Northern Italian-style hot sausages

Browsing my cookbooks, especially the Italian ones, I'm always impressed by the photo's. Those bright colours of all the beautifull vegetables. Warmed by the sun and fed with the minerals of the Italian soil, they must taste as it was meant to be.

It's the same with all those strings of different kind of sausages. They look so tempting and I can only dream of how they would taste in my risotto, ragu or on the grill.

One day, I'll pack by bags and leave for Italy just to see those small villages with their colourfull marketplaces and to taste all the flavours of their dishes. Till that time I search at markets for the perfect sweet tomatos and grow my own rosemary and marjoran.

And the sausages.....................I'll make them myself.


Northern Italian-style hot sausage (Home sausage making by Susan Mahnke Peery & Charles B. Reavis)

1 mtr. (3 feet) medium hog casing
1600 gr. lean pork but
250 gr. pork fat
24 gr. kosher or coarse salt
2,5 gr. ground coriander
2,5 gr. freshly fround black pepper
1,5 gr. crushed red chilli flakes
fresh rosemary
2 cloves minced garlic

Soak the casing, for one hour, in a bowl with water and a tablespoon white vinegar.

In the mean time; cut the meat and the fat is small cubes and freeze them for 30 minutes.

Grind the meat and fat through the coarse disk of the meat grinder.
In a large bowl, combine the meat with the salt and the spices with your hands. Mix it well.
Stuff the mixture in the prepared casing and twist off into length as you prefer. I'm always making two large sausages and a few small ones.


Place the links on a platter and leave them in the fridge for a night to meld the flavors. Use them within 2 to 3 days or freeze them.