When I first told my mom that I had received a sausage making attachment for the Kitchen Aid, her first response was that I would have to make Uncle Nicky’s Pork and Provolone Sausages. My response was “Do you have the recipe?” There was no recipe, just the memories of my mother and her cousins that the kitchen smelled of melting Provolone, fresh Parsley was used and no one had any idea as to the fat to lean ratio of the ground Pork that was used.
Uncle Nicky Stabile's Italian Cheese & Pork Sausage
It was based upon those memories that I embarked upon replicating a sausage for which there was no actual recipe, had not been made in 30+ years and for which I have never tasted. My first attempt in making this recipe was good, but something was missing. The kitchen smelled of Provolone, the Parsley was visually appealing, but most of the Provolone Cheese melted out of the casing and pooled onto the aluminum foil of the baking pan. What did I not replicate? After a couple of conversations with my mom and then talking with Stuart all I could determine was that the Provolone of today is different then the Provolone that was made 30 years ago. Simply said, today’s Provolone (unless specifically made old school style) has a higher ratio of water to fat and milk solid content then in the past. I have nothing to prove this theory except anecdotal observations.
My second attempt at replicating this recipe was to replace the use of Provolone with harder, drier Italian Cheeses under the premise that the water content was less and the cheese requiring higher temperatures before melting.
Romano, Parmesan, Parsley, Ground Pork, Minced Garlic & Black Pepper
Ingredients:
- 4 Pounds of Ground Pork (3 Pound of Pork Loin and 1 Pound of Pork Fat Trim)
- 1 Pound of Hard Italian Cheese (Parmesan or Romano) Diced Small
- 1 Cup of Italian Parsley Coarsely Chopped
- 1 Tablespoon of Fresh Ground Black Pepper
- 1 Tablespoon of Minced Garlic
Thoroughly mix the ingredients and if possible chill the mixture before stuffing into the casings.
One of the additional lessons learned when using the harder Italian Cheeses was that the cheese needed to be diced smaller then when using the Provolone. Initially the mixture clogged at the exit of the Kitchen Aid auger, where the mouth of the sausage stuffing cone attaches. Dicing the cheese smaller minimized the clogging, but it was still a minor problem. We worked around the issue by removing the plastic lock that holds the auger in place and experienced no problems (not recommended). The next time I make a batch of this recipe, I will coarsely grate the cheese in lieu of dicing just as an experiment.
The second attempt of making this family recipe was a success. The cheese melted, but did not completely escape the casing. For me, it is a sausage to be enjoyed by itself, with a salad and / or with a good piece of crusty bread. The cheese provides the right amount of salt and there is a subtlety to the flavors with no mistaking that this sausage has been stuffed with hard Italian Cheese.
Uncle Nicky's Italian Cheese and Pork Sausage
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Billy, my mouth is salivating! I am so pleased that you have attempted to make my dad’s sausage. It looks as delicious as I remember it. And I’m sure it is.
Joanne
This sounds great!
Looks like a great recipe, going to give it a try tomorrow! One question, when you tried using provolone, did you use regular stuff from the deli counter or did you get a chunk of aged provolone? The aged stuff has a much sharper flavor and much less water content.
Author
Nick, You need to use a chunk of aged provolone and not the deli counter provolone. You are correct, the deli style water content is too high. I would recommend staying away from even the prepackaged “aged provolone” from Boar’s Head. If you cannot find authentic aged provolone, then substitute with either or a combination of Parmesan or Romano. Good luck and let us know how it turned out. Remember to make you pieces of cheese small in order to pass through the sausage stuffer auger.
We used to get Sweet Italian Sausage with Parsley and mozzarella from “Mr. Frank”, a butcher in Canarsie, Brooklyn when I was little. It was out of this world.
I just got a meat grinder for our Kitchen-aid for fathers day and hope to recreate it. I will use your general recipe but replace mozzarella for your cheeses and will be adding Fennel seed as well. Just waiting for the hog casings and sausage pricker to be delivered from Amazon.
I remember you have to cook these low and slow and have tiny piercing holes in the casing to keep them from bursting and losing the cheese. I recently read that most commercial sausage does not have the tiny holes made with a sausage piercer/pricker.
I have been digging around for a recipe and finally landed on your site. Bravo! I have a suggestion. When making sausage, usually one uses the shoulder. If you get cut up shoulder at COSTCO or the butcher, it is 1) cheaper than loin 2) has the right amount of fat. 80/20 . I process my own pigs and tried this sausage, it was good, but not right. I was just using grated Pecorino Romano. I ate this sausage maybe once in my life, and I loved to Alaska almost 50 years ago. What a gift to find you Uncle Nicky’s sausage. I understand the Puglese people call it Shivilatz.
What type of casing do you use. Lamb?
Wow… I’ve been looking at various sausage recipes and my jaw dropped when I came across your post.
My name is Nick Stabile, as was my father and grandfather and I live in metro Detroit.
As such, I will be trying your recipe.