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
After running it thru the grinder
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.
After the grind
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
After running it thru the grinder
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.
After the grind
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
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.
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.
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.
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.