Homemade Italian sausages
How to make juicy and delicious homemade sausage bursting with classic Italian flavours from fennel seeds, garlic, and red wine. These sausages can be made easily at home without any casings, skins or machine. Serve with polenta, a rich tomato sauce or with lentils for a classic Italian meal.
Servings: 8 fat sausages (serves 4)
Calories: 101kcal
Ingredients
- 1.7 lbs (800g) pork shoulder diced
- 2 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 4 cloves garlic (large) minced
- ¼ cup (60ml) red wine
- 4 sprigs rosemary fresh finely chopped
- 2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Special equipment
- cling film (plastic wrap)
Instructions
- Blitz the diced pork shoulder in a food processor for 30-60 seconds. You might need to do this in two batches depending on how powerful your processor is. It should be fine with chunks of fat.
- Next add the minced garlic, herbs and salt and pepper. Make sure to use fresh rosemary and chop it very fine, dried rosemary doesn't have as strong a flavour.
- Pour over the red wine and mix everything together until thoroughly combined using your hands. If you see any sinew, long stretchy pieces of fat then remove it (see photo 6). There shouldn't be much at all.
- Cover with cling film and let the meat marinate for at least 30 minutes if possible. Separate the pork sausage meat into 8 even portions then shape into a rough sausage shape.
- Lay out a small sheet of cling film and place the sausage meat at one of the widest edges. Roll it tightly without too much force and twist and tie the edges.
- Bring a pot of water to a boil and turn off the heat. Add the sausages to the hot water for around 30 seconds so they firm up and keep their shape. Place on a plate and cut the edges to remove from the cling film.
- You can now let them cool and place in the fridge until you need them or fry them in a little olive oil in a large pan until browned on all sides and cooked through for around 10 minutes.
Notes
Top Tips for Making Italian Homemade Sausage
- Make sure to use high-quality pork meat with a good ratio of fat, I recommend pork shoulder
- Wrap the sausage meat tightly so no water gets inside
- You can prep the sausages in advance up to step 14 (see photo) and store them in the fridge to fry later
- If you are adding the meat to ragu, sauces or pizzas etc then use the marinaded meat as it is there's no need to form into a sausage shape
- Chili flakes (dried or jarred)
- Nduja - a spicy Calabrian salami which is great mixed in
- Marjorum - dried
- Sage - fresh finely chopped
- Parsley - fresh finely chopped
- Red wine - give a delicious rich flavour
Nutrition
Calories: 101kcal | Carbohydrates: 1g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 4g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 39mg | Sodium: 627mg | Potassium: 240mg | Vitamin C: 1.2mg | Calcium: 28mg | Iron: 1.1mg