Italian Sausage

I have said it many times: I am a dedicated carnivore.

I especially like when meat comes in the form of sausage. The spices, the portability, the variety of things you can do with it. One of the most adaptable is Italian. Hot or sweet, it works as a link with peppers and onions or browned on your pizza. Growing up, I remember getting really good sausage from the local butcher, cutting the casings off, and browning to add to spaghetti sauce. At college there was a fantastic sandwich shop that made their own hot and sweet italian sausage for their offerings (Primanti's I miss you).

Our local coop has been supplying some wonderful pork from Iowa that started me thinking again about making my own bulk sausage. I found a variety of recipes that use 10 or more pounds of pork to stuff your own. I am not into making that much, but rather prefer to mix my batches a pound at a time.

Italian Sausage
1 lb. ground pork
Mix in
3 T. red wine
Dry Mix
3 T. Italian spices (combo of parsley, oregano, basil, thyme, cilantro, margoram)
1 T. fennel seed
1 T. paprika
1 t. salt
1 t. garlic powder
1 t. black pepper
1/2 t. crushed red pepper
1/2 t. cayenne

Mix the wine with the  pork. Control the heat with the cayenne and make it as hot as you want.Mix the dry ingredients together then with the pork-wine. Use as you would any bulk Italian sausage--pizzas, tomato sauces, garlic soup.