This is the classic sauce that in Emilia-Romagna is served with gramigna, a short, curled egg pasta whose name means “crab grass” in Italian. The sausage that would be used in Italy is a plain, mild pork sausage. The mild or sweet Italian sausage available in the States always has fennel seeds, which unfortunately completely change the flavor of this dish. Try using a plain breakfast sausage instead or, since the casing needs to be removed anyway, make your own sausage mix using the recipe