Stove Top Smoker Hot Or Sweet Italian Sausages Recipes

SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Get out about 15 to 20 feet of hog casings and soak them in warm water.
• Cut the meat and fat into chunks you can fit into your meat grinder. Mix together the salt, sugar, half the fennel seeds, black pepper, nutmeg, oregano and fennel pollen, then mix this with the meat and fat until every piece has a little on it. Put in the freezer until the meat and fat are between 30°F and 40°F. Put your grinder parts (auger, dies, blades, etc) in the freezer, too, and put a bowl in the fridge.
• Grind half of the mixture through the coarse die on your grinder, and half through the fine die. This creates a more interesting texture. If your meat mixture is still at 35°F or colder, you can go right to binding. If it has heated up, you need to chill everything back down. Use this time to clean up the grinder.
• Once the meat is cold, put it in a large bin or bowl and add the remaining fennel seeds, white wine and parsley. Mix well with your (very clean) hands for 2 to 3 minutes -- a good indicator of temperature is that your hands should ache with cold when you do this. You want to to mix until the meat binds to itself. You can also do this in a stand mixer set on its lowest setting, but I find you don't get as good a bind as you do when you do this by hand.
• You now have Italian sausage. You can leave it loose, form it into patties, or link it. I link mine most of the time. Put the loose sausage into a stuffer and thread a casing onto it. Stuffing sausage is easier with two people, one to fill the links, the other to coil, but I do it solo all the time. Stuff the links well but not super-tight, as you will not be able to tie them off later if they are too full. Don't worry about air pockets yet. Stuff the whole casing, leaving lots of room on either end to tie them off; I leave at least three inches of unstuffed casing on either end of the coil.
• To form the individual links, tie off one end of the coil. Now pinch off two links of about six inches long. Rotate the link between your hands forward a few times. (Here's a quick video on making the links) Look for air pockets. To remove them, set a large needle or a sausage pricker into a stovetop burner until it glows (this sterilizes it), then pierce the casing at the air pockets. Twist the links a little and gently compress them until they are nice and tight. Repeat this process with the rest of the sausage.
• Hang your links on a wooden clothes drying rack for at least an hour, or up to overnight if you can hang them in a place that doesn't get any warmer than 40°F or so. This lets the links cure a little, filling their casings and developing flavor. Once you've taken the links off the hanger, they can be refrigerated for up to 3 or 4 days, or frozen for up to a year.

HOW TO COOK ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Place sausage in a large skillet.
• Add water to ½" depth. Bring to a simmer and cover.
• Simmer for 12 minutes. Remove lid and continue to simmer until water evaporates turning sausages occasionally to brown.

SMOKED ITALIAN SAUSAGE HOAGIE

Steps:

• Heat a grill to medium-low heat. Use a 2-stage fire or indirect heat setup on your gas grill. Add the soaked applewood chips to a smoker box and place the box directly onto the heating element or coals. Once plumes of smoke appear, place the sausage links over the indirectly heated side of the grill and smoke for about 1 hour, flipping halfway through. The internal temperature of the sausages when tested with a meat thermometer should read 160 degrees F at this point. Move the sausages to the hot side of the grill and give them a char on the outside for 3 to 5 minutes per side.
• Meanwhile, skewer the onion quarters on metal or wooden skewers. Place the bell peppers and onions on the hot side of the grill and cook until charred on all sides, 20 to 30 minutes. Set aside until cool enough to handle.
• Remove the majority of the skin and all of the seeds and stems of the peppers and give them a rough chop along with the charred onions. Place both into a food processor along with the olive oil and garlic and blend until smooth. Season with salt and pepper.
• Top a roll with a hot sausage followed by a nice smear of the smoked pepper spread, a sprinkle of ricotta salata and a couple of slices of pepperoncini. Serve immediately.

HOMEMADE SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGE (MILD OR HOT)

Steps:

• Place the pork and red wine vinegar in a mixing bowl. Sprinkle with salt, black pepper, parsley, garlic powder, onion powder, basil, paprika, red pepper flakes, fennel seed, brown sugar, oregano, and thyme. Knead until flecks of spice are evenly distributed through the sausage.
• Divide the sausage into thirds, and form into 3 logs; wrap each in plastic wrap. Place wrapped sausage into a freezer bag before freezing, or store in refrigerator for at least 12 hours before cooking.

STOVE TOP SMOKER HOT OR SWEET ITALIAN SAUSAGES

Steps:

• Cut the sausages into individual links if necessary so you can arrange them on the smoker rack with some space between each link to allow the smoke to flow. Poke each link in several places with a fork before smoking.
• Smoke the sausages until no trace of pink remains at the center of the sausage, about 25 minutes after closing the stove top smoker lid.

EASY ITALIAN SAUSAGE AND POTATO SKILLET

Steps:

• In a large skillet with a tight fitting lid, fill half full of water.
• Peel potatoes (if using small new red potatoes, no need to peel) and cut into wedges about the same size as a steak fry. Place in water as you cut. Place pan on stove, and bring to a boil, then cover and lower to a medium boil and boil for five minutes. Potato wedges should still have a good bite. They will be cooked again later. With a strainer, remove to a plate. Discard water.
• Wipe out the pan and add the olive oil. Heat over medium high and add the sausage pieces. Brown on both sides, then reduce heat and continue to cook and turn until they are cooked through. Remove to a medium bowl.
• Add onions and peppers and sauté for about 8-10 minutes or until the peppers just start to lose their crunch. Add the stock and stir to loosen up any brown bits from the pan. Pour this mixture in the bowl with the sausages.
• Add butter to pan and add seasoned salt, garlic powder, oregano and paprika. Place drained partially cooked potatoes in butter mixture and toss lightly to coat both sides then cook until potatoes are browned and cooked through, turning occasionally to brown both sides.
• Add the sausage, peppers and onions back with the potatoes and stir lightly without breaking up the potatoes and serve.