Venison Sausage Ideas

[mountbaldy]

I had some smoked venison sausages a couple years back while I was ice fishing. I have made lots and lots of brats over the years and this smoked sausage was far superior. My best guess for what they used are; 40% corn fed venison, 60% pork shoulder, dried garlic, onion powder, marjoram, mustard seeds, cure, salt and probably more things. These sausages were about the thickness of brats and were in a natural casing. They were smoked with apple-wood and oak. The moisture content was fantastic. The guys who cooked these up, brought them to the ice pre-smoked. They finished them on a gas grill. I meant to keep in touch with them and try and get this recipe but I failed to do that.

Anyone else have any awesome recipes that are similar to this that they would be willing to share?

 

[thirdeye]

Experiment with the percentage of any wild game, 40% and 50% cut with the opposing percentage of ground pork butt are good ratio's. I don't like grinding pork loin, it's too lean for my tastes.

I make a farm style sausage that is good for breakfast or making patties to grill for sausage burgers or meatballs cooked with fried onions and potatoes. I package of it in bulk, or into 1# plastic sleeves and smoke them as fatties. Adding powdered milk is optional and even if you go lighter than the normal 1-cup per 5#... say 1-cup per 7# or 10# will make for a moister sausage. The fresh aromatics also help with moistness. Here is the recipe. As always, add or subtract any ingredient you want.

FARM SAUSAGE

3 lbs. ground pork butt
2 teaspoons ground sage
¼ cup chopped fresh parsley
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons coarse black pepper
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon minced garlic
¼ cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon Kosher salt
¼ cup ice cold water (add enough to get a workable texture)

Grind the meat, mix in the seasonings and water until well blended. Let rest overnight for seasonings to blend.