For Christmas I got a meat grinding attachment for my stand mixer, and so I can finally make my own salsiccia. Italian pork sausage (salsiccia) is an important ingredient for many Italian primi piatti, like risotto al barolo con salsiccia, malloreddus alla campidanese, and pasta with romanesco and sausage. Without the proper sausage, these dishes just won’t taste the same. If you can’t buy good Italian sausage (which should have as ingredients only pork, salt, black pepper, garlic, and white wine), then with a meat grinder you can make your own! (Please note that of course other types of Italian pork sausage exist, for example with fennel seeds or with chilli pepper. But unless otherwise indicated, salsiccia refers to the type with black pepper and garlic only.) For flavorful salsiccia, it is important than the meat is not too lean. I used a mix of 75% pork shoulder and 25% pork belly, but depending on how lean or fatty the meat is, you may need to tweak this mix.
The inspiration for this post (and for asking Santa for a meat grinder in the first place) was a post from the Bartolini kitchens, describing how the Bartolini make their salsiccia. Thanks, John and Zia, for your continuing inspiration. This recipe is quite similar to that of the Bartolini.
To be honest I made a common mistake when I prepared my first batch of salsiccia to inaugurate my new meat grinder attachment. You see, I had neglected to read John’s recipe from start to finish in preparation, and so when it was getting dinner time and I was ready for some sausage making, the first thing I read was “At least 2 hours before beginning, place garlic and wine into a glass and set aside.” And so I opted to add powdered garlic to the salsiccia rather than soaking garlic in the wine, as I didn’t want to wait an additional two hours before having dinner. Both methods are acceptable, but next time I will definitely start earlier and use the Bartolini method.
When I use salsiccia, the first step is always to remove the sausage meat from its casing. So even though my new meat grinder does come with an attachment to stuff sausages, I didn’t bother to put the sausage meat into a casing.
My first salsiccia was a big success, as the malloreddus with fennel and sausage I prepared with it was wonderful. The salsiccia had a more elegant flavor than the store-bought variety.
Ingredients
For 500 grams (1.1 lbs) of salsiccia
375 grams of pork shoulder [75%]
125 grams of pork belly [25%]
11 grams of salt [2.2%]
1.5 grams of ground black pepper [0.3%]
50 ml of dry white wine [10%]
5 grams of garlic [1%] or 1 gram [0.2%] of powdered garlic
Preparation
If using garlic cloves, smash the cloves and put them in the wine at least two hours for continuing.
Cut the meat into 2.5 cm (1″) cubes and mix up the two types of meat.
Coarsely grind the meat.
Spread out the meat in a layer of about 2-3 cm (1 inch) thick.
Sprinkle the wine on top of the meat.
If not using garlic-infused wine, sprinkle the garlic powder on top of the meat as well.
Sprinkle the salt on top of the meat.
Sprinkle the black pepper on top of the meat.
Mix everything together with your hands. Allow the flavors to develop for at least 30 minutes before using. Your sausage meat is now ready to be used.
Flashback
This creamy corn soup with crab is a very elegant dish for a fancy dinner party or special occasion.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
Conosco bene le ricette di John Bartolini, fantastiche e la tua salsiccia lo è altrettanto!
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Questo non l’avevi messo nell’elenco delle dotazioni! Io per fortuna ho un “norcino” di grande esperienza che mi porta la salciccia già fatta! 😀
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Very impressive that you make your own sausage! It’s a skill I really need to master; the “Italian” sausages I can find in stores where I live are almost invariably disappointing. Usually too lean, and with extraneous flavors. I love that you keep your sausage simple.
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Thanks for visiting and taking the time to leave such a nice comment. Those extraneous flavors are probably to mask that the meat used for the sausage isn’t that great. You are absolutely right that lean is not good at all. Fat = flavor. I’d rather use a bit less of a fatty sausage with flavor than a lot of a flavorless lean sausage!
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I’ve had John’s salsicche recipe on my list to try for well over 12 months, thanks for the reminder. I only have a hand cranked mincer, but it does a great job, as well as transporting me back to childhood. I often turned the handle for my Mum
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I have many sausage recipes but none so simply described. It has moved near the top of my ‘to try’ list.
Some of my Italian sausage recipes have a second grinding after the addition of flavorings. I assume that since you mixed them by hand the second grinding is not traditonal?
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The second grinding is needed to stuff the sausage casings, so it is in fact more traditional to do it that way. I just don’t see the point of first taking the trouble to get casings, clean them, stuff them, and then remove them agan when you are about to use the meat. That is of course different if you’d like to grill them, but my primary use for salsiccia is in pasta and risotto dishes.
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I want a meat grinder. But I need a mixer first.
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Excellent.
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Hello Stefan, I follow your blog since a while know and I have to say that is the most inspiring by far. Congratulation for your methodology and for your deep knowledge of the italian gastronomy (and language, never a mistake!). I have seen your pizzas, and I thought to suggest you a dedicated pizza oven (able to reach 450°C) that is available for circa 300€ in Italy, and which I fund extremely satisfying. Last thing, I am a fan of sous vide cooking and tried recently squid/cutlefish sous vide at 59°C for 2 hours, and unfortunately they almost melted, so if you will try, cut the time!
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Ciao Filippo, thanks for taking the time to leave such a thoughtful message. What brand name is the pizza oven? I will be in Italy in September, so I may pick one up! I do have an oven that can go that high, but I rarely use it as it requires 400 volts power, which I don’t have at home but only on our boat. I’ve never tried seppie sous-vide yet, so thanks for the warning. I really love polpo sous-vide.
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Ciao Stefan, the oven is this one: http://www.effeuno.biz/it/linea-easy-pizza.php which can be shipped to the Netherlands i think. I bought it thanks to this forum (In Italian but no problem for you) : http://laconfraternitadellapizza.forumfree.it/?t=63322662. Yesterday I backed some soft focaccia and served it with pata negra, it was superb. Thanks again for your valuable work!
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Congratulations, Stefan! What a great present for a great cook! I bet you couldn’t wait to put it to use — and you certainly made good use of it. There are so many sausages available today but, I have to be honest, i prefer the simple salsiccia above all others. Your recipe here is just my cup of tea.
As always, you speak so highly of my family’s recipes, Stefan, and I am very appreciative — Zia is too!
I’ve not been around but I won’t fill your comment box with “it.” I’m back now, though, so you’re forewarned! 🙂
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So good to ‘see’ you again, John! As a matter of fact, just the other day I was contemplating whether I’d send you an e-mail to check if you were OK since I hadn’t seen you around for quite a while.
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Hi, I can see your meat mincer is not properly assembled, as the meat in the picture shows that it is being squeezed out, it is important that the knives are sharp and tightly assembled, otherwise the meat is just mast out of the machine .. there is also fennel in the original salsiccia sausages … have a nice day..:)
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