2011 venison sausage

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meatnbeer

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 25, 2009
146
15
Cross Plains, WI
Doe to my lack of harvesting a deer, I was not able to make any sausage last year.  So I was pretty eager to make some this year!  The deer was small, but the meat is great.  I also purchased a large quantity of high temp cheese (5lb) which will last a really long time, considering that I only used about 3oz in this batch. 

Here is what I managed to do:

On Day 1, I cut and mixed the sausage

The pork and venison mixture combined with LEM summer sausage seasoning and cure

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After running it thru the grinder

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I also did some snack sticks that used a teriyaki marinade(family recipe) combined with some red pepper.  I used tender quick for the cure.  I combined all ingedients before doing the grind. 

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After the grind

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The 2 different grinds went into the fridge overnight to cure.

The next dayI wanted to do some expierementing with some different types of sausage to see which one I liked the best.  Once I decide, I have more venison trimmings so I can make more!!!!! 

I left 2lbs of the summer sausage untouched to be used as controls.

I added Chef Paul' blackend steak magic and blue cheese to 1lb

I added dried cranberries to 1lb

I added dried cranberries and high temp cheddar cheese to 1lb

To the last 1lb I added jalepenos and high temp cheddar cheese.

The mixn's

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Stuufed and out to the Wisconsin refrigerator(garage) to rest over night.  The temp in the garage was 43 degrees, so it was just right.

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When I woke up on new years day, the outdoor temp had dropped to 11 degrees.  I wasn't expecting that!  The stack sticks had a litle bit of ice on them.  No worries, I let them hang for a little while to warm.

In to the smoker they went.

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I had the smoke going with apple and cherry thru the whole cook.  I know that a lot of people don't do this, but I have had pretty good success at it that way.  The sausage never gets to smokey or dried out.  I pulled the snack sticks when they hit 158 degrees.  The summer sausage took longer to hit temp, but it got pulled at 160 degrees.  When each was pulled I placed them it a bath of ice water.  I cut up the snack sticks and placed them in the fridge.  I hung the summer sausage at room temperature for 3 hours.  I read on another site that this is referred to as "blooming".  Not really sure what the purpose of this is, but I figured I might as well.

The finished product.  From left to right:  The cranberry, plain, cranberry cheddar, jalepeno cheddar, and black and blue.

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There was some carryover of ingredients from one batch to the next since I didn't clean out the stuffer in between.  So I ended up with random cranberries, jalapenos, and cheese in batches where they didn't belong.  Oh well, they still taste good.  Now the tough part, deciding which one I want to repeat.

The snack sticks did not have as much of a teriyaki flavor as I wanted, but they still taste good.  I think next time I will actually marinade the trim for about 4 hours before I run it thru the grinder.  I will also increase the volume of marinade that I use.  I'm not sure if it dripped out during the smoke or what.
 
One other thing, I did a 50/50 mix of venison/pork trim.  Although they have good flavor, I will reduce the amount of pork next time to try and get the venison to come thru a little bit more.
 
Looking good!  How did the cranberries come out tasting?
It turned out really good.  I'm not sure if I like it with or with out cheese better.  The only problem with the one with cheese it it starts to hide the flavor of meat. 

I was really surprised with the blue cheese.  It didn't melt and go thru the sausage like I expected it to.  It held its shape and turned out to probably be one of my favorites.  I have a soft spot for blue cheese though.  Unfortunately, my wife doesn't really care for blue cheese, so..........
 
Good lookin' sausage, I live in florida so I don't have a Wisconsin refrigirator! lol

Even though it does get chilly every now and then.
 
Good but if I do it again I will reduce the amount of cheese. To much stuff covering up the flavor of the meat.
 
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