Venison chorizo sausage

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73saint

Master of the Pit
Original poster
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SMF Premier Member
Mar 8, 2017
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2,265
Near New Orleans La
I have been craving good chorizo, and I have some extra venison from last year. Wanted to make a nice quick batch of burger and chorizo. So I ended up with about 20lbs of burger, and 20lbs of chorizo. My burger mix was simple. 10lbs venison, 7lbs ground chuck, and 3lbs Brisket fat trim. I did a double grind, starting w medium, and finishing w fine. I used my Cabelas #32, so this was a breeze. I took my time, over two days. Cleaning as I went so it was a very simple project. As I finished the burger and packaged it into 1.5lb bags, I would temper them in the freezer before vac sealing. Makes for a better seal without pulling moisture from the meat.

Once all equip from the burger was clean, I started on the chorizo. Simple again, 10lbs venison and 10lbs pork shoulder (fat included). I did the same grind as the burger (personal preference even though I know traditionally chorizo is a courser grind). I used Walton’s chorizo blend, added 1/2 cup of flat iron smoke show peppers (super hot smoky blend of dried pepper) and 8oz of white vinegar per Walton’s recommendation. I like spicy, but I was afraid of making it too hot for everyone else. This batch came out just right.
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Here is a look at the venison and beef I was working with. I used hind quarter cuts, and this really pretty chuck roast. Along with the brisket fat ,I think I got a nice blend.

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Burger all ready for the freezer. We package our burger in 1&1/2 lb packs. Seems to be perfect amount for what we do. The mrs. says this is the best batch of venison burger I’ve made thus far. Bet it’s the chuck.

I worked alone so didn’t get many chorizo pics but here are a few:
A46C0683-C6DD-479A-AE9D-255CF1A0F7D9.jpeg
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I linked up about 10lbs, and loose-packed another 10. Was going to loose pack it all, but I wanted to try out some new casings I bought from the natural casings company in Wisconsin. We shall see, but I like the way they handled on the stuffer.

The fry test last night got me excited. Wonderful flavor, but a bit too much heat (perfect for me), I hoped that they would mellow a little overnight. Well, this morning I decided to make breakfast burritos to really put the sausage to the test. I browned off a lb of the chorizo, then added red onion, green bell pepper and tomatoes and let that cook down for a few minutes. 7A686700-5C94-4246-A33D-B47BCACE7923.jpeg
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Then I added some eggs, and scrambled the whole thing up. As that was going on I heated a few mission low carb tortillas, added some sargento sharp cheddar, a pile of the scrambled egg mix and a little sour cream (ok maybe a little too much but I was still worried about the heat levels)
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Well, with everything added to the party, the heat levels were just fine, maybe a even a tad mild. But boy am I happy with this sausage, it came out great! And we have a lot of the eggs to make more breakfast burritos for the week.
Thanks for looking!
 
Very nice work , and well done thread .
I used AC Leggs chorizo mix , all pork . Man it's good .

Only way to go . Keeps it fun too . Great work ,,, thanks for posting .
Thanks Chop! Man, I need to try the AC Leggs...ALL of their stuff seems to be top notch. Not sure why one always forget about them when ordering sausage seasonings.
 
I would bet they are about the same . Yours has a nice red color to it . Is that the venison or the seasoning ?
If you want to try another place look thru the list at Owens BBQ . Really good seasonings .
 
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I would bet they are about the same . Yours has a nice red color to it . Is that the venison or the seasoning ?
If you want to try another place look thru the list at Owens BBQ . Really good seasonings .
Ahh, I just finally ordered from them (Owens). Have some red barn bologna seasoning, Thats the next project!
I believe the red is the seasoning more than the venison. It had a really nice color. The links are in the fridge now and seem to be reddening even more.
 
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I have been craving good chorizo, and I have some extra venison from last year. Wanted to make a nice quick batch of burger and chorizo. So I ended up with about 20lbs of burger, and 20lbs of chorizo. My burger mix was simple. 10lbs venison, 7lbs ground chuck, and 3lbs Brisket fat trim. I did a double grind, starting w medium, and finishing w fine. I used my Cabelas #32, so this was a breeze. I took my time, over two days. Cleaning as I went so it was a very simple project. As I finished the burger and packaged it into 1.5lb bags, I would temper them in the freezer before vac sealing. Makes for a better seal without pulling moisture from the meat.

