There’s just nothing quite like homemade Italian sausage. By controlling the ingredients you put in, you can flavor it however you like,adding everything from juniper berry to fennel and red wine.

As daunting as it sounds (cubing meat, grinding it, seasoning it, and stuffing it), once you make your own sausage, you’ll be amazed at how quickly you’ve caught on.

Italian Sausage

So it tastes great AND it’s a confidence booster – what more do you want from your cooking?

What follows are some tricks of the Charcuterie Trade that you may find handy, especially if you’re preparing for your first go-round.

The Cut of Meat

Pork shoulder, all the way. Also called ‘Pork Butt’ or ‘Boston Butt,’ pork shoulder contains roughly a 25-30% fat to 75-80% meat ratio that is ideal for sausage.

When ground, the fat not only helps flavor the meat, it also keeps it moist during cooking and lubes your grinder while it does its job. If all you have on hand is some pork loin or other lean cut, grind in some raw, uncured bacon or fatback (lardons).

Cubing

Assuming you’re going to be grinding your own meat for Italian Sausage, be sure to cube your meat into pieces small enough to fit into the hopper that feeds the grinder.

Ideally, you want to be able to just drop the meat in and watch it sink down while the auger pushes it to the blade and out the grinding plate. A tamper accessory is available that allows you to push the meat down the feeding tube, but avoid it if you can.

If you have to shove the meat down, you’re going to be creating friction, and that causes heat, and heat is your worst enemy.

Keep Things Cold

As we just mentioned, you want to keep heat away as far away from your sausage as possible. If things get warm, you’re essentially sending an invitation to all bacteria in the area to come in and join your sausage-making party.

Keeping things as cold as you can keeps bacteria at bay, helps ensure a healthy end product. That means you’ve got to store your grinding parts (auger, knife, plate, etc) in the freezer, and keep the meat you grind as cold as possible while working with it.

Always – ALWAYS – grind the meat into a clean, stainless steel bowl sitting atop an ice bath of ice, water, and a pinch of salt.

Taste It

Once you’ve ground the meat and seasoned it, take a sample spoonful from the bowl and fry it up in a pan. Taste it, and you can judge if it needs more salt, or if it falls apart in the mouth too quickly. Give yourself a little preview before you commit to an entire batch.

The Casings

There are beef casings available for huge-diameter sausages and lamb casings for those of smaller girth, but for true Italian sausage, pork intestine is king.

Pork Casings

It’s strong enough to hold a good amount of meat, and when you cook it, it crisps up into that crunchy film your teeth have to punch through with every bite.

You can order pork casings from places online such as Amazon.

And just because it’s not stuffed doesn’t mean it’s not genuine Italian sausage.

You can grind and season it, and then just store it in an air-tight container as a free, loose sausage perfect for adding to pizza or just about any soup you could imagine.

So we hope you take on making your own Italian sausage. It’s a time-honored tradition in which every cook – professional or home – should take part.

Plus, it’s fun!

Not everyone has the luxury of a palatial kitchen full of stainless-steel appliances and enough counter space to land a cargo plane.

Many people still live in apartments and homes where the kitchen was an afterthought in the design, and the only counter space available is exactly that: a space where there’s a counter.

But just because there’s barely enough room to put your toaster doesn’t mean you can’t have quality meals that don’t involve a drive-thru or microwave.

In fact, as long as you’ve got an oven and some sort of direct heating device (stove top, plug-in griddle or wok), you can whip up a meal that will have you and any guest willing to brave your cramped conditions pleasantly taken aback.

1.) Good ‘Ol Pasta

One of the best ideas for a small kitchen is pasta.   Simple boil your water and add in the noodles.   Thaw some frozen sauce or use a jar (if you must).  Serve with some Romano cheese for some extra zap to the dish!

It really is that simple.

KITCHENWARE COUNT: 1-2 – Pot for water, pot for thawing sauce
UTENSIL COUNT: 1-2 – Spoon for stirring pasta

2.) Stracciatella Soup

Soups are only as difficult as you make them. All those ingredients and preparation for a crystal-clear consommé: leave to the pros.

For you, try a simpler soup, like an Italian Stracciatella.

For Stracciatella, all you need to do is bring four to six cups of chicken broth to a low boil.

While the liquid is coming to temperature, grab a bowl and crack in two or three whole eggs.

Mix the eggs in the bowl, adding about a third- to a half-cup of grated Parmesan cheese, a teaspoon of salt, and a quarter teaspoon of nutmeg.

When the liquid comes to a boil, use your whisk to stir it vigorously, until it gets a nice vortex, or whirlpool, going. Hold your bowl of egg mixture above the swirling broth, and slowly drizzle it in.

After about three minutes, your soup is done.

