How do you duplicate Lou's or Uno's type sausage?

[mrmojo1]

i agree on the oregano, and the pepper flake,  but basil adds some of the sweetness in my op to sweet italian sausage.  but i am in no way an expert.  too much oregano has a soapy taste, red pepper flake is hot..but basil is sweet.. whaddya guys think??  I am really interested in this thread. the sweet italian i get from johnsonville is no way a good substitute from what i grew up with in Chitown. i want to make my own too!  thanks!

[BTB]

Making sausage is out of my league, Ed.  But eating it isn't.  Just some general thoughts.  For just a pound of pork, I wonder if quarter tsps of some of those ingredients wouldn't be preferable, as well as some other reductions.  I would tend to agree on leaving out the red pepper flakes.  One can always shake it on the pizza if they really want it.

There is a specialty sausage shop in Clearwater, Florida that makes many different kinds of European sausage.  One that was reddish in color got my curiosity and I inquired as to what it was.  I was told it was "Hungarian" sausage, which they said was similar to polish sausage only with a lot of paprika in it.  I tried it, along with a good supply of Italian, Polish and Lithuanian sausage.  All were good, but I'd put the Hungarian in last place.  We didn't care for the large amount of paprika in the sausage.  And the recipe you have seems to call for a lot of it. 

I've eaten alot of Malnati's sausage.  It is excellent and has some things in it that I just can't identify.  But one thing it doesn't have is fennel seed, which on other pizzas is one of my favorite spices for pizza sauce and pizza sausage.  I would think to try it anyway.  And the proportion of garlic powder does seem good as I seem to remember some good garlic flavor to their sausage.

When you say "ground lean pork" I assume its not ground like hamburger would be.  I don't know what to call or how to characterize the grind for a sausage, but I often see ground pork at the butcher but that isn't appropriate for sausage use I wouldn't think.

Am looking forward to hearing about your sausage making adventures.

                                                                              --BTB

[vcb]

I just made my first test batch of italian sausage.
I used a 1 pound package of Smithfield 'fresh ground' pork. The ground pork looked pretty close to a sausage grind,
so I'm not too concerned about texture. It's going to be a big patty on the bottom of the pizza anyway.
The ground pork has about half the fat of the pre-made italian sausage I usually buy from my local grocery,
so hopefully it will leave less of a grease puddle when I cook it.

I kept it pretty basic, using only salt, pepper, garlic powder and crushed fennel at the same amounts listed in the recipe I posted above.
The uncooked sausage smells pretty close to what I'd call a chicago-style italian sausage.

Now it goes into the fridge for a couple days.
I'll let you all know how it works out when I make my next pizza.

Question: Are you sure Lou's doesn't use fennel or is it possible they are using a ground/powder form of fennel seed in their sausage so it's not visible? If anyone from Anichini Brothers or any other local sausage-maker wants to post anonymously and give us some hints about spices, we'd appreciate it! ;-)

Making sausage is out of my league, Ed.  But eating it isn't.  Just some general thoughts.  For just a pound of pork, I wonder if quarter tsps of some of those ingredients wouldn't be preferable, as well as some other reductions.  I would tend to agree on leaving out the red pepper flakes.  One can always shake it on the pizza if they really want it.

There is a specialty sausage shop in Clearwater, Florida that makes many different kinds of European sausage.  One that was reddish in color got my curiosity and I inquired as to what it was.  I was told it was "Hungarian" sausage, which they said was similar to polish sausage only with a lot of paprika in it.  I tried it, along with a good supply of Italian, Polish and Lithuanian sausage.  All were good, but I'd put the Hungarian in last place.  We didn't care for the large amount of paprika in the sausage.  And the recipe you have seems to call for a lot of it. 

I've eaten alot of Malnati's sausage.  It is excellent and has some things in it that I just can't identify.  But one thing it doesn't have is fennel seed, which on other pizzas is one of my favorite spices for pizza sauce and pizza sausage.  I would think to try it anyway.  And the proportion of garlic powder does seem good as I seem to remember some good garlic flavor to their sausage.

When you say "ground lean pork" I assume its not ground like hamburger would be.  I don't know what to call or how to characterize the grind for a sausage, but I often see ground pork at the butcher but that isn't appropriate for sausage use I wouldn't think.

Am looking forward to hearing about your sausage making adventures.

                                                                              --BTB

[BTB]

Question: Are you sure Lou's doesn't use fennel or is it possible they are using a ground/powder form of fennel seed in their sausage so it's not visible?

Slice just had a review of My Pie deep dish pizza (http://slice.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/01/my-pie-deep-dish-pizza-damien-ave-chicago-il-review.html? ) which when in Rogers Park long ago near Loyola I use to eat at frequently.  The reviewer generally has very good things to say about the pizza, but his remarks about the sausage were thus: 

"The sausage was the only disappointing component of the pie. There was enough of it and it had a nice amount of chewiness, but the flavor was weak, particularly on a thick sauce-heavy pie like this. There was no fennel at all in the sausage, which bothered me. I can deal with a sausage without fennel if there is another strong flavor in there (usually garlic), but this was not a well-seasoned sausage."

While I definitely prefer fennel in the sausage on my Chicago style thin crust pizzas, I think it is typical that most of the old time deep dish pizzerias did not include fennel in their sausage.  I remember a thread -- I think on this website -- where the debate was hot and heavy as to whether "Italian sausage can be Italian sausage without fennel."  Many say yes . . . and many say no!

As to whether I'm certain on Malanti's, fennel seed can be a strong spice the taste of which is very distinctive.  And when it is crushed, it is even more so.  Just my opinion, but I had never tasted it there in the many times I've had their pizzas.  If it were there, it would have to be a very small amount.  And while their sausage has their own very distinctive great flavor, that flavor -- at least to me -- does not seem to be of a heavy Italian spiced flavor (except for the garlic).                                                                                     

Looking forward to hearing about your experience with this.                                                         --BTB

[vcb]

Home-made italian sausage was a success!
I used fresh ground black pepper, iodized sea salt and granulated garlic powder.
I had run the fennel seeds thru my spice grinder for a few pulses.
Next time, I will probably invest in a good mortar and pestle to give them a more lightly-crushed and less vaporized texture,
but overall the flavor was good!

Photos of my latest pies on my blog:
http://virtualcheeseburger.blogspot.com/2010/01/home-made-italian-sausage-deep-dish-and.html

[tikidoc]

I used the same lower fat ground pork (it was 90/10 so fairly lean) and most of the spices in the recipe on the previous page that had a bunch of spices.  I suppose I should have cooked up a little outside the pizza to taste but I had guests coming over and did not have time.  I left out most of the paprika because that seemed more like Portuguese sausage than Italian to me, and I only used a small pinch of red pepper flakes because our guests included several small kids.  I used a mortar and pestle the lightly crush the fennel.  The spice mix smelled great.  Authentic?  I have no idea, as it has been quite a while since I have been to Chicago.  But it tasted great in the pizza, and certainly had a lot less fat than pre-made sausage.  It only took a few minutes to make with ground pork.