Venison Summer Sausage

[crossbowhunter]

I just made 25lbs of sausage 20lbs deer 5lbs beef fat ground through a medium plate. A friend that has done this before told me I could use confectioners sugar in place of dextrose and cultured buttermilk in place of fermento and all the other spices and mixed it real well, then stuffed it in 2 1/2 in casings and smoked it for about12 to 14 hours to 152 interal temp. The taste was real good ,but it was a little bit dry . Any help would be great

Thank You

Kurt  

 

[chef willie]

 
I just made 25lbs of sausage 20lbs deer 5lbs beef fat ground through a medium plate. A friend that has done this before told me I could use confectioners sugar in place of dextrose and cultured buttermilk in place of fermento and all the other spices and mixed it real well, then stuffed it in 2 1/2 in casings and smoked it for about12 to 14 hours to 152 interal temp. The taste was real good ,but it was a little bit dry . Any help would be great

Thank You

Kurt  

You didn't say what temp you smoked it at? could be a big factor in outcome. Add any liquid to the blob of ground meat? Normally, 3/4 to 1 cup of liquid to 5 pounds of ground meat. Yes, you can use powdered sugar instead of dextrose. Dextrose can be easily had though if you have a homebrew shop near you. Instead of liquid buttermilk try the dry, powdered kind in the baking section of your market. I personally find about a 5-6 hour smoke at a low temp of say, 150, to get color and smoke and then finish in a poach of barely simmering water to be ideal for me. I've done some stix and a sausage to fully cooked in the smoker and found it dry and the casings to be very tough for my liking. 12 to 14 hours is a long smoke to 152 IT...hope you used some cure in there......Willie

 

[timberjet]

More fat might help. I shoot for 20-25 percent and I prefer pork fat as I think it helps add more moisture. I also swear my nonfat dry milk powder which holds the moisture in there. The last batch I did I used local honey in place of the cultured butter milk and I must say it is really good. Cure would be a must for that long of a smoke. I cured mine and cold smoked it ten hours before I even started the heat. Man oh man.

 

[boonedawg]

My buddy who does all of ours swears by Beef kidney fat, he says it's a sweeter fat.