Fennel seeds and sausages
Sausages are one of my favorite things. In the Philippines, there are towns that specialize in sausages and I guess I could divided them into two kinds- those that are preserved with salt and garlic or those with vinegar and sugar. Now, I am partial to the garlicky, salty ones such those that come from Lucban, Quezon - the towm famous for a farmers’ festival each May 15. We call it Longganisang Lucban to denote that it comes from Lucban.
Longganisa Lucban
Longganisa means sausage. So you always know where it comes from. Like we have Longganisang Laoag, Longganisang Vigan, etc… I never really like them sweet so Longganisang Lucban is still a favorite. Luckily, we live near the origin so I can enjoy it as much as I can. It has lots of garlic which I really like.
Well, this post is about herbs but I’m not writing about garlic. This post is about fennel. Fennel seeds, to be exact.
Fennel seeds
I’ve tasted Italian sausages perviously and immediately like the flavor. I was trying to guess the herbs that went with it, especially some seeds that I’ve bitten and burst out all its flavors. I’ve read a lot about herbs such as fennel though I have not tasted it yet. I have my suspicion that the seeds were fennel seeds based on what I have read. And I’ve looked at recipes of Italian sausages and that was the only ingredient I am not familiar with. Finally I got the chance to buy fennels in Manila. There’s a shop in Manila that sells all sorts of spices you wouldn’t think you were in the Philippines once inside.
So I made my own sausages with fennel seeds and other herbs. I don’t think this recipe is unique, as I’ve read a lot of recipes for Italian sausages and I just mixed up what I had from our kitchen.
Before the recipe, some fennel facts:
- the scientific name is Foeniculum vulgare
- flavour is similar to that of anise and star anise
- India, it is common to chew fennel seed (or saunf) as a mouth-freshener
- it is an essential component in Chinese five spice powder
Now for the recipe:
Homemade Italian Sausage
500 grams ground lean pork
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp mixture of dried basil, oregano, thyme and sage
1 tsp chili flakes
1 tsp ground black pepper
salt to taste
Mix all ingredients very well. Since I couldn’t get any sausage skins, I just shaped them into 3-inch sausages. Let it marinate for at least an hour in the refrigerator. You can fry them or store them in the freezer. Enjoy them with fried rice, too. We enjoyed eating these sausages in a picnic right in the garden, where we’ve also installed an outdoor lighting. Can’t wait to try this out again.
Now, if I could only get the recipe for Longganisa Lucban!
***
Astrid of Paulchens Food Blog is hosting Weekend Herb Blogging # 113. Please send your entries at foodblog@paulchens.org.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
Stumble It!
December 12th, 2007 at 6:59 am
[...] really like the combination of Italian sausage, pasta and red sauce. So when I made Italian sausages for the first time, I used part of it in making this really delicious pasta with Italian [...]
December 13th, 2007 at 8:22 pm
I love Italian sausage, and the fennel seeds in them are one of the important reasons why — they combine with the pork so well, especially when you add chili flakes (as you have done!) Combined with rice, this kind of sausage makes a good filling for stuffed vegetables like peppers or zucchini. And since you aren’t using casings, you won’t even need to break the sausages apart to use them this way. Nice post!
December 19th, 2007 at 8:51 pm
[...] I am not very fond of fennel but these italian sausages might even change my mind about that… ;o) Thanks Gay from A scientist in the [...]
December 20th, 2007 at 4:06 am
I really love the taste of fennel. It’s one thing I always want to add to tomato sauce, and I love Italian Sausage too. Very impressive that you have made your own sausage, I bet it is delicious!
December 30th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
[...] of my discoveries for this year is fennel, the seeds to be exact. I wanted to follow the Amateur Gourmet’s roast chicken recipe up to a [...]
January 10th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
I love fennel, fronds, bulb, seeds and all. Thanks for the recipe!
April 3rd, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Hi there! Can i ask where you bought the fennel seeds? I’ve been looking for them for a long time now! Could you point me to the right direction? Muchos thanks!
September 3rd, 2008 at 1:26 pm
[...] sister bought garlic sausages for breakfast which I really like. It’s like Lucban longganisa which is really a favorite of mine except that is bigger in size and has lesser fat. No red [...]