Making my first summer sausage of 2012. I had a leftover summer sausage kit from Hi Mountain from last year so put it to good use. I am looking forward to using some of the recipes I have found on this site in the future, but this is where I am starting at.
First, my youngest son took a doe this year on a Ranching for Wildlife property outside of Craig Colorado last weekend
From this nice tender doe, I kept 12 pounds of nicely trimmed meat out from the freezer after processing her a few days before. I bought a 5# pork butt for the added pork and trimmed down 3# to add to the venison.
I ran the meat through my grinder using a the medium grinder plate
I then put the meat into the meat mixer, added my spices, and ice water. I did enlist the older boy (17 y/o) into mixing for approx 3/4 of a bud light. Whats the fun of having kids if you can't make them work a bit?
Now this is where I might have screwed up. I didn't have any high temp cheese, but cheese sure did sound good. I had about a pound of extra sharp cheddar cheese that I decided to throw in. I mean, I'm from Wisconsin, there had to be cheese involved.
from here, it's into the sausage stuffer. For this task, I enlisted the youngest son to help me. Please note, for some reason both sons said "your not taking my picture for this" Mom has been heavy on posting to Facebook lately. that is the reason you don't get to see them working.
We stuffed 5 casings of summer sausage. The casings are the synthetic typ that you don't do anything to. The day after I did this, I did stop by Gander Mtn and bought a hog rings and a set of pliers that go with it. From here the unsmoked sausages were put in the fridge for the night.
I have 2 dogs that just love deer processing time, and any type of venison trimming, sausage making time as they tend to get a good helping. They were both disappointed when they saw me put the sausages in the fridge for the night without them getting any, so this is how they showed their displeasure by taking my side of the bed.
Next morning, got the smoker ready. In my reading on this site, I found out how to fix a problem I have had with my gas smoker for years. How to get the heat lower. Needle Valve. Why didn't I ever figure that out myself? I haven't gotten one yet, but will in the next few weeks. I hung the sausages in the smoker
I started with the lowest flame I could get and let them heat/cook for an hour before putting some hickory chips in. Then about 2.5 hours of smoke and they were up to 160 degrees so I pulled them. Let them cool for a bit and here is what they look like.
they have a good flavor, but seem to be a little to much moisture in them. I was thinking about letting them hang and just dry out, but with the cheese in them, I'm not sure if I can do that or not?
First, my youngest son took a doe this year on a Ranching for Wildlife property outside of Craig Colorado last weekend
From this nice tender doe, I kept 12 pounds of nicely trimmed meat out from the freezer after processing her a few days before. I bought a 5# pork butt for the added pork and trimmed down 3# to add to the venison.
I ran the meat through my grinder using a the medium grinder plate
I then put the meat into the meat mixer, added my spices, and ice water. I did enlist the older boy (17 y/o) into mixing for approx 3/4 of a bud light. Whats the fun of having kids if you can't make them work a bit?
Now this is where I might have screwed up. I didn't have any high temp cheese, but cheese sure did sound good. I had about a pound of extra sharp cheddar cheese that I decided to throw in. I mean, I'm from Wisconsin, there had to be cheese involved.
from here, it's into the sausage stuffer. For this task, I enlisted the youngest son to help me. Please note, for some reason both sons said "your not taking my picture for this" Mom has been heavy on posting to Facebook lately. that is the reason you don't get to see them working.
We stuffed 5 casings of summer sausage. The casings are the synthetic typ that you don't do anything to. The day after I did this, I did stop by Gander Mtn and bought a hog rings and a set of pliers that go with it. From here the unsmoked sausages were put in the fridge for the night.
I have 2 dogs that just love deer processing time, and any type of venison trimming, sausage making time as they tend to get a good helping. They were both disappointed when they saw me put the sausages in the fridge for the night without them getting any, so this is how they showed their displeasure by taking my side of the bed.
Next morning, got the smoker ready. In my reading on this site, I found out how to fix a problem I have had with my gas smoker for years. How to get the heat lower. Needle Valve. Why didn't I ever figure that out myself? I haven't gotten one yet, but will in the next few weeks. I hung the sausages in the smoker
I started with the lowest flame I could get and let them heat/cook for an hour before putting some hickory chips in. Then about 2.5 hours of smoke and they were up to 160 degrees so I pulled them. Let them cool for a bit and here is what they look like.
they have a good flavor, but seem to be a little to much moisture in them. I was thinking about letting them hang and just dry out, but with the cheese in them, I'm not sure if I can do that or not?
