Venison Sausage recipe?

[Old poi dog]

Aloha All

My wife's friend just dropped off 15 lbs of frozen venison. My next smoke project was going to be Smoked Sausages. It looks like its going to be happening sooner than I had planned. Although I have Rytek's book I was wondering if anyone has any recipes for a basic venison sausage that they'd be willing to share with a Sausage Beginner?

Finally, I've seen some sausage recipes that call for soy protein concentrate and others that call for non-fat dry milk. What are the purpose of these products?

Thanks in advance....

[Fishawn]

Although our great leader (Ken) gave me the coveted signature line of Smoked-Meat.com certified sausage head, I am answering only from what I have read & my experience & veterans feel free to correct me...... I understand them to be a "binder" , which will help keep moisture and fat content within the sausage..... I have not used soy protein concentrate, but I have used non-fat dry milk as well as ground oats, as Curious Aardvark sugggests...... Honestly, I cant tell a big difference ? ......Maybe a little less dense sausage?.... I will pay attention to this in the future for sure....

[Old poi dog]

Thanks Scott,

So if I am able to find dried powdered milk at the market, I would be able to use it as binding agent then? No need to order from the sausage supply guys?

[Gunslinger]

I treat venison like very lean beef. Add at least 20% pork back fat or I usually find very fatty butts and add that at a rate of 30% percent. Binders do all sorts of good things to sausage. I recommend B&P Special Meat Binder. Some will argue, but opinions vary.

[RowdyRay]

I used the powdered milk the first time in the venison brats because I didn't have the soy protein. Everyone thought they were great. Tried the soy protein in the second batch and wasn't impressed. It was like cement and texture and flavor was different. I'll stick to the powdered milk for that recipe. These are a fresh sausage.

I have not had the chance to try the soy protein in other recipes or smoked sausages yet. Not sure the powdered milk will work that well as a binder. It does retain some moisture.

There are some others with more experience with this, but haven't seen them on for awhile.

[Old poi dog]

Thanks for the advice Tom and Ray. Yes, in all of the recipes I've seen they call for adding pork because as you say, the venison is lean. I'm going to go with using the powdered milk as binder in the recipe that calls for it. I tried calling two markets and they didn't have any fatback so I'll be using pork butt instead. I'm hoping I can pull this off next weekend.

[RowdyRay]

That's all I ever use is pork butts. Like to use the ones with a thick fat cap. No trimming, just cut it off the bone and grind it. Mix it up so the fat is distributed evenly and mix with the venison at whatever ratio you like. You can generally get them cheaper and never had a problem with it.

You were looking for a recipe as well. What kind of sausage did you want to make?

[Old poi dog]

That's all I ever use is pork butts. Like to use the ones with a thick fat cap. No trimming, just cut it off the bone and grind it. Mix it up so the fat is distributed evenly and mix with the venison at whatever ratio you like. You can generally get them cheaper and never had a problem with it.

You were looking for a recipe as well. What kind of sausage did you want to make?

Thank you RRay,

Since this will be my first Sausage, I'm looking for something simple. I was thinking a breakfast type venison sausage would be good. Everyone here seems to have had breakfast sausage at one time or another so I am thinking I do not want to wander to far away from everyone's idea as to what a sausage should taste like.

[Fishawn]

OPD, Here's a Jimmy Dean sausage clone that I make with Pork that is really good. I have made it with 1/2 beef & 1/2 Pork & it's not as good IMO.... It's via Big Guy.....

For every pound of meat

1 t salt
1/2 t dried parsley
1/4 t sage
1/4 t black pepper
1/4 t thyme (or more)
1/4 t crushed red pepper (optional)
1/4 t coriander
1/4 t MSG

[minnbill]

Ive made many a pound of different sausages both fresh and smoked and have never used a binder.I usually mix my venison and or beef at about 60-40 to 70-30 with ground pork butts and have never had a dry sausage yet.not that I'm not curious about binders I think I'll give em a try this winter.

[RowdyRay]

Breakfast sausage is a good place to start. Any breakfast sausage recipe found on the internet will work with the venison. There's some PDF files in the sausage section too.

Here's some Jimmy Dean clones. Haven't tried the hot, but the sage is good. I skipped the MSG.

Sage
16 ounces ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon MSG (such as Accent flavor enhancer)

Hot
16 ounces ground pork
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon coriander
1/4 teaspoon MSG (such as Accent)

Combine all ingredients for the flavor of your choice in a medium bowl. Form the sausage into patties and cook in a skillet over medium heat until brown. Makes 1 pound of sausage.


On edit: Forgot to add the mixture ratios, but Bill has you covered. We do about 70/30 venison/pork. Works fine, but wouldn't go any lower on pork. Depends on how far you want to stretch the venison or how lean you want it.

[Critterhunter]

QUOTE=Gunslinger;142410]I treat venison like very lean beef. Add at least 20% pork back fat or I usually find very fatty butts and add that at a rate of 30% percent. Binders do all sorts of good things to sausage. I recommend B&P Special Meat Binder. Some will argue, but opinions vary.[/QUOTE]

I'm with Gunny on this,If you still need a recipe let me know I don't have it handy right now.Good luck

[Fishawn]

The JD clones mentioned also make awesome Fatty's so save some for a Hawiian Fatty!!!!

[nickelmore]

All good advice

All of this is great advice, I use "the book" as a guide, but find that most of the recipes are too bland for my taste.

I simply increase (sometimes double) some of the ingredients.

Make sure you right down what you change, and make notes for next time.

By the way where do I sign up to deer hunt in Hawaii? The wife has always wanted to go, that may be a way for me to say OK....lol

[Old poi dog]

Scott, RRay,and Critterhunter-Thank you for the recipes. They look like I can feel comfortable executing them. I will post views when I /we do this Smoke.

Nickelmore-I'm not sure when deer season is over here. I'll ask around.