Garnish with more Parmesan, a little extra virgin olive oil, and some cracked pepper, and you’ll be amazed at what’s sitting in your bowl.

KITCHENWARE COUNT: 2   (Pot and mixing bowl)
UTENSIL COUNT: 2 (Whisk and measuring spoons)
STORAGE CONTAINER COUNT: 2-3 – This soup is tasty and freezes well.

3.) Red Beans and Rice

Outside of soaking a pound of kidney beans in a pot overnight (and finding the space to do so), red beans and rice is a home run in any small kitchen.

Drain the beans through a colander, rinse out the pot, and put it where you normally let dishes dry. While it’s drying, chop up some bell pepper, onions, and celery, along with garlic and your favorite sausage (optional).

Take that pot, sauté your veggies (and sausage, if using), and add the beans. Sauté some more, adding your dry spices (bay leaf and what not), then your rice and water, and cover.

Bring all that to a boil, and let simmer for a couple of hours. You can do the rice separately, but that takes up another pot, and we’re trying to be economical here.

KITCHENWARE COUNT: 3 – Pot with lid, Colander, cutting board
UTENSIL COUNT: 2 – Wooden spoon and kitchen knife
STORAGE CONTAINER COUNT: 1-2, Depends on how much you eat.

Now that you’re armed with some know-how, does your small kitchen seem like such a problem? Remember this: no one will care about what your kitchen looks like if the food coming out of it is better than their own!

If you haven’t heard of an induction burner, it’s about time you do.

These burners use less electricity, and can be bought as single burners or as a whole cooktop. They work by heating the actual pan – where the pan becomes the heating element – hence the term induction burner.

We bought one about 1 1/2 years ago – a simple single burner one and I can’t believe I’m just now getting around to writing about these.

You can purchase them online at places like Newegg.com or Amazon, and of courseat retail stores like Lowes which sell them as standalone drop in cooktops, or as a slide in stove.

Here are a few points about an induction cooktop:

The burner will only heat up where it comes in contact with the cookware.

For example, if you place a medium size saucepan on a regular large coil or glasstop burner, the entire burner will heat up – because the entire coil heats up. However, with an induction burner, only the area which is in that magnetic field is affectd.

You can still cook just like you always do.

You are not limited to the types of food or methods of cooking you can perform when using one of these burners. You can still make your fried chicken cutlets, bean soups, and pasta just as you would any other type of burner.

It heats up very fast.

Induction burners or cooktops heat up very quickly. For a small sauce pan with water, it takes less than 2 minutes to come to a full boil.

Efficiency & utility cost savings

These burners are extremely efficient when it comes to electricity. I often use my single induction burner to heat up water or soup – plus it works great when heating up my frozen Italian sauce.

It’s also ideal for slow cooking soups or other foods for a number of hours as it uses a fraction of the wattage a regular stove would generate.

Safety in the kitchen

A huge benefit is since these operate based on direct contact with the cookware, if you forget to turn off the burner after removing a pan, the burner will automatically shut off.

This is a big advantage to induction burners – especially since the majority of house fires are started from in the kitchen!

Different Sizes

These come in various sizes, from single burners to double burners to a full 5 burner cooktop. The double and single sizes are great for small apartments, kitchens or efficiencies.

Double Burner Induction Cooktop

They usually come with touch buttons (actually I haven’t seen any that don’t) for the on/off and temperature settings.

Induction Compatible

Not all cookware can be used on induction burners. You can tell if your cookware is compatible by testing it with a magnet.

Simply place a magnet on the underside of the pan and if it sticks, then it is compatible.

Remember, since induction works by a magnetic field, the pan must be magnetic. If you want to buy a new set, just look for the induction symbol as shown here. We purchased a T-Fal set and I love them.

Induction compatible cookware can be used on regular stove tops as well – not just induction ones.

Magnetic field and pregnancy

There has been a little talk about if these are safe for women who are pregnant – due to the EMF’s (electric magnetic field) , such as those put off by power grids or on a smaller scale – microwaves.

My word of advice is if you are concerned about this and are infront of the burner almost all the time and are pregnant or thinking of getting pregnant, I’d hold off until more research is available.

But that’s just me- I tend to be over cautious at times, but if it eases my mind it’s worth it.
We use a single burner portable one and I love it. It heats quickly and evenly and is great for cooking one pot meals or dishes.

I just set it on top of our regular cooktop and turn it on. Not to mention when power goes out and you’ve got a generator, you’ll want to use this kind of burner rather than your regular electric stovetop.

Price and size

A single burner can range from $50 to well over $100.  For an entire oven with an induction top, you will recognize a considerable increase in oven size as there are no heavy bulky coils that fit down into the oven.  Inductions are fairly flat and simply take up less space allowing for more room in the oven cavity.

