Italian Sausage

One sunny afternoon in Colorado, Dad figured out he could make Italian sausage.  Why not?  He probably just made 50 lbs of Kielbasa and had an extra 25 lbs of pork.  This is a good recipe, especially with the Wuertz Spaghetti sauce.  Different types of chili flakes make a big difference in the flavor.

Later Andy Hubner suggested an ingredient change. We believe it was the addition of the Anise. mmmm...

I believe the original recipe might have come from either the Blue Parrott or Pagliacci's Italian resturants in Colorado of which both have been closed.

Ingredients

Main Ingredients (makes 5 lbs)
5 lbs	pork butt (coarsely ground) -- Ask butcher to do a chili grind and only run through grinder 2 times.
~3/4 lbs	pork casings (Order 2 hanks for about 200 pounds of pork... then use left over of 1 hank on next batch)
1 C	water
Spices
1 T	Fennel seed (whole)
1 T	Chili crushed red hot pepper flakes (1 heaping tablespoon) <--- New Mexico brand is the best
1 T	salt (plain not iodized) - Prefer Morton Kosher
1 T	pepper (black course ground)
1 t	Anise (ground) (optional)
Garlic Mixture
1/4 C	Garlic - Mix (1 bulb or 2 ounces) of garlic with water to make 1 cup. Then divide the 1 cup mixture into 4 different batches. Each batch would be used in one 5 pound batch of sausage. Therefore each 5 pound batch gets 1/4 cup of garlic/water mixture.

Preparation

Preparation for stuffing:

1. Mix spices together
2. Blend Garlic & cold water in blender to make 1 cup
3. Mix 5 lbs of the pork with the spice mixture and 1/4 c of the garlic mixture from step 2.
4. Add 1 cup of water to the mix (helps feed the meat into the casings).
5. Stuff mixture into pork casings.  Stuff into links.  Put in a plastic bag.  Mark the bag and then freeze it.

Preparation for eating:

1. Remove sausage from the freezer.
2. Boil the sausage ringer in water for 20 minutes.
3. Cook with spaghetti sauce, Lasagna, pizza, etc