Cheesy Italian Sausage

Trim the boneless pork butt and cut it into chunks and strips, making sure it can fit through the meat grinder. Place the pork pieces in the freezer for a while to firm up.

Mix the Spice Blend:In a bowl, combine the milk powder, kosher salt, pink curing salt, Italian herbs, white sugar, fennel seeds, granulated garlic, paprika, red pepper flakes, black pepper, turmeric, dried parsley, and coriander seeds. Mix the spices thoroughly.

Remove the chilled pork from the freezer and add the spice blend to it. Mix the spices into the pork until all the pieces are evenly coated. Allow the seasoned pork to cure in the refrigerator for a little while.

Pass the cured pork through a meat grinder using a coarse grinding plate.

Incorporate the tomato juice (250g) into the ground pork mixture. Mix it well with your hands to ensure an even distribution of liquid.

Grind Again:

Pass the pork mixture through the meat grinder for a second time to ensure proper mixing and a smooth consistency.

Add the high-temp mozzarella cheese (200g) cubes to the sausage mix. Mix the cheese in thoroughly with your hands to evenly distribute it throughout the mixture, creating a nice tacky texture.

Stuff the Sausage:

Load the sausage mix into a sausage stuffer and use standard 35mm hog casings to case up the sausages into links of your desired size.

Smoke the Sausage:

Fire up your smoker to a temperature of 100-150 degrees Fahrenheit (38-66 degrees Celsius). Place the de-linked sausages on the smoker grates and smoke them for about 2 hours.

After the first 2 hours, flip the sausages to ensure even smoke exposure on both sides. Continue smoking for an additional 2 hours.

Cool Down:

Once the sausages are fully smoked, remove them from the smoker and place them in an ice bath immediately. This will stop the cooking process and set the texture.

Store or Serve:

At this stage, you can vacuum-seal the sausages and store them in the refrigerator or freezer for later use. To enjoy them right away, reheat the smoker to about 275 degrees Fahrenheit (135 degrees Celsius) and crisp the sausages off for about 30 minutes. Afterward, slice up the delicious homemade Italian sausages and serve!

Enjoy your flavorful and juicy homemade Italian sausages!