I've been using this recipe that someone posted to this forum in the last few months. Unfortunately, I didn't make a note of who posted it. Hopefully, they will pop in & lay claim to it! Homemade Italian Sausage 2 lb. well-marbled pork butt med ground 2/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese 1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, well packed 1/4 cup dry white wine or ice cold water 1 clove garlic (I use 3-4 cloves) minced 1/2 T. ground fennel seed 1 T. dried basil 1 t. red chili peppers, minced 1/2 t. salt 1/2 t. dried oregano 1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper 1/2 t. thyme Mix all ingred together in large bowl. Using sausage stuffer, fill casings, twisting off 8" links or freeze as patties or in bulk. That's the recipe. I've been making it with ground turkey, omitting the cheese & wine, using the 3-4 cloves of garlic & doubling the am't. of fennel. Cheese because I'm not crazy about cheese & the wine because I haven't had any on hand when I've made the recipe. And the salt because DH is on a salt-restricted diet. I've been using the frozen chubs of ground turkey from Aldi's. The mix is plenty wet w/o the wine or water. Also, I've freezing it in 1# bulk am'ts to use in spaghetti & lasagna. I've tried a couple of other recipes in the past & this one is my favorite by far. Last batch I made up w/ 6# of meat. And using the turkey from Aldi's (1.19 a lb.) it's really inexpensive to make & better tasting than the Ital sausage I can get at the market (Johnsonville, Jimmy Dean, etc.) Anyway, am really glad that you started this thread. I never thought about toasting the fennel OR adding tarragon. Tarragon & fennel are my next two favorite herbs...after cilantro, of course. :)

Lou, ROTFL!!!! Jim, thank you - I appreciate it! I am not surprised I couldn't read the bag. Overnight it seems I need reading glasses! I think I made a combo of everything on here - lol. Removed casings and browned the sausage with onion and garlic. Added carrot, crushed tomatoes, chicken broth, bay leaf - simmered - then at the end added frozen green beans and a box of orzo. I made a mistake - I think I was supposed to do 1/2 cup and I put the whole box in so it was more like a stoup! I have 2 quarts left for lunch during the week:D Soup in the fridge is a good thing. Maria, I made something similar that Lydia B. made - it also had peccorino. I forgot about it - thank you. Funny you mentioned the red wine! I mentioned earlier that I wasnt going out - it was snowing. Well, it turned out I had half a class left of wine - so while I wouldn't go out for heavy cream I put the boots on for Ruffino Chianti Classico:D

I never heard of it as an Italian sausage but my immigrnt German-Jewish inlaws always got it and liverwurst and something called 'aufshnit' from a kosher German wurst-maker in Washington Heights years ago. It is a garlicky salami best served on good rye bread with a little mustard. I have bought it many times from my kosher butcher and always hang it to dry before cutting into it. But it has never tasted as good as the ones my mother-in-law got years ago. I am retty sure they were hand-made in the shop where they were sold.

OK, maureen, if you can control the sausage jokes I won't say anything about sausages and stuffing and the gleam in Dick's eye. Ahem. I used collagen casings but I think I'd try the natural ones next time. The collagen ones were easy to use but they have a paper like texture that I don't like on the cooked sausages, even if the instructions do say they are edible. We got our spices and casings at a supply in Detroit, based on the recommendation from that Charcuterie cookbook Larry Engelhardt gave me last year. We purchased on-line, their site is www.butcher-packer.com They were cheap, fast, reliable. Their bulk spices are great, that's where we got the fennel we used. I'll definitely order from them again. Oh, and the book is available there too, one of the authors (Brian Polcyn) is the chef/owner of a Detroit area restaurant called Five Lakes Grill which has won about a gazillion awards for their food. It's an amazing book. Annie