Italian Fennel Sausage Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is fennel sausage made of? ›

Description. Ground pork simply flavored with red pepper flakes, fennel seed and garlic! Perfect for adding to any recipe (especially Italian recipes) that call for sausage!

In North America, Italian sausage (Italian: salsiccia, Italian: [salˈsittʃa]) most often refers to a style of pork sausage. The sausage is often noted for being seasoned with fennel or anise as the primary seasoning.

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A sausage is a type of meat product usually made from ground meat—often pork, beef, or poultry—along with salt, spices and other flavourings. Other ingredients, such as grains or breadcrumbs, may be included as fillers or extenders.

For example, Italians often eat fennel raw at the end of a meal, saying it helps with digestion and cleansing.

Sausages are made with ground meat mixed with fat, salt, and other seasonings (some also contain preservatives and/or fillers). This mixture is usually stuffed into a casing, although some fresh sausage is sold as "bulk" or formed into patties.

Ground Herbs and Spices

Ground spices blend seamlessly into the sausage meat. Because ground herbs and spices are smaller, they distribute through the meat evenly. They are less noticeably visible in the meat; what they lose in visual aesthetic they make up for in all-over flavor.

The white coating on salami is a strain of mold called Penicillium nalgiovense. The name may sound like a disease, but don't worry; it serves an important purpose in the production of salami. In fact, makers actively inoculate salami with P.

The main difference in Italian sausage when compared to other sausages is the seasoning. The particular ingredient that usually sets Italian sausage apart is fennel. This is a licorice scented herb that gives Italian sausage its unique taste that is different than other types of sausage.

In this case, fortunately, the answer is simple: the correct word in Italian is salsiccia. According to the Accademia della Crusca, the right form is sausage because it derives from the Latin salsicia.

Does authentic Italian sausage have fennel? ›

Every processed meat product has a traditional product characteristic. Traditionally, Italian sausage contains fennel and black pepper. Typically the black pepper used in Italian sausage is a coarser particle size than you find in fresh pork sausage. Fennel is the spice that gives Italian sausage its Italian flavor.

Fennel is a key ingredient in sausage due to its unique flavor profile that perfectly complements the rich taste of the meat. The sweet, slightly licorice-like taste of fennel adds depth and complexity, enhancing the overall flavor of the sausage.

Fennel is a member of the carrot family, though it's not a root vegetable. The base of its long stalks weave together to form a thick, crisp bulb that grows above ground. Above the bulb, at the tip of the stalks, it has light, feathery leaves that resemble dill.

Fennel has a very mild anise or licorice flavor that can be enhanced or sweetened depending on how it is cooked (or not cooked). When diced and sauteed with onions as one of the first steps when making a soup or stew, fennel becomes very sweet.

Additions to the basic sausage mix vary from classic seasonings such as onions, garlic, herbs and spices (parsley, fennel, allspice) to more luxurious flavourings such as truffle.

Sausage casing, also known as sausage skin or simply casing, is the material that encloses the filling of a sausage. Natural casings are made from animal intestines or skin; artificial casings, introduced in the early 20th century, are made of collagen and cellulose.