Cudighi

From the kitchen of Kevin Taylor, the BBQ Guru

This is a sausage that is indigenous to a very small geographic location. The Iron Mountain, Michigan area is populated by many Italians that settled here. These Italians came from the Northern regions of Italy, around the Austrian border, and their cooking was greatly influenced by Austria and France. Northern Italian cooking is quite different than the more popular Sicilian (Southern) cooking. It has sweeter sauces and most of the recipes do not use fennel. This is a sausage that I grew up with and upon leaving found that it is nowhere to be found. So, I had to learn to make it myself. It is rather unique and I am sure you probably never tasted anything quite like it. Hope you enjoy it!

1 (6 pound) pork butt
2 tablespoons salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 to 1 cup dry red wine
6 garlic cloves
1 cinnamon stick
1 clove

Have the pork coarse ground and DO NOT have fat trimmed (you want about 25% fat). Put through the meat grinder TWICE.

Mix the following ingredients together: salt, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. Work into ground pork with your hands.

Combine wine, cinnamon sticks, garlic and cloves. Boil this mixture for 5 minutes and let completely cool.

Strain this mixture, reserving the liquid and work the liquid into the meat.

Let meat season in refrigerator for 2-3 days.

Some serving suggestions:
You can make this into links or leave in bulk. We use it in all of our Italian cooking...lasagna, pizza, etc. You can also serve this as a sandwich, either grilled or pan fried. Many people ate these sandwiches with mustard and onions...but the most popular way was to top with mozzarella cheese and some spaghetti sauce...you could add some green peppers and mushrooms too.

Another way to serve this was as an appetizer with cheese and crackers. To do this, roll the sausage into a summer sausage-like log. Wrap this in foil (doesn't have to be airtight) and boil in water for 45 minutes. Let cool and serve slices.