Sweet Italian Sausage
Also known as mild Italian sausage, sweet Italian pork sausage, Italian Sausage (Sweet)
United States
Overview
Sweet Italian Sausage is a United States fresh pork sausage seasoned principally with fennel or anise and distinguished from hot Italian sausage by the absence of a dominant chilli heat. It is a central Italian-American butcher product.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
Under the United States standard of identity, Italian sausage is a meat product with defined minimum meat content and limits on fat and added water. Sweet describes the mild branch and does not normally mean a dessert-like sugar level.
Composition and characteristics
Pork and pork fat are coarsely minced with fennel or anise, salt, pepper and often garlic. Paprika, parsley and mild herbs may appear. The cooked sausage has a juicy open cut face and recognisable fennel aroma.
Production and process
The mixture is stuffed into hog casing as raw links or sold in bulk. It is grilled, fried, roasted or crumbled into sauces and fillings.
History and regional forms
Italian immigrants brought regional fresh-sausage traditions to the United States, where butcher shops consolidated them into the broad categories sweet, mild and hot Italian sausage. Fennel became the most recognisable marker in American markets.
Use, storage and related products
It is served with peppers and onions, in sandwiches, pasta sauces, pizza toppings and stuffing. It differs from Italian regional salsiccia and from the hybrid German-named Italian Bratwurst.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, run it through one of our curing calculators so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →“Make this” opens the same cure as a measured recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt
- Cut
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt
- Salt (%)
- 1.8
- Curing salt
- None
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- Raw sausage ≤4°C for up to 2 days; freeze for longer storage
- Basis
- per 1,000 g pork shoulder / boston butt
- Style
- Fresh U.S. Italian pork sausage; cook before eating
Ingredients
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt100% · 1000 g
- Fine salt1.8% · 18 g
- Coarsely ground black pepper0.2% · 2 g
- Granulated sugar0.2% · 2 g
- Cracked fennel seed0.3% · 3 g
- Ground coriander seed0.1% · 1 g
- Ground caraway0.1% · 1 g
- Ice-cold water3% · 30 g
Method
- Use pork with finished fat below 35%; keep meat/meat-and-fat at or above 85% and water below 3% of total ingredients.
- Chill pork, water and equipment to 0–3°C.
- Grind pork through 10 mm.
- Add salt, pepper, sugar, fennel, coriander, caraway and exactly 30 g water.
- Stuff into 32–36 mm casings and form 12 cm links.
- Refrigerate 4–12 hours at 2–4°C.
Safety. U.S. Italian sausage is generally raw and must be refrigerated and fully cooked.