Italian sausages

[torakris]

I grew up eating Italian Sausages, usually home-made ones made by my Italian grandmother or her neighbor.

These were wonderful sausages filled with fennel seeds, garlic and other spices and the ones my mom bought from the store tasted similar (though not quite as good! )

I just found Italian sausages for the first time in Japan and as I was looking through various cookbooks on ways to cook them I noticed they all specified sausages with out any spices added. Quite surprised I ran to my freezer to look at my sausages and sure enough no fennel seeds, no garlic, nothing!

How can you make sausage without fennel seeds?

Is this just some regional differences in Italian sausages?

What happened to the fennel?

[Jason Perlow]

There are definitely legitimate ones without fennel. In the Bronx, at the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, you can usually find:

1) Sweet : The fennel kind.

2) Parmesan and Parsley: usually rolled up into tight coils, these are thinner in diameter than the sweet. Taste kinda like breakfast sausage, its salty.

3) Hot: with pepperoncini and chili flakes in it

4) broccoli rabe: usually a chicken or a pork ground meat with broccoli rabe

there are several other variations as well, but the fennel definitely isnt the only legit one.

[Suzanne F]

No, but it's one of the best.

[torakris]

There are definitely legitimate ones without fennel. In the Bronx, at the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, you can usually find:

1) Sweet : The fennel kind.

2) Parmesan and Parsley: usually rolled up into tight coils, these are thinner in diameter than the sweet. Taste kinda like breakfast sausage, its salty.

3) Hot: with pepperoncini and chili flakes in it

4) broccoli rabe: usually a chicken or a pork ground meat with broccoli rabe

there are several other variations as well, but the fennel definitely isnt the only legit one.

Looks as though I was deprived as a child eating eating only the fennel ones!

[tissue]

There are definitely legitimate ones without fennel. In the Bronx, at the Arthur Avenue Retail Market, you can usually find:

1) Sweet : The fennel kind.

2) Parmesan and Parsley: usually rolled up into tight coils, these are thinner in diameter than the sweet. Taste kinda like breakfast sausage, its salty.

3) Hot: with pepperoncini and chili flakes in it

4) broccoli rabe: usually a chicken or a pork ground meat with broccoli rabe

there are several other variations as well, but the fennel definitely isnt the only legit one.

I like the hot ones.... yum yum.

[essvee]

The sausages that so many Italian cookbooks are called luganega and don't contain fennel or garlic. I think fennel seed is an Italian-American thing.