Once all equip from the burger was clean, I started on the chorizo. Simple again, 10lbs venison and 10lbs pork shoulder (fat included). I did the same grind as the burger (personal preference even though I know traditionally chorizo is a courser grind). I used Walton’s chorizo blend, added 1/2 cup of flat iron smoke show peppers (super hot smoky blend of dried pepper) and 8oz of white vinegar per Walton’s recommendation. I like spicy, but I was afraid of making it too hot for everyone else. This batch came out just right.
View attachment 446547
View attachment 446548
View attachment 446549
Here is a look at the venison and beef I was working with. I used hind quarter cuts, and this really pretty chuck roast. Along with the brisket fat ,I think I got a nice blend.

View attachment 446550
View attachment 446551
Burger all ready for the freezer. We package our burger in 1&1/2 lb packs. Seems to be perfect amount for what we do. The mrs. says this is the best batch of venison burger I’ve made thus far. Bet it’s the chuck.

I worked alone so didn’t get many chorizo pics but here are a few:
View attachment 446552
View attachment 446553
View attachment 446554
I linked up about 10lbs, and loose-packed another 10. Was going to loose pack it all, but I wanted to try out some new casings I bought from the natural casings company in Wisconsin. We shall see, but I like the way they handled on the stuffer.

The fry test last night got me excited. Wonderful flavor, but a bit too much heat (perfect for me), I hoped that they would mellow a little overnight. Well, this morning I decided to make breakfast burritos to really put the sausage to the test. I browned off a lb of the chorizo, then added red onion, green bell pepper and tomatoes and let that cook down for a few minutes. View attachment 446555
View attachment 446556
View attachment 446557
Then I added some eggs, and scrambled the whole thing up. As that was going on I heated a few mission low carb tortillas, added some sargento sharp cheddar, a pile of the scrambled egg mix and a little sour cream (ok maybe a little too much but I was still worried about the heat levels)
View attachment 446558
View attachment 446559
View attachment 446560
Well, with everything added to the party, the heat levels were just fine, maybe a even a tad mild. But boy am I happy with this sausage, it came out great! And we have a lot of the eggs to make more breakfast burritos for the week.
Thanks for looking!

Man that all looks great, Im glad it turned out so well!
 
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Oh YA! Nice job and great info!
My next venture is to start making sausages!
 
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Thank Inda, Pm's are appreciated also. I'll probably change it anyways some and use it as a base. The wife unit, has particular tastes. I can't make most German recipes as she doesn't like Mace, all spice type flavors.
 
Might have one for you rob...lemme ask if it can be shared.....
Hi I’m new to the venison chorizio made a bunch out of a recipe that was used leaving out pork belly fat and tried to keep it more venison I made a couple of strips and took out of the curer last night it lacks spice I’m a chef not a curer but want to get into the smoking and curing meats but that’s in the pipeline should I have added pimento to the mix along with cayenne apart from lacking spicyness it tastes amazing like the stuff you get in the German beer bars I lived in münster for 4 years would be great full appreciated any input or recipes that could be pm’d to me per kg of venison many thanks
Davy highlands of Scotland
 
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Hi I’m new to the venison chorizio made a bunch out of a recipe that was used leaving out pork belly fat and tried to keep it more venison I made a couple of strips and took out of the curer last night it lacks spice I’m a chef not a curer but want to get into the smoking and curing meats but that’s in the pipeline should I have added pimento to the mix along with cayenne apart from lacking spicyness it tastes amazing like the stuff you get in the German beer bars I lived in münster for 4 years would be great full appreciated any input or recipes that could be pm’d to me per kg of venison many thanks
Davy highlands of Scotland

Hi there and welcome!
I don't have a chorizo recipe but I make about 80-120 pounds (38-58 kg?) of venison sausage each year. I like keeping my venison sausage as much venison as possible so I only add pork fat that I buy. I do 80% venison meat 20% pork fat. This ratio works great for all my sausage.

A nice practice when making sausage is to make a small patty and fry it in a skillet to see if it has good flavor and is or is not too salty. The flavor will NOT be exactly like the final sausage product but if it has enough spice and flavor then you know it is good to go. Once you have a good flavor you can stuff the sausage into casings or put into ground meat bags for storage.
I suggest you do this as you adjust recipes. Most online recipes are bland or must be fixed in some way.

