AN UPPER PENINSULA TREASURE
CUDIGHI SAUSAGE
Cudighi Breakfast Skillet with Creamy Dill Dip
This uniquely tasty twist on Italian Sausage was created on the southern shore of Lake Superior. In the 1930’s Italian immigrants sought employment in the mines of the Upper Peninsula. They brought with them their love and passion for Italian Sausage. This is where the Cudighi Sandwich was conceived.
An Italian gentleman set up shop between his family’s barber shop and a near by watering hole. He created and sold a sausage sandwich. His pseudo–Italian Hot Dog was seasoned with red wine, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, garlic, all spice, and red pepper flakes. He served it in a hot dog bun with chopped onion, ketchup, and mustard. The “Gudighi”.
Following changing trends, after World War II, his son opened a shop and created a new sandwich with this popular sausage. His pseudo–Pizza Sandwich was served on a bread roll with marinara sauce and mozzarella. The “Cudighi” as we know it today.
I started asking around what people liked to do with Cudighi sausage. The first response is the customary pizza style sandwich. Then they would expand further with other options: crumbled on pizza, added to sauces, various sandwich combinations and more. The final comment usually ended with “You can do anything with Cudighi sausage, it’s so delicious.”
I guess you can say I have been living under a rock. Or, in this case under the UP. I did not know anything about the cudighi sausage. So, I tried it. IT IS DELICOUS! It is unlike any sausage I have ever tried, and I LOVE sausage. From the advice of others, I took the recommendation of trying it with anything.
The first recipe is a Cudighi Sausage Skillet Breakfast made with potatoes, curds and eggs served with a creamy dill dipping sauce. This can also be made with Breakfast Sausage, Italian Sausage or Bratwurst.
The second recipe was inspired by our beloved morel season. An open-faced sandwich with provolone, morel mushrooms and topped with a whole grain mustard sauce. Not Morel Season, you can substitute crimini or white button mushrooms.
Cudighi Breakfast Skillet with Creamy Dill Dip
Ingredients
Dill Dip
- 3/4 cup Sour Cream
- 1 tablespoon Chives chopped
- 1 teaspoon Dried Dill
- 1/4 teaspoon Granulated Garlic
- 1/2 teaspoon Fresh Lime Juice
Breakfast Skillet
- 1 pound Cudighi Sausage crumbled
- 6 cups Potatoes cubed
- 1 tablespoon Vegetable Oil
- ½ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper
- ½ cup Onion chopped
- ¼ - ½ pound Cheese Curds the more, the cheesier
- 4 Eggs
- 1 tablespoon Parsley chopped
Instructions
Dill Dip
- Whisk all the above ingredients in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Breakfast Skillet
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large skillet (or cast iron pan) over medium heat, cook the cudighi sausage. Remove sausage from the pan, leaving the drippings.
- Microwave the potatoes to give them a head start on the cooking process. Place the potatoes in a shallow bowl and microwave for 4 minutes, covered.
- Add the vegetable oil to the pan. Once the oil is heated, add the potatoes, salt, and fresh ground pepper. Let the potatoes cook for 15-20 minutes, turning over every 5 minutes (stirring too often will not allow the potatoes to brown). After 10 minutes add the onions.
- Reduce the heat to low. Add the sausage and curds to the pan.
- Create four shallow wells in the sausage hash. Crack an egg into each well. Cover and cook for 8-10 minutes, or until the eggs are set. If you like a firmer egg, cook up to an additional 2-3 minutes.
- Top with fresh parsley and serve with dill sauce on the side for dipping.