Ingredients

• 7 pounds well marbled pork shoulder or boneless country ribs
• 60 grams kosher salt
• 52 ½ grams sugar
• 30 grams toasted fennel seeds
• 9 grams cracked black pepper
• 6 grams ground nutmeg
• 1 ½ cup minced fresh parsley
• 1 head garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 ¼ cup dry sherry
• ⅓ cup sherry vinegar

Instructions

Making Bulk Sausage

1. Slice your meat and fat into chunks between an inch and two inches across. Cut your fat a little smaller than your meat. Cover with plastic wrap. This takes about 45 minutes.
2. Put the cubed sausage meat, grinder parts and bowls in the freezer for one hour.
3. Take the sausage meat out and mix in most of your spices; I leave out a tablespoon of fennel seeds and a tablespoon of black pepper for later. Mix quickly. Add the salt and the sugar and mix one more time.
4. Meanwhile, mix ⅓ cup of sherry vinegar and 1 ¼ cup of dry sherry and put it in the fridge.
5. Remove your grinder from the freezer and set it up. I use the coarse die for Italian sausage as Italian sausage is supposed to be rustic.
6. Push the sausage mixture though the grinder, working quickly. If you use the KitchenAid attachment, use it on level 4. Make sure the ground meat falls into a cold bowl. When all the meat is ground, put it back in the freezer and clean up the grinder and work area.
7. When you’ve cleaned up, take the mixture back out and add the remaining spices and the sherry-sherry vinegar mixture. Using the paddle attachment to a stand mixer (or a stout wooden spoon, or your VERY clean hands), mix the sausage well. With a stand mixer set on level 1, let this go for 90 seconds. It might take a little longer with the spoon or hands. You want the mixture to get a little sticky and begin to bind to itself – it is a lot like what happens when you knead bread.
8. When this is done, you have sausage. To cook, take a scoop and form into a ball with your hands. Flatten out a bit. Cook on medium low heat in a skillet for 5-10 minutes each side until browned and cooked through.