For The Best Homemade Italian Sausage, Reach For The Right Seasonings

There's one word almost anyone — whether or not they are Italian — would use when they visit Carmine's, the Southern Italian family-style restaurant with five locations around the country: abbondanza. That's the Italian word for abundance, and certainly what you'll find no matter what dish you order at the restaurant famous for its generous portions. So when you ask a Carmine's chef what they use to make a dish, you know they have had a lot of practice. That's why we spoke to Glenn Rolnick during his appearance at the Nassau Paradise Island Wine & Food Festival at the Atlantis about what seasonings he uses to make sausage.

If you're one of those people who doesn't want to know how the sausage is made, read no further. If you do, Rolnick will tell you the first ingredient he thinks of: "Always fennel, fennel is really good." He also loves onion and garlic. "Those are my main ingredients that I would put in there other than the sausage, than the pork." He also often uses Calabrian pepper, which is one of Bobby Flay's favorite ingredients. "I always like a little kick," Rolnick says. He particularly likes the peppers marinated in olive oil. Since there's a difference between Italian sausage and sweet Italian sausage — the former is spicier — you can probably tell when Rolnick is using those peppers.

When it comes to other sausage seasonings, chef Glenn Rolnick prefers using dry herbs. "You can use fresh if it's going to be something that you're using fairly quickly," he explains. If the fresh herbs start drying out, they'll lose color and become bitter.

When Carmine's serves sausage, it is usually in the form of sweet Italian sausage on their own or over pasta with a combination of the restaurant's ragu and marinara sauces. While Rolnick's recipe is fairly simple, you can always add a few more herbs and spices. For example, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes, paprika, nutmeg, and coriander are some other great additions. You can also use some chopped fresh parsley.

One ingredient Rolnick didn't mention but is something you shouldn't skimp on when making homemade sausage is pork fat. Still, given that the goal of Carmine's chefs is to make any meal feel like a feast, you can rest easy trying Rolnick's seasoning tips and know you'll likely be shouting "delizioso" when you finish your homemade sausage dish.