Venison brats with Hi Mountain Seasonings

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hoekma

Newbie
Original poster
Nov 18, 2016
9
10
Erie, CO
I bought a brat kit at Cabela's from Hi Mountain Seasonings and am having second thoughts on using it.  The instructions say to use 19 lbs of pork to 5lbs of venison.  I thought it seemed like a lot of pork for 5 lbs of venison and from some cursory searches, it looks like others use 60/40 pork to venison.  19/5 is more like 80% pork.  Anyone have experience with the Hi Mountain kits vs.just homemade from scratch?
 
While I'm unfamiliar with the Hi Mountain kits, I'll comment on the pork vs venison question..  You can really use any portions you want, as long as you end up with a final fat percentage of around 30%.  You likely have lean venison (0% fat), and can use pork shoulder (25% fat) or straight pork fat (100% fat) to obtain the final 30%.  So if you like more venison flavor, you could do 70/30 venison/fat, or for more mild flavor 40/40/20 venison/pork shoulder/fat.

When I refer to "pork shoulder" I'm referring to the standard twin pack pork butts like you get at Costco but with the fat cap removed.  

Even 60/40 pork shoulder/venison comes in low on the final fat content at around 15% total (unless they're including the fat cap, which would put it somewhere north of 15%).  My opinion is if you're going to cut venison, you need to throw some straight pork fat in because it's hard to get the total fat percentage up to where it needs to be with just pork shoulder alone.

And however you cut it, don't forget the NFDM (non-fat dry milk) to the tune of 1 cup per 5lbs.  It really does make a world of difference in the texture and moisture retention.  It's possible the Hi Mountain kit already has it in it; something to look into.
 
Wow, that's great info on the fat content, Mickey....maybe that's why Hi Mountain listed such a high amount of plain ground pork.

I just picked up 12 lbs of pork butt from my butcher today.  It looks like fatty roasts, but no fat cap.  So if I read you right, and I plan to use 4 lbs of ground venison, I would need at least 6 lbs of the pork shoulder for a total of 10 lbs of bratwurst to supply enough fat content.

I hadn't heard about the NFDM...my new plan was to use a home-made recipe rather than the hi mountain, so I'll have to make another trip to the store before getting underway :)

Thanks again for the detailed response!!
 
Without a fat cap on your pork, 60/40 pork/venison is still only about 15% total fat content; a little on the low side for brats. I recommend picking up a couple lbs of fat from your butcher and using the 40/40/20 venison/pork butt/fat mix.

Or.. if you want a real venison brat, get 3lbs of fat and use 70/30 venison/fat and smoke those butts for pulled pork! [emoji]128512[/emoji]
 
Mmmm........(drool).......pulled pork.......I just fell in  love this forum!!  :)   
 
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