National Sausage Pizza Day

What the day is

National Sausage Pizza Day is observed on October 11. Sausage is consistently among the top American pizza toppings, usually sitting just behind pepperoni.

It is also the topping that changes the pizza most. Pepperoni is cured and sliced, so it crisps and curls. Sausage goes on raw, in pinched pieces, and cooks through in the oven, releasing fat and juice into the cheese as it does.

Origin and background

The origin of the observance is not documented.

The style most Americans picture is Italian-American: pork sausage seasoned heavily with fennel seed, sometimes with chili, torn or pinched into rough lumps rather than sliced into discs. Fennel is the defining flavor, and it is what makes sausage pizza taste distinctly different from a plain pork topping.

Chicago took it furthest. Deep-dish and stuffed pizzas there frequently use a continuous patty of sausage laid across the base rather than scattered pieces, which is possible because the long bake in a deep pan gives it time to cook through.

The technical problem with raw sausage is fat and moisture. Too much of it, or pieces too large, and the center of the pizza turns greasy and the crust beneath stays slack. Pieces roughly the size of a hazelnut, spread with gaps between them, cook through in the time a pizza takes and let the excess render away.

How to take part

• Pinch the sausage into small pieces rather than slicing it. Uneven surfaces brown better and cook faster.
• Leave gaps. Crowding steams the topping instead of browning it.
• Put sausage on top of the cheese, not under it, so the fat renders away rather than pooling.
• Make your own: ground pork, salt, fennel seed, black pepper and a little chili, mixed and rested an hour.
• Get the oven as hot as it goes, with a stone or steel preheated for a good half hour.
• Pair it with something sharp, such as pickled chili or a little red onion, against the fat.