So, still new to the forum and hoping I am posting this in the correct area... I am sure the moderator will assist if I am incorrect :) at any rate I am posting a couple recent projects I worked as I am processing portions of venison I harvested this season.
First - meatballs. I used a generic meatball recipe, some eggs, bread crumbs and spices, but then wanted to smoke them for additional flavor. I smoked them at under 150 for about 1.5 hours and then finished in the oven with a homemade mango-habanero sauce.
The ground meat with spice mixture ready to mix:
And meatballs after through some applewood smoke:
And for tonight's project I mixed up 7.5 lbs venison and 2.5 lbs bacon with spices recommended by a cajun chef for andouille. Lots of cracked black pepper, cayenne and garlic. Hoping it at least looks good however end result, due to the spic make up I will use it mainly as the cajun chef stated, to spice up cajun dishes. Historically I have used another andouille recipe which I can't find at this time and that would be the primary meat in my dish. then again, I am not an "experienced" cajun cook so this may be the right mixture. Side note, I often leave some sausage aside and my boy and I will eat as burgers on grill or as in this case, smoked :)
The andouille mixed up and getting ready to case:
The sausage then cased and linked out in about 10" links, medium hog casing:
Some leftover and as stated before, gotta do something with it other than case another 3-4 ft :)
and finally, the finished links and some burgers (we already ate a couple before I remembered to get a pic!) Please note that there is a glare on the links, they are actually dark like the burgers, true to proper andouille:
Final note - I can provide the recipes I used though for the meatballs you can use any recpie, smoking time and wood I though most important. For the andouille, I would rather find my original recipe and post than this recipe even though this turned out good. The recipe called for smoking it at 175-200 for 4-5 hours however as venison requires less heat and cooks quicker I went for 150 for about 2-3 hours and then went to 175+ for what ended up less than an hour before they were 170 inside. Still trying to decide on dish for tomorrow evenings meetup, jambalaya or red beans and rice... if someone has compelling recipe for either by tomorrow, I welcome it :)
First - meatballs. I used a generic meatball recipe, some eggs, bread crumbs and spices, but then wanted to smoke them for additional flavor. I smoked them at under 150 for about 1.5 hours and then finished in the oven with a homemade mango-habanero sauce.
The ground meat with spice mixture ready to mix:
And meatballs after through some applewood smoke:
And for tonight's project I mixed up 7.5 lbs venison and 2.5 lbs bacon with spices recommended by a cajun chef for andouille. Lots of cracked black pepper, cayenne and garlic. Hoping it at least looks good however end result, due to the spic make up I will use it mainly as the cajun chef stated, to spice up cajun dishes. Historically I have used another andouille recipe which I can't find at this time and that would be the primary meat in my dish. then again, I am not an "experienced" cajun cook so this may be the right mixture. Side note, I often leave some sausage aside and my boy and I will eat as burgers on grill or as in this case, smoked :)
The andouille mixed up and getting ready to case:
The sausage then cased and linked out in about 10" links, medium hog casing:
Some leftover and as stated before, gotta do something with it other than case another 3-4 ft :)
and finally, the finished links and some burgers (we already ate a couple before I remembered to get a pic!) Please note that there is a glare on the links, they are actually dark like the burgers, true to proper andouille:
Final note - I can provide the recipes I used though for the meatballs you can use any recpie, smoking time and wood I though most important. For the andouille, I would rather find my original recipe and post than this recipe even though this turned out good. The recipe called for smoking it at 175-200 for 4-5 hours however as venison requires less heat and cooks quicker I went for 150 for about 2-3 hours and then went to 175+ for what ended up less than an hour before they were 170 inside. Still trying to decide on dish for tomorrow evenings meetup, jambalaya or red beans and rice... if someone has compelling recipe for either by tomorrow, I welcome it :)