Nothing screams summer like this Italian Ring Sausage. Chevalatta is an Italian sausage made with sheep casing. It is a cheesy and delicious sausage, that you can make yourself, or buy at the butcher!
I remember every Memorial Day weekend, my dad would pick up one of the Italian sausage rings and it would be like our appetizer before dinner. We'd all slowly cut away at, an inch or 2 at a time until it was all gone. They were so so good, and readily available in my hometown.
But now I live in North Carolina, and you are much more likely to find country breakfast sausage here than Italian ring sausage. Chevalatta was always a special sausage we had in the summer. My dad would get it from the butcher just every once in a while for a family party or event.
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What is Chevalatta?
Chevalatta is an Italian spiral sausage filled with parmesan cheese, garlic, salt, basil, and parsley. It's made with sheep casings making it have less of a snap and more of a soft bite. The texture is soft and creamy and goes perfectly with broccoli rabe! This dish is great for grilling as an appetizer or a side dish.
Making Chevalatta
This blog isn't about "how to grill chevalatta." This blog is to teach you how to make and stuff your own sausages. The right meat-to-fat ratios, the right salt content, and the spices that go into making an Italian ring sausage. Of course, I will also go into detail on how to grill after we finish stuffing the sausage.
If you're looking to get the New York summer sausage flavor, this is the blog for you. Follow along as we go through some of the steps.
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Pork, Boston butt 75% lean, 25% fat
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 35 g kosher salt approximately 2 tbsp
- ¾ cup pecorino romano
- sheep casings
Choosing Your Pork
Any butcher will tell you that this is the most important part. I learn so much about meat every time I go to the butcher. If you don't know, ask! I used to go to the butcher and buy a Boston butt and some pork fat and cut it all up myself. This time, I was talking to the butcher, and he actually told me he'd do it for me and I'd save money because I wouldn't be paying for the bone.
When you are choosing your pork to make chevalatta, it is important to have 70-80% lean meat and 20-30% fat. Real butchers will tell you not to go below 25% fat. I sometimes like to do 80%/20% just because it's a little less fat, and a little healthier. I also feel like you always get more fat than you ask for because it's hard to separately weigh all the fat and pork and it's always better to air on the side of fattier when it comes to sausage.
You also want to use hard fat when it comes to sausage. It is about the same texture as the meat if not harder. Soft fat feels a bit jelly and wet. You always want more hard fat because it will go through the grinder a lot easier. I go into more detail about this in my how-to-make homemade Italian sausage blog.
Once you have your pork, it's time to head home and get to grinding your meat.
Grinding the Pork
I use my Kitchen Aid Mixer for grinding. It has a grinder and sausage stuffing attachment that works really well and the kitchen aid mixer is a workhorse. We've had ours forever.
Chop your pork into 1-2 inch square pieces. You want the pork to be smaller than the whole in the grinder you have to stuff it into. Place the pork on a metal tray in the freezer along with grinder attachment pieces for 15 minutes. Cooling the pork down will help keep the best texture during the grinding phase. If the pork gets too warm, the fat will start to melt and get really stringy. It will stop up the grinder, and you'll have to clean it all out.
After attaching the grinder, grind the pork using the smaller of the two attachment options for Italian ring sausage. I use a speed of 6-8 when grinding the meat. If you are making a traditional sausage, you can use the larger grinding attachment. Grind all of the pork into a large mixing bowl.
Seasoning the Pork
One of the other more important aspects of sausage is salt content. The right salt content will make the sausage snappy and juicy. You always want to have 1-2% of the total weight of the meat in salt. The other seasonings are just for flavor. The salt makes the sausage.
After the meat is ground, add the salt, cheese, parsley, basil, garlic, and olive oil. Combine until incorporated by hand. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and rest in the fridge overnight.
Stuffing the Sausage
Before taking the meat out of the fridge, take your sheep casings out and rinse them in warm water thoroughly. Make sure you do this in a bowl. The entire casing will go right down your drain otherwise and that is absolutely disgusting. Rinse them inside and out, by running water through them. Allow them to soak for 30-60 minutes in a bowl of warm water.
Set up your sausage stuffing attachment with the smaller of the two attachments. Remove the casing from the water, and run a little olive oil over them and the stuffing attachment. Slowly thread the casing onto the stuffer. When you get to the end, don't tie the knot just yet. Start adding your meat to the mixer and start the machine on a low speed until you get the machine filled to the end of the sausage stuffer. Then tie the knot in the casing. This will make it so less air gets into the casing.
Start stuffing the casing at a speed of 6-8. Start slow until you get the hang of it. Try to keep consistently pressing meat through the machine. Shape the ring as you go. It will be easier than doing it at the end because you could risk tearing it.
Once the sausage is stuffed, tie another knot. Wrap the sausage in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge overnight.
Grilling Italian Sausage Ring
Place your grill on high heat. Allow the grill to heat up to between 500-600℉. Place the sausage on the grill and lower the heat to medium. Grill on each side for about 4 minutes or until the temperature reaches 160℉. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then serve.