If you’re in the market for a new cooktop or need a single burner – check out induction cooktops and don’t forget to make sure your cookware is compatible.

At the end of a long day at work, it’s hard to work up the energy to cook dinner. Pizza delivery seems easy, but takeout can be very expensive.

Preparing meals for the freezer is less expensive but requires advance planning and storage space. Pasta is easily cooked and is on the table quickly, but eventually that gets boring.

Don’t be so quick to give up on Italian food. Southern Italian food is famous for its pizza and pasta with tomato sauce, but there are lots of other choices.

Northern Italians do eat pasta, but they prefer their starches in the form of rice & cornmeal. These staple foods are not only inexpensive, but can be transformed into delicious meals.

Firm polenta

Old Fashioned Polenta

Polenta is a finely ground corn meal made from white or yellow corn. Traditionally, polenta is cooked in a pot for half an hour or more until thick, requiring constant stirring to prevent lumps from forming. This cereal can be eaten with meaty sauces or butter and cheese.

Modern Options Speed Up Polenta

Modern cooks can find quick cook versions of this grain, making the tedious stirring a thing of the past. In the five minutes that this cereal takes to cook, you can warm some precooked meat in a jar of good quality spaghetti sauce and assemble a salad.  For a soothing supper, it is also delicious topped with butter, milk and honey.

Try Store Bought Polenta

If freshly cooked, polenta placed in a container and refrigerated, polenta will become firm.

It can be sliced into pieces and cooked in casseroles, deep fried or even eaten instead of bread. Most large supermarkets now sell refrigerated tubes of precooked polenta that are ready to slice.  Packages of plain and pre-seasoned chilled polenta are available and can be used interchangeably with sliced homemade polenta in recipes.

Creamy Risotto

Rice can be found in many parts of the world, but Italy’s rice has been developed to have unique cooking properties. Arborio is the type of Italian rice most often found in American supermarkets. The short grains are bred to withstand long cooking times without becoming mushy. As the rice is stirred in liquid, it releases starches that make creamy sauce, even without the addition of oil.

Like polenta, this grain requires constant stirring. Many people eat risotto with butter and cheese stirred in after the rice is tender, but it can also be used to create decadent meals with fresh seafood or dried wild mushrooms. It is even used to cook creamy rice desserts.

Cooking Under Pressure

Using a pressure cooker to make risotto is not traditional, but gives excellent results. Saute the dry rice grains in some oil with whatever seasonings you wish to use, then add broth and bring to pressure. After the rice is done cooking, you can stir in any ingredients that will be overcooked by pressure cooking, such as cheese or seafood.

Rice in a Hurry

Precooked risotto hasn’t become available, but quick cooking rice only takes two minutes to cook. It won’t have the precise texture of the traditional grain, but is worth trying with your family. Quick arborio rice is also great for impromptu desserts.

Even though traditional Italian recipes for polenta and risotto require attending to the dishes for long periods of time, modernizations have made it possible for even busy families to enjoy them. Try out these two Italian dishes and see how much time they can save you in your kitchen.

Miss the previous gift idea?  Check it out here!

GIFT IDEA 5: A SET OF STAINLESS STEEL MIXING BOWLS

Get the set that comes in various sizes, much like a set of measuring spoons or cups.
Stainless steel is favored because it is non-porous and durable, meaning your friend can use the bowls to marinate meat or confit a duck, and then bang them around to get them nice and clean.

“What’s the big deal?  It’s just a bowl, right?”  Well, no.  Chefs mix everything: salsas, dressings, marinades; they whisk the holy heck out of egg whites to stiffen them up lightly for a souffle or to the point they actually form the peaks needed for a meringue. Whipped cream?  How do you think that got its name?

Stainless steel mixing bowls are a fantastic option for your friend, and they don’t take up much storage space because the bowls fit inside one another.   They can get a little pricey, though, but paying for quality now will give your chef friend years of complete satisfaction.

Plus there’s the fact that every time they use one, they’ll be thinking of you.

And there it is: five outstanding gift ideas for the home chef / cook that are not only extremely practical and sought after, but not too expensive.  It’s important to let that person buy their own fancy meats, cheeses, and knives; they’ve got that covered.

But these gift ideas are things they will constantly use, maybe even one day cooking you a delicious thank you dinner where they used all of them in its preparation.

And that will give you ultimate bragging rights.

This is the final part of a 5 part series.  Hope you enjoyed!

This was a guest post series by Nicholas Joseph of LearnfromMe, a writer over at elance.com.  You can also catch him here on The Examiner.  If you would like to contribute a guest post, please contact me at contact (AT) simpleitaliancooking.com.