I have a probably silly question but when you do your ratios for Elk and Venison summer and snack sticks and you want to add some pork to it do you used just the fat or do you use the fat and meat of a pork butt and or shoulder? Im a newbie!!!
I am thinking just the fat. I have been searching around for a butcher or store that will supply fat and came across one that will sell pork belly to me. What is the best to use when adding pork to your venison or elk.
Pork butt, shoulder or belly?
Thank you for your help
Hi there and welcome!
I too am a huge believer in just adding the pork fat. I like to know that my venison sausage is almost all venison with the exception of the mandatory amount of fat that must be added to make sausage.
I rarely make summer sausage but I make plenty of venison sausage and in both cases I do 80/20. This is 80% pure good venison grind and then 20% pork fat (or beef fat if I'm doing Venison Pastrami sandwhich meat).
I always get great and consistent results with 80/20 AND the math is easy.
5 pounds sausage = 4 pounds venison and 1 pound fat
10 pounds of sausage = 8 pounds venison 2 pounds of fat
Make 15, 20, 25, etc. in increments of 5 or 10 pounds more and the math remains simple with fantastic sausage results!
General sausage practices have you using 15% fat or higher where 15% is like as low as you probably should go and likely for a leaner sausage. For me 20% is perfect. If I made bologna I would likely do 30% fat unless I wanted a "meatier" version then I would stick with 20% fat.
Many people will add pork butt instead of pure pork fat but you must undrestand that the pork butt itself is about 80/20 meat to fat so for you to get to your desired fat number you add so much pork butt that you dilute the venison. That is not what I am looking for but for others they seem fine with that.
I'm glad to hear you can get some pork fat trimmings, that is the way to go. Also a true butcher shop or meat market should/would be able to order you a box of trimmed pork backfat for sure but they may not have it on hand. Restaurant supply stores usually have it on hand as well.
Let us know more about the summer sausage you plan to make like amount, seasoning, cooking method, etc.
I hope this info helps and best of luck with your summer sausage! :D