handmade dough.  Little sausage balls broke up into chunks . Sliced mushrooms, pepperoni slices, banana pepper slices .  Then I top off with A-2 A-2 mozzarella , cheddar and a pecorino romano  cheese.

Sausage and peppers with angle hair pasta and a nice marinara sauce.
Spaghetti and meat balls with sausage is another favorite !
Sausage gravy over baking powder biscuits hmmm  good !

Its 7 AM and I'm wanting dinner !  Hmm maybe I'll cook up a batch of pizza sauce !

I really like sausage, but have been very disappointed with most of the recipes I've come across. This is my Italian sausage recipe - spicy or mild depending on the amount of red pepper flakes and the type of paprika. This recipe has been adapted to suit the things I have. I always have wine salt, garlic salt, and American Dream Spice.

1 lb. fatty ground pork
1/2 Tbsp. wine salt
1/2 Tbsp. garlic salt
1/2 Tbsp. American Dream Spice aka Beau Monde seasoning
1 Tbsp. paprika, either regular, smoked or hot
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 tsp. oregano
1 tsp. basil
1 tsp. ground fennel

Enjoy!

Stacy, do you buy your Beau Monde or do you mix it yourself?

Anne - I buy it. I use a lot of it and purchase a large amount at a time from Spices Etc., where it is sold under the name American Dream Spice. Apparently Beau Monde is trademarked.

I love spice blends, especially ones I have not heard of.  Google says it is:

1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon onion powder
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon seasoning salt

I found this recipe that is a lot more complicated:

1 tablespoon ground cloves
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon ground bay leaf
1 tablespoon ground allspice
2 tablespoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground mace
1 teaspoon celery seed
2 tablespoons ground white pepper

Which do you feel is most like what you are using?

Anne - recipes for it are all over the map on the internet. The first one is more like it. Celery salt is a reasonable substitute, but not as nuanced. There are definitely no "pumpkin pie spices" in it, no clove, cinnamon, nutmeg, mace or allspice.
I don't use onion powder or garlic powder, so it doesn't make any sense to purchase them to make the blend, when I can just buy the blend in bulk.

Thomas, my wife and I made this sausage recipe last night and cooked it up for supper this evening, making a summer vegetable saute. We used ground pork we bought at the farmers market. Man it's delicious and thank you for sharing this recipe. We are looking forward to making it again!