Pork Sausage with Wine (Swiss Luganighe)

Swiss cuisine is a mix of French, German and Italian. Luganighe is a wine (French Burgundy) sausage with dessert spices, so it is not your typical sausage that people are accustomed to eating. Throughout the valleys of Ticino you can find the beloved Luganighe sausage. Although it originated further down the continent (in the Lucania region of Italy, where it probably also derived its name), it has been an important staple in northern Italy and Ticino since the early 1800s. According to the Kulinarisches Erbe, it permeated the daily life of Italian Switzerland, and was made in all corners of the canton. Popular during carnival, it was almost always accompanied by a side of bright yellow saffron risotto, and it's still served this way today. Workers in the Val Verzasca ate Luganighe with another Ticino favourite, polenta, for lunch. Sometimes, it even served as breakfast with soup and cheese, or coffee. Because fresh pork was rarely consumed in the late 19th and early 20th century, the Luganighe sausage was a way to quickly process the pig's meat and preserve it for many months. Once or twice a year, the pigs would be slaughtered and the meat would be mixed with herbs (like garlic and nutmeg, with one account even listing vanilla) and wine, and stuffed into casings.  Today, you can buy Luganighe all over Switzerland and it's the perfect accompaniment to any grill party. The one I attended served this pork and wine sausage on a crusty roll with mustard. It was remarkable. Though, I'm told that the Swiss eat these sausages raw (I shutter at the thought!) and serve it with saffron risotto. The recipe here was given to me by the host, as is.

10 lbs pork butts
4 Tbsp. kosher or sea salt
2 Tbsp. black pepper, freshly cracked
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground allspice
1½ tsp. ground nutmeg
2¼ tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. garlic, minced
2 cups Burgundy wine

Grind the fat and gristley meat with a 3/16 plate.

Grind the lean/clean meat through a ½" plate (I like lean through a coarse plate)