5 feet casings (optional)
4-1/2 pounds lean pork butt, cubed
1/2 pound pork fat, cubed
2-1/2 teaspoon salt or to taste
3 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 teaspoon fennel seed
crushed pepper if making hot sausage
2 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 teaspoon anise seed
Gather all the utensils, wash them thoroughly and wash the work area, and your hands. If you get called away, wash them again when you get back. Prepare the casing as explained above. If you are using a food processor, process the meat to a very fine dice and mix in the seasonings after the entire batch of meat has been processed. If you are using an electric grinder with a sausage attachment, sprinkle the seasonings over the meat and mix with your hands before grinding since the grinding and stuffing will be one operation. If you are using a hand grinder, put the meat through the fine disk (1/4 inch or smaller) twice. Mix in the seasonings between the first and second grindings.
Sausage tastes better if it has a chance to allow the spices to incorporate throughout the meat. Whether you made sausage in casings or not, refrigerate at least a couple hours. Fresh sausage will keep ok in the fridge for a couple days. Otherwise wrap and freeze it.
Cooking fresh sausage should be thorough and slowly. Never eat pork that has not been completely cooked!