When dry curing whole meat I have found using 3% salt is way too much for me so I imagine it is even stronger with ground dry cured sausage. I like more of a 2% - 2.25% of salt.
The same goes for my NON-dry cure sausage seasoning and my brines or marinades.

For more spicy flavor, powders work best to get the spice and flavor into all of the sausage. Having pimento or some other diced pepper in there is also great but doesn't spread the flavor spice as much as a powder will. Where you bite and taste that diced pepper will be amazing but that pepper's spice and flavor will not have spread much past the point where it is sitting in the meat.
This is why people who add jalapeno powder to their jalapeno and cheese sausage when they want more jalapeno spice and flavor.

I hope this info helps and I look forward to seeing what you make and post :)
 
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I tried one out of various recipes and chili powder is not enough to make it. I didn't know there was a difference between chili powder and red chili powder. Got to try over again with just pound. Now I got 4# in the freezer that might need cayenne added.
 
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I tried one out of various recipes and chili powder is not enough to make it. I didn't know there was a difference between chili powder and red chili powder. Got to try over again with just pound. Now I got 4# in the freezer that might need cayenne added.
Let us know where u land with it :)
 
Hi there and welcome!
I don't have a chorizo recipe but I make about 80-120 pounds (38-58 kg?) of venison sausage each year. I like keeping my venison sausage as much venison as possible so I only add pork fat that I buy. I do 80% venison meat 20% pork fat. This ratio works great for all my sausage.

A nice practice when making sausage is to make a small patty and fry it in a skillet to see if it has good flavor and is or is not too salty. The flavor will NOT be exactly like the final sausage product but if it has enough spice and flavor then you know it is good to go. Once you have a good flavor you can stuff the sausage into casings or put into ground meat bags for storage.
I suggest you do this as you adjust recipes. Most online recipes are bland or must be fixed in some way.

When dry curing whole meat I have found using 3% salt is way too much for me so I imagine it is even stronger with ground dry cured sausage. I like more of a 2% - 2.25% of salt.
The same goes for my NON-dry cure sausage seasoning and my brines or marinades.

For more spicy flavor, powders work best to get the spice and flavor into all of the sausage. Having pimento or some other diced pepper in there is also great but doesn't spread the flavor spice as much as a powder will. Where you bite and taste that diced pepper will be amazing but that pepper's spice and flavor will not have spread much past the point where it is sitting in the meat.
This is why people who add jalapeno powder to their jalapeno and cheese sausage when they want more jalapeno spice and flavor.

I hope this info helps and I look forward to seeing what you make and post :)
 

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Quite spicy but lovely in omelettes etc now to try something different more flavour needed any reccomendations ??
Thanks
Davy
 
Wow M mitch96 that looks great!

If more flavor needed then it tends to be more garlic, onion, and or salt. If you are missing a particular flavor then it would be some other spice or spices but general overall savory flavor the 3 seasonings I mention would do the trick.

I have used online seasoning recipes for making sausage and found all of them bland and lacking. I've gone through at leas 3-4 Frank/Hot Dog seasonings alone and nothing held a candle to LEM's cured Franks seasoning.
Also the LEM's Brat seasoning makes the most amazing brats i've had from anywhere (Wisconsin, Minnesota, numerous German restaurants in US and a few in a couple of other countries but never been to Germany and East Europe).

AC Leggs Peppered Sausage seasoning is great and I used it for summer sausage I made earlier this year. I was looking for a different kind of summer sausage flavor but this seasoning is probably what I will stick with as it makes a great summer sausage :)

My holy grail sausage to figure out would be Czeck Klobase, I think Domace Klobase may be the full name and type (not Polish Kilbasa). Recipes and seasoning blends I've tried have all fell short :(
 
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My holy grail sausage to figure out would be Czeck Klobase,
I ground 15 pounds of pork cushion yesterday . Was looking at Klobase . but haven't mixed it yet .
Mixed 2.2 lbs of reaper sausage . 5 lbs out for breakfast . I have all kinds of seasonings in the pantry , but was interested in the Klobase . Which one did you use that needed help ?
 
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