Made some Italian Sausage a few weeks back using Alelover's recipe. If you haven't tried his version, don't hesitate; it's awfully tasty!
We used Alelover's formula as a base for our venison sausage: 50/50 with pork butt, pork cheek/jowls for the added fat, and fresh rosemary + red pepper flakes for a bit of a kick.
Pork cheeks and venison...
Through the grinder and stuffed into natural hog casings...
We replaced the salt in Alelover's recipe with the appropriate amount of TenderQuick for cure so we could "cold" smoke. The salt was fine for our taste. I rested these in the fridge overnight to let the cure do it's thing and let the ingredients get acquainted. I smoked these for about 5 hours with hickory running just below 100*.
They are not really pretty because we are rookies at twisting the links and getting them to stay twisted. The pros make it look so easy, don't they??? These took on a nice color. I again set these back into the fridge to let the smokey goodness mature overnight. Cooked some that night and froze the rest.
My boy is home from college this weekend, so I grilled a bunch over some hardwood lump for dinner...
Winner, winner -- sausage dinner!!!! Some grilled onions, pasta, and veggies rounds it out.
Thanks for looking, my SMF friends! Cheers!
We used Alelover's formula as a base for our venison sausage: 50/50 with pork butt, pork cheek/jowls for the added fat, and fresh rosemary + red pepper flakes for a bit of a kick.
Pork cheeks and venison...
Through the grinder and stuffed into natural hog casings...
We replaced the salt in Alelover's recipe with the appropriate amount of TenderQuick for cure so we could "cold" smoke. The salt was fine for our taste. I rested these in the fridge overnight to let the cure do it's thing and let the ingredients get acquainted. I smoked these for about 5 hours with hickory running just below 100*.
They are not really pretty because we are rookies at twisting the links and getting them to stay twisted. The pros make it look so easy, don't they??? These took on a nice color. I again set these back into the fridge to let the smokey goodness mature overnight. Cooked some that night and froze the rest.
My boy is home from college this weekend, so I grilled a bunch over some hardwood lump for dinner...
Winner, winner -- sausage dinner!!!! Some grilled onions, pasta, and veggies rounds it out.
Thanks for looking, my SMF friends! Cheers!
