We have used both venison meat sticks, polish, brats and ring sausage cut into bite size pieces. To lightly cover the meat in the crock-pot mix, enough liquid to cover them like you would Lil Smokies in BBQ sauce. The liquid is simply 2 parts peach jelly to 1 part mustard. I know this sounds odd at first, but it is a must try. From what I can tell, 1 out of 20 people don't care for it, the rest are hooked !!!