Decent Italian sausage is hard to come by and it's very expensive - usually way over $4.00 per pound. I bought two shoulder butts at Costco for $1.59 per pound. I turned one of them into sausage and the other one will become Mexican-style carnitas.
The video below is excellent and shows the process using a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with a grinder and sausage stuffing attachment.
The only thing he didn't stress was putting the cut up pork into the freezer for about 30 minutes before grinding. My first batch was only in for about 15 minutes and you really need to get it a tiny bit more frozen in order to grind quickly. Second batch was a breeze.
So for approximately $12.00 (including spices and hog casings) I have over $35.00 worth of sausage. Not only that, but I know exactly what's in it.
