Straight pork fat or shoulder meat?

[kawboy]

Boy #2 and I are going to make up some more sausage this coming weekend. The summer sausage I'm doing my usual way, 4# ground venison to 1# of straight pork fat. We'll be making 5# of Polish also. Butcher says they mix 2# of venison to 3# of pork shoulder. I'd like to use more venison. Will my ratio for the summer sausage work for the polish? Or would the shoulder be a better choice? I have a shoulder thawing out, but I also have a bunch of butt trimmings in the freezer yet. Thanks for any input. Kinda fun making sausage with the kid. He always said if he wouldn't have went into mathematics, he would have went into meat-cutting.

 

[smokerjim]

if you have but trimmings laying around I would say go ahead and them

 

[chef jimmyj]

If your happy with the flavor and texture of other sausage made with your 20% mix, there is no reason it would not work for Kielbasa...JJ

 

[indaswamp]

I trim the fat caps off when I smoke butts to make pulled pork (don't need it and with more exposed meat I get more bark), and when I make boudin (don't need it, it will just melt into lard). I freeze the fat caps for making sausage.

 

[indaswamp]

FWIW...whenever I am using less than 30% of one meat in a sausage recipe, I always grind that meat fine for a more even distribution.....
I do the same with fat when I make andouille. I run that fat through a 4.5mm plate.

 

[PolishDeli]

Traditionally, Polish sausages were pork and/or beef/veal based. I don’t actually know of any “real” Polish sausages that are venison based.

However, If you are defining the Polishness of a recipe according to the spices used (salt, pepper, coriander, marjoram, garlic), your summer sausage recipe will work fine. Are you smoking it? Poaching and grilling it?

Below is a Lithuanian recipe that sounds good. It calls for venison and boar in the same ratio that your butcher recommended.
https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/hunter-sausage

 

[kawboy]

Thanks guys, that's kinda what I was thinking, but figured I'd run it by "my panel of experts". Yup, I'll smoke both.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Some good advice here and a great recipe by PolishDeli.

Warren

 

[SonnyE]

I feel like I got punched in the stomach ...
I just realized the fat I trimmed away on my Pork Loins for Jerky could have been saved.
If my Dad was alive, he'd give me a well deserved kick in the Butt. And we are not talking Boston here....

Now that I'm a Grinder and a Stuffer, I'll be changin those ways.

 

[HalfSmoked]

Ha your learning there is no waste but the squealer on a pig.

Warren

 

[chef jimmyj]

Poishdeli...What do you define as Real Polish Sausage?
My Maternal Grandfather, born and raised in Gdansk, was a Farmer. They raised and slaughtered their animals, preserving meat and making sausage as needed. Grandpa and Grandma, immigrated to the US, PA, to do better for their growing family. Grandpa was a Coal Miner in NEPA. He and my Uncles filled their PA Deer tags every year and made various types of Kielbasa with the meat.
My Paternal Grandfather, from Krakow, was a Pro Butcher, after immigrating to NJ. He made all his stores Kielbasa, three operations, and processed Deer for the locals in predominantly Polish neighborhoods. He made a variety of Venison Kielbasa for them. Both told stories of Poland being under Russian control and if it Walked or Flew, it got made into some style of Kielbasa, and Bigos. They had a lot of brothers and sisters to feed...JJ

 

[kawboy]

Not sure if this is real Polish or not, but it should be the sausage I grew up with, but was always just called 'Buck sausage'. Mainly German/Austrian area.

 

[PolishDeli]

JJ,

I wasn’t trying to undermine your family’s legacy.

By “real” I was referring to the official list of ~100 named Polish sausages whose ingredients and manufacturing were defined and regulated by the Polish government in the 20th century. (It ensured top quality products, which were never available).

Given Poland’s 1000+ years of history, this is obviously a tiny fraction of the sausages that would have been made throughout the ages. Venison, bison, hedgehog, I'm sure it's all been done.
Over the centuries borders shifted so many times that, what was Polish sausage one day, could have been Prussian sausage the next. So for that reason, I use the specific, albeit limited, definitions established by the government.

Aside: Bigos = good stuff. Every new years, I make a batch of two or three types of kilbasa for my father to use in his bigos.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Thank you Sir. I was not offended, just curious as to what is or is not Real Kielbasa. It makes sense that at some point the government would codify what is Officially in Kielbasa...JJ