- Jan 18, 2021
- 144
- 95
Posting my first try at making Venison summer sausage, ( any smoked sausage for that matter), made last Thursday.
First a pic of my equipment set up.
Found a good deal on some pork butts last week, from a friend who is laid up and wanted them to go to use. $1.00/lb so picked up 4 butts.
Trimmed them out and ground up the trim and the venison. A double grind. 1/2" plate and then a 1/8" plate.
Ready to add the seasonings. Used the Venison Summer sausage recipe from Rytek Kutas book , and added a slight bit more garlic and some mustard seed for flavor that my family enjoys.
After the mixing with seasonings I added some ECA and mixed for another minute. Then stuffed the presoaked casings. I made a total of 10lbs of sausage. 50/50 mix venison/pork.
As you can see did not do well on making 10 sticks of 1 lb each, lol. Oh well, better next time I hope.
Out to my homemade smoker it went. Followed Rytek's instructions, somewhat, and used some info gathered here. I prefer a firm sausage, so let it dry for 2 hours at 120 degrees, then added smoke and increased temps approx. 10 degrees every 60-90 minutes. Finally left it at 165 degrees until the internal temps hit 145 degrees and into an ice water bath until cooled down to what I felt was around 100 degrees. Hung to bloom for two hours.
While smoking I finished trimming up the pork butts for use this week in some fresh venison/pork sausages. Thinking brats, polish, Italian and some Andouille.
Finally a 'money shot' pic of the sausage. Texture was firm, but not hard. Not a lot of fat particles seen , but the flavor was good. I think I will increase the garlic and mustard and black pepper a little more, next time. Casings come off nicely.
The outside 'skin' of the sausage is not tough, but maybe a little firmer than I like, but still good. Thinking maybe I didn't increase temps fast enough, causing longer hours in smoker for the firmer outside?? Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks for reading.
First a pic of my equipment set up.
Found a good deal on some pork butts last week, from a friend who is laid up and wanted them to go to use. $1.00/lb so picked up 4 butts.
Trimmed them out and ground up the trim and the venison. A double grind. 1/2" plate and then a 1/8" plate.
Ready to add the seasonings. Used the Venison Summer sausage recipe from Rytek Kutas book , and added a slight bit more garlic and some mustard seed for flavor that my family enjoys.
After the mixing with seasonings I added some ECA and mixed for another minute. Then stuffed the presoaked casings. I made a total of 10lbs of sausage. 50/50 mix venison/pork.
As you can see did not do well on making 10 sticks of 1 lb each, lol. Oh well, better next time I hope.
Out to my homemade smoker it went. Followed Rytek's instructions, somewhat, and used some info gathered here. I prefer a firm sausage, so let it dry for 2 hours at 120 degrees, then added smoke and increased temps approx. 10 degrees every 60-90 minutes. Finally left it at 165 degrees until the internal temps hit 145 degrees and into an ice water bath until cooled down to what I felt was around 100 degrees. Hung to bloom for two hours.
While smoking I finished trimming up the pork butts for use this week in some fresh venison/pork sausages. Thinking brats, polish, Italian and some Andouille.
Finally a 'money shot' pic of the sausage. Texture was firm, but not hard. Not a lot of fat particles seen , but the flavor was good. I think I will increase the garlic and mustard and black pepper a little more, next time. Casings come off nicely.
The outside 'skin' of the sausage is not tough, but maybe a little firmer than I like, but still good. Thinking maybe I didn't increase temps fast enough, causing longer hours in smoker for the firmer outside?? Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks for reading.
