Homemade Sausages

I am going to make my first attempt at making some homemade sausages.
I bought a Kenwood mix about a year ago with many attachments. The mincer I have used a few times but not the sausage horn.
Well time to fix that wrong.

Up first will be Venison sausages.
The Venison is wild and void of fat. So I plan on making a 50/50 mix of Venison and Pork shoulder.
What I have is 1kg Venison, 1kg Pork shoulder, I also have some pork back fat that I trimmed of some pork chops prior to cooking.
Salted natural Hog casing 35-38mm / approx. 1.5inches.
Venison is still thawing.
I have not decided just what to flavour these with yet. I want to keep them mild so I can taste the meat, so garlic, salt & pepper with herbs yet to be firmed up on (Sage, Thyme, nutmeg,???)

Intended process. Grind meat, gently mix everything together. Grind for a second time to blend all together. Rinse salt off casings and leave to soak. Fill sausages and leave to air dry for a few hours.

Well that's the plan. Any input to any step is most welcome.

I would do like you mentioned and keep it simple on the spices. I looked up some deer sausage recipes from Texas and most keep the ingredients list to a minimum. Salt, Pepper, fresh garlic and sage. You can even leave the sage out. Some recipes add a little cayenne pepper for a spicy kick. Fennel and mustard seed are two other old school spices.

http://wildedtx.blogspot.com/2012/10/texas-style-link-sausage.html

This might help: http://badgerandblade.com/vb/showthread.php/179640-Sausage-The-old-fashioned-way-(ton-o-pics)

Aaron I think you are right I will keep this batch simple.

Thanks for the link Luc. He was not mucking around with how much they were making.

I found this video very good and my kit is pretty much the same.

Cook a small sample to see if you like it before you commit to a whole batch. Aging and curing will change the flavor but you can get a rough idea.

Ain't nothing like grinding up a whole hog then finding out it ain't fit to feed a dog. My brother and I still laugh about dad doing that when we were kids.

http://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/secrets this is invaluable when making sausages. I totally winged a sausage recipe based on the measurements I found here and in one hit I came out with the best sausage I've ever tasted. 'Nuff said

I personally really hate the stuffer attachments on grinders. You lose a lot of the control you get from a hand cranked pump. If you get frustrated, it is not you. I have made sausage professionally for years and can't get a tight sausage from one of those cones,no matter what kind of casing I use. If you find you are really into sausage making one of the pumps might be a good investment.
Also regrinding the meat after you mix it is almost never a good idea. If you want differing textures, grind some of the meat through a different die, or maybe dice some of the venison and mix it in unground as garnish.
The more you work sausage, the grainer it gets and that can translate into an unpleasant toughness when cooked. You want to mix it just enough to emulsify the fat. When the sausage mixture begins to feel tacky you are there and can stop mixing. A teaspoon of really cold water, or a small amount of crushed ice can hydrate your mix a bit if it's not wanting to emulsify.
About a minute is as much as you really want to do.
Another thing you can do is stick your grinder, bowl and paddle in the freezer, as well as nearly freezing (not till it's hard, but just starting to stiffen up, if you freeze it too hard it will break your mixer and the worm gear on your grinder)the meat before you start grinding. If you have to walk away pop it all in the fridge. Keeping the temp low helps to make the sausage mix nicely without smearing the fat everywhere.
If you have any questions let me know, I've made most of the mistakes you can make.

Thanks Dardeau much appreciated. I will adopt the chill gear/meat and mince once. I like my sausages so may be worth looking at a hand stuffer later, will see how this one works.

OK I have started the first batch.
The is my hardware



These will be a 50/50 mix Wild Red Venison and pork shoulder with a little bit of pork back fat if it looks like I need it.
I have sliced and everything is chilling out now. As you can see the Venison is very lean.

That dog looks like he is about to starve to death It is funny how pitiful they can look when there is some meat around.

oc_in_fw said:

That dog looks like he is about to starve to death It is funny how pitiful they can look when there is some meat around.

Click to expand...

yeah they have me trained well

Good luck! I love to make sausage. The smaller grinders run into trouble sometimes with connective tissue and sinew, trimming as much off before grinding can speed up having to clean the worm gear and die.The silver-skin on that shoulder could come off next time to make it easier.

Keep us posted and keep everything cold!

The pic of your dog is classic.

I would say yes to the fat. I make a lot of lamb sausage and 5# lamb, 5# pork, 1# fatback works out well. The fat content of venison is pretty close to the lamb we use.

The pork shoulder was very fatty so have not mixed in the extra fat. I think it looks well balanced at approx. 25% fat final mix.
Do you think I should still throw in the extra fat?

I have mixed as salt, pepper, fresh garlic & sage.

This is exciting. I can't stand the suspense.

update.....I put the venison through the mincer last so there was a small amount of venison left in the screw. My furry friend won out on that one.
Next time I will remove the silverside and put the venison through first.
Keeping everything cold is working a treat.

You can make a small patty and fry it up right now. Cook it gently and test your fat and spices. Have you added any cold water to the meat mixture? That can help a lot when you stuff.

Just cooked a small patty and was happy with the taste. It held together well. I have not added any water. How much do you suggest. I think I will add the extra fat once it is chilled a bit.

It does not take much water-a couple tablespoons to try first, you want the mix "slippery" so it goes into the casings quickly and cleanly. Get them in the fridge ASAP.