Fortunately coming from an Italian-American family where my grandfather’s generation were butchers, there are homemade sausage recipes that exists versus minor tweaking of existing published and posted recipes for making sausage in the kitchen. One of the joys of making sausage from a family recipe or loose following a published recipe is that there is some trial and error.
Homemade Sausage Recipe
The recipe is not so much written down versus the dimming memories of the taste and smell of food not made for decades. The picture above is the second attempt of making an one of the sausage recipes remembered by my aunt that her father used to make. Here is an excerpt from an email from my aunt to me when she sent me a scanned copy of my uncle’s recipes (see picture below):
“Unfortunately, the cheese sausage [recipe] is not on it, but I can tell you he used provolone. When he cooked them the cheese would just melt and it was so delicious. He also used fresh parsley…”
From those 35 words, with only 4 words being relevant to the ingredients used (provolone, melt and fresh parsley) combined with a few follow up emails, a recipe that has not been produced for 30+ years was recreated. In addition to the oral memories of recipes, there are the hand written recipes that have been saved and passed down.
Uncle Nick’s Handwritten Sausage Recipes, Circa 1980
The four written recipes in the scanned sheet of paper to the right are from my Uncle Nicky Stabile. It is apparent that he was a butcher by trade for the quantities recorded; i.e. 100 pounds of meat, without hesitation is for a butcher shop and not for making sausage in the kitchen. To put this into perspective, a 100 pounds of meat would make approximately 400 to 500 links of sausage. What I find most amazing about these recipes to the right is simplicity of their ingredients
Aside from creating food from recipes passed down within the family, there is also an infinite number of sausage recipes to be found in books dedicated to making sausage and recipes posted on the internet. Where applicable, I provide credit to the author / creator of the recipe. Fair is fair, legal is legal and the originator of the recipe is to be acknowledged when known.
I have found Bruce Aidells’ Complete Sausage Book to be a great starting point for ideas and trying recipes for the first time before tweaking and adjusting the recipe to match my personal tastes.
As sausage recipes, techniques, experiences and recipes using sausage are added to We Are Not Foodies, a link to will be added this the post to simplify your search.
Homemade Sausage Coil Being Hand Twisted Into Links
Homemade Chorizo Style Sausages
Homemade Hot Italian Sausage Sandwich with Provolone
Vacuumed Packed Whole Pork Tenderloin To Make Homemade Sausage Recipes:
- All American Homemade Breakfast Sausage
- British Bangers
- Easy Four Step Homemade Breakfast Sausage Patty Recipe
- Homemade Hot Dog Recipe
- Hot Italian Sausage Recipe
- Lamb Kofta Kebabs
- Mexican Style ChorizoÂ
- Mud Bug Sausage (Louisiana Crawfish Boudin)
- Sweet Italian Sausage Recipe
- Uncle Nick Stabile’s Italian Cheese & Pork Sausage
Techniques & Lessons Learned:
- Homemade Sausage: It Was Only A Matter Of Time
- Homemade Sausage: Kitchen Aid Sausage Attachment
- Homemade Sausage: Making Your Own Ground or Minced Meat
- Homemade Sausage: Preparing The Sausage Recipe
- How and When to Make Sausage Links from the Sausage Coil
- How to Spiral Slice a Hot Dog
- Oven Baking Sausage: Quick, Easy and Minimal Mess
General Topics of Interest:
- What is chorizo? And what can you do with it?
- Kishka (Polish Blood Sausage)
- Maiale – Deli & Salumeria (Wilmington, DE)
- Sausage Making Marathon
Recipes Where Sausage Is Used:
- Chicken Ballotine Stuffed with Black Pudding
- Italian Sausage Hoagie (Sandwich)
- Italian Sausage Simmered in Marinara Sauce
- Mini Homemade Sausage Rolls
- Mini Toad In The Hole
- Sausage & Potatoes (One Dish Cooking)
- Sausage, Salad and a Piece of Crusty Bread, Simplicity Defined
3 comments
hmm these sausages look… interesting 🙂
The KitchenAid works well for grinding, but I found that it was difficult to get a consistent flow of sausage into the casing. Too many air pockets and interruptions in the flow.
I invested in a 5 lb vertical sausage press from LEM. It is stainless steel, easy to clean and hand cranked. No air in the sausages and you can control the flow easily.
They make larger sizes, but the 5 lb capacity is perfect for home use and it will last forever.
ON THAT HAND WRITTEN RECIPE WHAT IS THE WORD ON THE DRY SAUSAGE SWEET. TROLOX , IF THAT’S WHAT IT’S SUPPOSE TO BE