Homemade Italian Salsiccia

Buy and prepare the meat, see the ingredients list.

I recommend that the bacon is pretty fatty or that you replace it with bacon/lard. The higher percentage of fat in the mixture, the more tender the sausages.

I use these two types of chopper plates for grinding the meat for sausages. The one with smaller holes came with the meat grinder. I bought the other one from the market and I use it when I want the sausages to have thicker pieces of meat inside as well.

You can use only one of them, whichever you have. Or just cut the small pieces of meat with a knife instead of using the three hole plate.

Chop the meat in the meat grinder.

Add salt, pepper, crushed garlic and ground fennel seed.

Pour the wine, white or red, either is good.

In some regions of Italy, wine is replaced with orange juice.

Mix well with your hands.

Cover the bowl with a lid or foil and refrigerate for 12-24 hours to marinate and for the flavours to blend.

After this time, we start stuffing the sausages. I've been using this type of sausage stuffer for two years and I'm extremely satisfied with it. I recommend it, if you are a fan of homemade sausages.

Before, I used the meat grinder to stuff the sausages but I wasn't pleased, so I changed the method.

Wash the hog casings thoroughly to remove the salt and leave in warm water for 30-40 minutes to soften. You could even add a little vinegar or 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice, to get rid of the specific smell.

Then place the wet meat bags around the stuffing tube.

Stuff the sausages. Try not to fill too much, so that they won't crack during cooking. They shouldn't be empty either, adjust along the way.

Twist the skin every 10-15 cm to have authentic Salsiccia sausages, which are usually smaller in size.

I always make a larger quantity. I make portions of about 1 kg each which I freeze. I can cook them whenever we want homemade sausages.

The simplest preparation method is baking them in the oven. But remember. Whether you fry them in a pan or cook in the oven, always prick them with a safety pin, so that they won't crack during cooking.

While they are cooking in the oven, turn them over and brush with the grease which they released in the pan.

Notice that I lined the sheet with baking paper, for later easier cleaning.

The sausages are done when they are evenly browned. Of course, they are best served warm with any garnish you like.

In Italy, Salsiccia sausages are most often prepared in a pan according to the following method:

- heat the pan with a little olive oil and put the sausages in it;

When they start to brown, you can cut their ends with the scissors and untie them. Use a fork to turn on all sides.

Pour over about 150 ml of water or white/red wine. Cover with a lid and let simmer slowly for 10 minutes.

The sausages cooked in this way are very tender and tasty, you must try the method.

Of course, they can be placed on the grill. Or the filling can be used for making pasta, pizza, pies, soups etc.

We liked them a lot and we will definitely make Salsiccia periodically.

Enjoy!