Italian Sausage Seasoning Blend

Ingredients

• 5 teaspoons kosher salt (1 tsp per lb of pork)
• 5 teaspoons fennel seed, lightly toasted and cracked
• 2½ teaspoons coarsely ground black pepper
• 2½ teaspoons granulated garlic
• 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 to 4 teaspoons crushed red pepper (hot version only)
• ¼ cup ice water per pound, at mixing time

Instructions

1. 01

   Toast the fennel. Warm the fennel seed in a dry skillet over medium heat for about a minute, until it smells like a deli. Cool, then crack it coarsely in a mortar or under a heavy pan.

2. 02

   Mix the dry blend. Combine salt, cracked fennel, black pepper, granulated garlic, paprika and oregano in a jar. Add crushed red pepper only for the hot batch.

3. 03

   Measure per pound. Use roughly 1 tablespoon of blend per pound of ground pork. Any more and the salt takes over; any less and it tastes like plain breakfast sausage.

4. 04

   Mix cold, mix wet. Toss the blend through very cold ground pork with ¼ cup ice water per pound. Mix 60 to 90 seconds until the meat turns tacky and clings to your hand upside down.

5. 05

   Fry a test patty. Cook a small flat patty and taste it before stuffing anything. Salt and fennel are much easier to adjust now than after casings go on.

6. 06

   Rest the mix. Cover and refrigerate overnight. The fennel and garlic bloom into the fat, and day-two sausage tastes twice as seasoned as day one.

Larry’s rule: Store the dry blend in a sealed jar away from light and it holds full strength for six months. Label the hot jar — they look identical at 6 a.m.