Help with texture of sausage

[DanMcG]

The texture was very soft, almost paste like

Are you sure on your 155° finish temp? Soft and pasty makes me think of undercooked. Is there a chance you have a pic of the product?

 

[indaswamp]

I thought maybe the meat was not cold enough, so I ground it partially frozen last time.

Unless you have a large horsepower commercial grinder or a buffalo chopper, it is best not to grind frozen fat. The fat can get mushed in the auger head causing fat out. It is best to check the temperature of the meat and fat; try to grind it when the temp. of the fat is around 32-33*F and the meat is below 35*F.
Partially frozen is good, but taking the temp. of the meat and fat is much better....

 

[indaswamp]

I agree on the need for more fat in the mix....

 

[daveomak]

Try cooking your sausage based on the FSIS (Food Safety Inspection Service) pasteurization table below.... It's what I have used for years... I add approximately an hour + to the calculated time to allow for inaccurate therms and cool zones in my smoker...
Typically I cook my sausage using a smoker at 150-160F and cook the sausage to 135-140F internal temperature and hold that temp for 1.5 to 2.5 hours....
The sausage is moist with no fat out... All bacteria are killed and it's perfectly safe to eat with no further cooking...

 

[Winterrider]

Thanks! What IT do you finish at?

When I did bacon, I did 160° and shut it down . Carry over probably took it to 165°. Can be sliced and eaten at that temp or fried (which is the norm)

 

[SmokinEdge]

Fat ratio, protein extraction from the mixing, cooking temp and final IT are the biggest things to watch when preparing sausage.

 

[tallbm]

Hi there and welcome!

Just to chime in on the fat ratio which I feel is too low like many and I'll explain it here.

I do sausage at 80% meat 20% which is about the minimum for sausage unless making specific kinds of sausage that take less fat.

So with 80/20 this means to make 5 pounds of sausage you need 4 pounds pure meat and 1 pound of pure fat.

Your venison is is likely pure meat with no fat.
Pork loin is mostly meat and some fat.

If you take 4 pounds of venison and then add 1 pound of pork loin you will notice that your 1 pound of pork loin is not even close to being all fat.
What you will get is more like 4 pounds 13ounces of meat (venison and pork) and like 3 ounces of fat.
This puts your meat to fat ratio around 96% meat and 4% fat. Not even close to the general minimum of 20% fat!

Your meat Internal Temp (IT) can go to around 153F.
In the smoker your sausage wants to be about 15F degrees lower than your smoker temp, so if you walk your smoker temp up to 165F-170F then your sausage can hit that 153F IT.
Now since you are dealing with wild game and should you have concerns about micro parasites you can take the meats IT to 165F to be safe but you will have to walk your smoker temp up to 180F and NOT go over that number. I've done this with wild hog meat sausage so it can be done and be fine but my smoker is also a highly tuned and holds temp precisely (electric smoker with PID controller).

Finally, your sausage could still likely benefit from some binder. Non-Fat Dry Milk (NDFM) is the simplest one and I believe at 4.5gm of NDFM per pound of sausage mix you have. So 10 pounds of sausage = 40.5gm of NDFM according to my notes.
Someone else may have a more accurate measurement but this is my understanding of NDFM ratio and is in my notes.

I hope all this info helps :)