Venison Garlic Sausage Recipes

VENISON SAUSAGES WITH BAY AND GARLIC

Steps:

• Chop meat and fat into chunks that will for into your grinder. (Optional expert step: Mix the salt and curing salt - if using - with just the meat, grind very coarsely -- 10 mm or 12 mm plate -- and refrigerate overnight. If you don't have such a large plate, cut the meat a little finer and do the same thing. This will give you a tighter bind in the finished sausage, which is especially important, as this is a coarsely ground sausage.)
• Take out some hog casings and set in a bowl of warm water.
• When you are ready to grind, mix the meat and fat with all the herbs and spices. If you are using the dry milk powder, mix that in, too. I use it when I slow-smoke sausages; it helps them retain moisture and shrink less after they come out of the smoker. Make sure the meat and fat are 37°F or colder by putting the mixture in the freezer for an hour or so. Put the wine in the fridge.
• Grind through your meat grinder (you can use a food processor in a pinch, but you will not get a very good texture) using the coarse die (6 mm or 7 mm).
• Make sure your sausage is very cold, between 28°F and 32°F. When it's cold enough, take it out of the freezer and add the wine and water. Mix the sausage thoroughly either using a Kitchenaid on low for 60 to 90 seconds or with your (very clean) hands for 2 minutes. This is important to get the sausage to bind properly.
• Stuff the sausage into the casings. Twist off links by pinching the sausage down and twisting and spinning it, first in one direction, and then with the next link, in the other direction; this helps prevent them from unwinding. (Here's a quick video on making the links) Or you could tie them off with butcher's string. Make sure you pierce the links wherever there are air pockets; I use a needle sterilized in the flames of my stovetop. Gently squeeze the links to remove all air pockets.
• Hang the sausages in a cool place for up to a day (ideally hanging in a fridge, but even an hour at room temperature helps a lot). Once they have dried a bit, put in the fridge until needed. They will keep for at least a week refrigerated. If you are freezing the sausages, wait a day before doing so. This will tighten up the sausages and help them keep their shape in the deep-freeze.

VENISON GARLIC SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Take out some hog casings and set in a bowl of warm water.
• Chop meat (and pork fat, if using) into chunks. (Optional expert step: Mix the salt with just the meat and grind it very coarsely, like with a 10 mm or 12 mm plate, and refrigerate it overnight. If you don't have such a large plate, chop the meat into 1/2 or 3/4 inch pieces and do the same thing. This will create a tighter bind in the finished sausage.)
• When you are ready to grind everything, Mix the meat, fat, lemon zest, celery seed -- half the black pepper, garlic and basil. Why only half? You'll want to add the rest right before you do the final mix on the sausage. This keeps the spices larger, altering the sausage's texture, making eating it more interesting. Chill the meat until it is 37°F or colder by putting it in the freezer for an hour or so.
• Grind through a medium-coarse plate (6 mm or 7 mm). If the mixture is still below 37°F, immediately grind 1/2 the mixture through the fine plate (4.5 mm). If it's too warm, freeze it all until it's cold enough. You are doing this extra grind to make the texture of the sausage more interesting -- you can skip it if you want.
• After you are done grinding, freeze the sausage until its between 28°F and 32°F. When it's ready, add the rest of the black pepper, basil and garlic, plus the wine, then mix thoroughly either using a Kitchenaid on low for 60 to 90 seconds or with your (very clean) hands for 2 minutes. This is important to get the sausage to bind properly. Once it is mixed well, put it back in the fridge while you clean up.
• Stuff the sausage into the casings. Twist off links by pinching the sausage down and twisting it, first in one direction, and then with the next link, the other direction. Or you could tie them off with butcher's string. Make sure you pierce the casing wherever there are air pockets, gently squeezing the links to remove any air.
• Hang the sausages in a cool place for up to 4 hours (the colder it is, the longer you can hang them). If it is warm out, as in hotter than about 70°F, hang for one hour. Once they have dried a bit, put in the fridge until needed. They will keep for at least a week in the fridge. If you are freezing the sausages, wait a day before doing so. This will tighten up the sausages and help them keep their shape in the deep-freeze.

VENISON SAUSAGE

Steps:

• In a large metal bowl, mix sugar, mustard seed, garlic, salt, and pepper with pork and venison. When ingredients are well mixed, grind the meat mixture in a meat grinder. Put the ground meat into a mechanical sausage stuffer. Be sure to push all of the air out of stuffer so there are no air pockets in the sausages. Fill pork casing with ground meat. When casing is filled entirely, find the center of the sausage and fold and pinch in 1/2 on a table. Pinch and twist into sausage links 2 at a time, pulling the "leg" of the sausage through the center each time a twist is made.
• Hang sausage in a smoke house or put sausage in a smoker for approximately 8 to 12 hours.