Monday, January 24, 2011

Italian Traditions

Good Monday Morning Everyone, Frank Marzullo....As long as I can remember at least once a winter my father and other relatives get together on a Saturday afternoon to make homemade Italian sausage, and I mean HOMEMADE. This weekend my dad brought his talents to Anderson TWP. where a bunch of my work friends and non-work friends gathered for a day of celebration and fun. It starts with pounds and pounds of pork butt! You need to remove the bone and then cut it up into chunks leaving some of the fat on the meat because that will add flavor to the sausage. Then you grind the pork butt up and season it with whatever you fancy. We prefer fennel, salt, pepper, garlic, romano cheese, and basil. You can also add some red pepper flakes to kick it up a notch. Once it is grinded you take your casings that have been soaking all night and you start the stuffing process. It is a very delicate process because you do not want to break your casing. Before you even start to stuff it you want to fry up a patty to see how it tastes and to decide if you need more seasoning. It's a pretty lengthy event but the actual sausage comes secondary to the atmosphere. You must first have plenty of red wine on hand, then you need the Italian classics playing in the background, and a large anti-pasta plate. Yep, you need a variety of cheese, Italian lunch meats, and olives. Finally the day would not be complete without The Godfather playing on repeat in the background, something about that music gets you in the mood and makes you feel like your in the old country. Stay tuned Rob will talk about how people came together on this historic day!! ha

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