Deer Sausage.....

[Packfitter.com]

I just got back this weekend from a quick deer hunt with two of my kids and some other family friends. We were fortunate to shoot a couple of deer and I just finished cutting him today. I am considering making sausage out of some of the animal and wonder if any of you have done your own sausage before. If so, are there any tricks of the trade and or recipes that we should consider? Thanks in advance for any suggestions.

[ElkNut1]

Brett, congrats on the deer hunt! I personally have not made sausage so I too would like to hear a few thoughts on this?

ElkNut1

[BrentLaBere]

Our family does our own processing every year. What style are you looking at making? First step to consider, where me and my father have different opinions at times, is how much pork to add (what percentage - ex. 70-30). I made a new recipe last year for summer sausage with a 50-50 mix and it turned out awesome. I like things spicy so I made a jalapeno and cheddar mix. For country style we make two different kinds. Regular country and a coriander. These are usually a 60-40 or 70-30 mix with pork. I don't have the recipes with me at work but I would be able to bring them in and share them with you if these sound like something you are looking for. If you have any questions just ask! Its a fun but LONG day.

[Triplebhunters]

Am anxious to see Brent's recipe.
I have used Old Plantation for years on whitetail. 15 pds venison and 10 pds pork. Also have used it on black bear with out adding pork.
I would like to see a good Sicilian recipe.

[Packfitter.com]

Brent,

We would love to see what you have as well for recipes. Too spicy is not my thing. I would be interested in something more mild. Thanks in advance for any help on it.

[redtop]

This is the breakfast sausage recipe I make. It's a hit with all who have tried it. I've doubled the amount of olive oil and it's better.

sausage recipe 001.jpg (184.55 KiB) Viewed 15704 times

[Triplebhunters]

Red top now that sounds good. I have some thai dragons I think I wil dehydrate them and use some in that recipe.

[Packfitter.com]

Do you add any fat to the venison before the ingredients listed? Thanks for sharing!

[NCelkhtr]

I have never made breakfast sausage but have made some summer sausage. It was simple, but i didn't exactly go about it the old school way. I ordered some summer sausage mix from Bass Pro Shops, hand mixed it in well with some deer burger, rolled it up into a roll, and baked it. It was very good.

[Z Barebow]

Brent- I am very interested in your country sausage recipes. I love cooking some up for supper. I vacumm seal all of my processed game. In a pinch, I can pull a package out of the freezer, soak in the sink and throw into the fry pan or grill within minutes.

But I have yet to find a country sausage recipe I love. I have had some from some good stuff from a couple of processors, but they won't share recipe.

[aron]

Brent- I am very interested in your country sausage recipes. I love cooking some up for supper. I vacumm seal all of my processed game. In a pinch, I can pull a package out of the freezer, soak in the sink and throw into the fry pan or grill within minutes.

But I have yet to find a country sausage recipe I love. I have had some from some good stuff from a couple of processors, but they won't share recipe.

I'm from Fargo area as well. What processors have you used. Think my favorite has got to be hickory hut in Langdon and there jalapeno maple sausage with cheese.

I got a decent homemade recipe I'll try and dig up that's not too bad. Good thing about making your own is you can always keep adding things to your liking.

[Vids]

I process my own meat every year, it's one of the funnest parts of my season! Nothing beats watching football, having a few beers and processing everything! Here are some things I've learned over the past 5-6 seasons:

Mixes:
There are several good websites out there, http://www.sausagemaker.com and http://www.lemproducts.com have good stuff. I didn't like a couple of theirs, from SM - chorizo is a bit too salty, and LEM - the maple breakfast sausage was a little bland. SM makes a great summer sausage. I have also bought their mixes for brats, polish sausage, italian, hot dogs, and pepperoni - those were all excellent. Buy the high temp cheese if you want cheese, I've added that and jalapenos with good results.

Stuffing/Casings:
If you are going to stuff yours, get a dedicated stuffer and don't try to use one of the cuisinart attachments unless you want to be completely frustrated. I have the 5 lb vertical stuffer that Cabela's sells, it's great. For casings I've found the best ones to use are the dried ones you can order on Amazon, they are cut to length and pre-tubed/rinsed. Just soak in water and they work great. Put crisco on the stuffing tube before you put the casings on, it helps a lot.

Smoking:
This is still an art I'm perfecting, but low and slow is the biggest lesson learned for me. I set my smoker for about 150 degrees, smoke for 3 hours, then bump up smoker temp to bring links to temp. Pull the links when they reach 145 degrees, if you go much hotter they will dry out. The #1 rule for smoking is get the temp from 40 deg to 140 deg within 4 hours if not using a curing agent, as long as you do this you shouldn't have any worries about bacteria growth. Once links reach 145, pull them and soak in an ice bath immediately until they cool back down to about 70 degrees.

Have fun and let us know how it comes out!

[redtop]

I have a really hard time adding pig fat to perfectly good elk or deer meat. That's why I use olive oil. It still tastes like game meat that way.

[BrentLaBere]

Sorry for the delay guys! I know there were a few waiting for this.
There are two recipes and one is a 30 lb batch the other is a 40 lb batch. No recommendation on ratios unless you would like my opinion so you can break it down however you would like to mix them.