What to Serve Chevalatta with
- This Italian sausage ring would go great with Maple Bacon Brussel Sprouts
- Easy Steamed Artichokes on the side of this sausage would be the perfect match made in heaven.
- I would love to top this sausage with some marinated eggplant and onion or even put them both on a sandwich!
- Have this chevalatta on the side of some lemon pasta with spinach, Mushroom Truffle Risotto or garlicky cauliflower pasta!
- Serve it as an appetizer with some air-fried zucchini fritters or the OG Macaroni Salad!
- Having a BBQ? Serve sausage alongside some of our favorite sliders, Bacon Onion Jam Blue Cheese Slider or the Goat Cheese and Fig Jam Burger
FAQs About the Recipe
How to reheat Italian Ring Sausage?
You don't, you eat it all in one sitting! Just kidding, you can microwave it, or slice it up and fry it and add it to pasta!
Chevalatta! I hope after reading this blog that's obvious. Spiral sausage, ring sausage, sausage ring. It's all chevalatta
Leave us a Review!
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📖 Recipe
Italian Ring Sausage (Chevalatta)
Equipment
- Kitchen aid mixer
- Kitchen aid grinder attachment
- Kitchen aid sausage stuffing attachment
- grill
- large mixing bowl
Ingredients
- 5 lbs Pork, Boston butt 75% lean, 25% fat
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- ⅓ cup chopped parsley
- ¼ cup chopped basil
- ¼ cup olive oil
- 35 g kosher salt approximately 2 tbsp
- ¾ cup pecorino romano
- sheep casings
Instructions
- Chop your pork into 1-2 inch square pieces. Place pork in the freezer along with grinder attachment pieces for 15 minutes. While in the freezer combine your cheese, herbs, garlic, and salt in a bowl.
- After attaching the grinder, grind the pork using the smaller of the two attachment options if possible. Once all the pork is ground, combine it with the seasonings and olive oil. Use your hands to mix everything together until fully incorporated. Wrap with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator overnight.
- 1 hour before stuffing the casings, remove them from the package and rinse thoroughly, allowing the water to go into the casing to remove excess salt. Then place the casings in a bowl of warm water to soak for 1 hour.
- Set up the kitchen aid sausage stuffing attachment with the smallest attachment. Apply olive oil to the outside of the stuffing attachment. Hold the casing, cupped in your hand, and pour olive oil over the casing. Thread the casing onto the attachment and slide it all the way on until it gets 1-2 inches from the end. Start the kitchen aid mixer on about 6-8 speed and add the ground meat. Allow the meat to get pushed all the way to the tip of the stuffing attachment, THEN tie a knot. This will prevent air from entering the casing. Once the knot is tied, start stuffing the casing. Try to shape the sausage into a ring while your stuffing. Once you get to the end, tie another knot. You should get 3-4 sausage rings.
- Rest the sausage in the fridge overnight.
- Place your grill on high heat. Allow the grill to heat up to between 500-600℉. Place the sausage on the grill and lower the heat to medium. Grill on each side for about 4 minutes or until the temperature reaches 160℉. Allow to cool for 5 minutes and then serve.
Notes
- Paint the sausage with olive oil before placing it on the grill.
Al
One more question.... I've made two batches of this now, and the taste is great, but the consistency is like a hot dog.... Very fine, not crumbly like sausage should be. I think the sausage running through the grinder a second time is turning it into "pink slime". I'm using the biggest holed attachment for both grinds.... Not sure how to fix that, except for seasoning it and grinding it right into the casing. I chill everything as directed.
Thoughts?
Vinny
Hmm I really want to help you figure this out, because I hate that the texture isn't perfect! I'd love to see pictures of the grinder attachments you're using. Can you shoot me an email at vinny@alwaysfromscratch.com and I'll do my best to help you fix this.
Al
Can I freeze this right after I stuff it in the casings? Or should I leave it overnight as directed, THEN freeze it?
My first attempt came out tasting great, but it was very dry. Lots of juice when I cooked it, so I think I overcooked it a bit.
Vinny
Leave it overnight in the casing first. This is the binding stage and is necessary for creating the texture in sausage and retaining moisture. Then freeze. As for the dryness in the sausage, I'd definitely recommend using an instant read thermometer so you get it right 160 degrees F.
Linda
I can't wait to try this! I am heading to the butchers today. I do have one question, As beautiful as the spiral looks, it would be way too much for the two of us. I would lke to do it in more proportionate sizes for our needs. Is the casing strong enough for me to twist and stretch it to be tied off after all the stuffing so I can have smaller pieces?
Vinny and Marisa
Lamb casings are not as strong as pig casings, but I still think it should be strong enough since I tie the ends of these! You can just cut it in half from the start too and fill them up that way.
Nick
When I lived alone I’d ask for a 1-1 1/2 lb ring. Easily done. You can wind a 4 foot long piece of sausage just as easily as a 2 foot long piece. I now ask for a 3 lb ring. You can buy the large one and rewind as much as you’d like.
June Lamirata
One question: What size sheep casing do you use?
Vinny and Marisa
I use 19-21 cm sheep casings
Sammy
Very in depth and easy to follow instructions!