Regular Country 30 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
5.25 oz Salt
1.5 oz black pepper
1.5 oz red pepper
3.75 tbl Brown Sugar
.75 tbl All Spice
.75 tbl onion powder
1.5 tbl must seed
1.5 tbl minced garlic

Coriander Country 40 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
6 oz Salt
1.5 oz Black Pepper
1 oz Red Pepper
3 tsp Allspice
3 tsp Cloves
3 tsp Nutmeg
8 tbl Coriander
2 tbl Minced Garlic
1.5 tbl Mustard Seed
4 tbl Brown Sugar

Both recipes get smoked/cooked for a certain duration. I also just like using these recipes as bulk for anything to substitute for beef. Just instead of feeding it through the grinder after the seasoning is mixed.....goes straight into 1 lb bags instead of the casings.

[BrentLaBere]

On Saturday with the help of family and friends we decided to process some of our game. Others joined that were unsuccessful in their hunts only to use beef and pork mixes. It was a fun but really long day starting at 7 am and ending shortly after 2 am. For the Sausage in the pictures it is a combination of the regular country and coriander recipes.

[BrentLaBere]

I am always a fan of just regular steaks, roast and jerky but adding family, friends and beverages to the mix makes it a lot of fun. The jalapeno and cheddar is by far my favorite out of the mix.

[Indian Summer]

Or to simplify things, you cannot go wrong with Con Yeager pre blended mixes. Here in Pa they are local and NOBODY uses anything else. I went to a sausage making class and learned way more than I bargained for. For example their mixes contain phosphates which is what keeps your summer sausage really juicy instead of dry. Orders $35 and over include shipping. They sell it all casings etc.

http://www.conyeagerspice.com/

If you go to Bowsite on the Pa state forum and ask about their products you'll get bombarded with great reviews.

[wawhitey]

i kind of feel like sausage / pepperoni with venison is kind of a waste. bastardizes it. you can get sausage made with beef and pork. i like my venison to taste like venison. i cut my deer into just steaks / stew meat / roasts / and do some canning. why mess it up with so much other crap you cant even tell its venison? kind of defeats the purpose of eating deer to me.

[BrentLaBere]

I dont mind a deer cut up into back straps and jerky (or simply keeping it just venison) but this thread was started to discuss how to make your own sausage and your own recipes. So, to each their own.

[Indian Summer]

I dont mind a deer cut up into back straps and jerky (or simply keeping it just venison) but this thread was started to discuss how to make your own sausage and your own recipes. So, to each their own.

"like"

So Whitey... what if I don't raise my own beef or pork and don't care for store bought meats? I make all that stuff with elk believe it or not... don't eat deer either personally. My dogs enjoy that or it goes to our Hunters for the Hungry program.

[Vids]

Thought I'd share something that I observed this year - I made 6 different batches, 3 of them with pre-made mixes I ordered online and 3 with recipes where I mixed up the spices myself. Hands down, the home made recipes were way better. I don't know why, but for some reason the pre-made mixes all came out bland. From now on I'm just going to buy spices and mix up the recipes myself. Hopefully that is helpful to people, has anyone else noticed this or did I just get some bad mixes this time around??

[prairiestalker]

Sorry for the delay guys! I know there were a few waiting for this.
There are two recipes and one is a 30 lb batch the other is a 40 lb batch. No recommendation on ratios unless you would like my opinion so you can break it down however you would like to mix them.

Regular Country 30 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
5.25 oz Salt
1.5 oz black pepper
1.5 oz red pepper
3.75 tbl Brown Sugar
.75 tbl All Spice
.75 tbl onion powder
1.5 tbl must seed
1.5 tbl minced garlic
Thanks for the recipe Brent! I thought your old man keep that recipe locked in his safe
Coriander Country 40 lb recipe:
6 oz Tender Quick
6 oz Salt
1.5 oz Black Pepper
1 oz Red Pepper
3 tsp Allspice
3 tsp Cloves
3 tsp Nutmeg
8 tbl Coriander
2 tbl Minced Garlic
1.5 tbl Mustard Seed
4 tbl Brown Sugar

Both recipes get smoked/cooked for a certain duration. I also just like using these recipes as bulk for anything to substitute for beef. Just instead of feeding it through the grinder after the seasoning is mixed.....goes straight into 1 lb bags instead of the casings.

[8upbowhunter]

I have always processed my own game and have been making my own sausage for about 20 years or so now. It took some trial and error but I have my recipe down to the gram now. Here are a few pictures:

[8upbowhunter]

A few more:

[BrentLaBere]

8up,
Very cool looking smoke house! Question for you though, How do you regulate the heat? The fire looked as though it was inside and we always have problems with too much direct heat and getting the temperature up. Looks like a great set up. Just curious is all.

[8upbowhunter]

Good question Brent. The heat is regulated by how much the door is open along with the way the wood is added to the fire. In the beginning I am looking for heat (190°-220°) for the first hour smoking sausage so the fire is built in a pyramid shape so I have more flames than smoke adding wood and opening and closing the door as needed. After the first hour I do not get the temperature over 190° (165°-190°)or you will melt all of the fat out of the sausage which will cause it to be dry and have holes in the sausage where the fat melted out. After the first hour, I knock the wood down so it lays flat and has more smoke than flames and adjust the door opening to control the heat. It takes some practice along with knowing your smokehouse. Hope this explains it and if you have any more questions feel free to ask.

[Bowhunter]

Those are some nice smoke houses and the sausage looks delicious. I might have to make some sausage next weekend. It has been a couple years since I have and now after seeing this post I can almost taste it.