First let me say I hunt only for meat not trophy. And I got a doe this year. I butchered my deer this year for the first time and what a job. I usually have the butcher make all my sausage and jerky but I want to try my hand at this too.

Does anyone have any good recipes for either? I only have 55 pounds of meat which I’m sure may have been 60 to 65 if I didn’t butcher it myself. But it’s a 100.00 savings so it’s well worth the loss in meat.

Let’s hear’em, And Thanks

Hiofcer

 

So they raised your proccessing fee too??? Sounds like collusion to me, increase of a whopping 30% for proccessing this year here. BTW I didn't used to have but one deer a year proccessed, for none other than summer sausage, I butcher all deer above that ( three so far this year for myself.)

Also saying I'd be in the market for a recipee too!

From the field to the freezer boned and in some cases, cleaned meat can be done in short order, just takes a bit of practice. I break it down like this, field dress 10minutes, transport logistics from field to check in, varies usually <1 hour, hang deer and prepare work area- 10 minutes, skin(non caping) 10 minutes, shoulders 5 minutes, loins 5, rear legs 10 minutes, (don't forget the tenderloin inside.) Boning 5 minutes per leg, cleaning if nessessary can be time consuming, division and packing 5 minutes per bag. If you use butchers paper for packing great, otherise use plastic wrap then freezer bags to prevent freezer burn. Okay so let me add that up- a hair over three hours from photo opp to freezer, sounds about right. The logistics I guess would be messier out of a camp, but I have been fortunate enough to hunt from a reletives house, then my own for the last fifteen years or so.

 

hiofcer,

hmmmmmmmmm. you want to make your own sausage. maybe i can help. i'll have to look for the actual recipe b/c i cannot remember it off hand. it is an old german recipe that has been in my family for generations and the reason i cannot recall the recipe is b/c we always drink a lot of beer while making sausage. we use a 60% venison-40% pork formula. we buy boston butts to acquire the pork. since you have 55 lbs of deer you might want to modify the formula and use 45 lbs of pork to make it easier on yourself and yield 100 lbs of sausage. you will need a grinder (you may also go to a meat market and have them grind your meat after you have cut it up in 2"x2" chunks) and a stuffer (cabelas has them). in order to stuff the meat, you will need casing. depending on if you want to make just sausage you use hog intestine if you want to make little smokies you use sheep intestine (both should be available a you local meat market). you can also use synthetic casing but for traditionalists it is natural all the way. there is a publication called The Sausage Maker that may be available online that will help you immeasureably. you may also be able to use a premixed seasoning if i cannot find the recipe. even if i do, i might not give it to you because my dad (who just passed away on March 11, 2001) was always real tight lipped about giving out the formula. what i can tell you is for the volume of meat, the seasoning will appear to be too much but trust me it isn't. we usually smoke the sausage for about 8 hours then package it up and freeze it for later consumption. we use pecan wood because it is so plentiful. you can use mesquite, hickory, or even applewood if you prefer. i'll look for the recipe and i'll give you a basic idea of what to do.

good luck

texascat

 

hiofcer,

i found the recipe and to my surprise it has been published already so there is no need to keep things quiet. it's as follows:

per 100 lbs,
22 oz salt
8 oz black pepper
1 tablespoon garlic

you may also add jalapeno peppers if you wish to add a spicy kick. quantity is unlimited use what ever you think you can handle. we usually buy the Clemente-Jaques gallon cans and pick out all the carrots. you may grind them using a food processor. just remember to wash your hands after handling peppers before you rub your eyes or go take a leak, trust me you do it only once.

once you have your meat cubed, you want to combine both the pork and venison on a large table and mix it evenly. you then distribute your seasoning evenly thoroughly mixing it throughout the batch, just add a little then mix it in then repeat until you have run out of seasoning. do the same with the peppers. i recommend heavy rubber gloves because the meat is going to be very cold and the spice blend my irritate any wounds on your hands. once this step is complete, you are now ready to grind the meat. make sure your grinder uses a plate (the honeycomb looking thing where the meat comes out of) with small holes in the end, the holes may be 3/16' to 1/4". the ones with the large holes 3/8"-1/2" are used for salami. now you are ready to stuff the casing. when stuffing the sausage you will need to tie off the ends of the sausage with a cotton string. when finished, hang the sausage on wooden sticks-don't use treated wood-and do not hang the sausage from the string instead hang it with the string down.

i don't know what kind of setup you have available but either way it is going to be unforgetable. you will either like it or hate it. one time we made 900 lbs (450 2lb links) of sausage in 2 days. that was the year that we had 8 deer harvested and since then we never killed that many again. have fun.



later,

texascat

 

Greetings,

I know very little about this but at first glance it would seem to be too little spice, not too much. Especially the garlic - I would think a tablespoon would get lost in a 100 lbs of meat. Just checking.

Also, for the original question, I've seen a bunch of recipes on the internet. You can get summer sausage, breakfast sausage, Italian sausage, etc etc etc. Seems like every part of the country or the world has its own way of using up leftover meat -- i.e. sausage.

Drifting way off topic, I always laugh when we go to the Orioles games at Camden Yards. When you go up to the stand to order a sausage sandwich (with onions and peppers - yum), they ask: "German, Polish, or Italian?" They cover all the options.

 

drrod,

that recipe has been in our family for close to a century and it makes some very, very good sausage. the garlic i was referring to was liquid not garlic powder. too much garlic can be overpowering and too much spice hides the flavor of the meat. i don't know if you have had the opportunity to try pecan smoked meats b/c if you have you would know that pecan smoke adds a substantial degree of flavor to the meat. i sell hickory and pecan smoked jerky here in texas and i have to say it is the best mass produced natural style beef jerky available in the south. there are others like jack link, pemmican, oberto, pioneer, tillamook, king b, outpost, jimmy dean, chubby checkers, etc. but from my experience they don't make the cut in the south.

texascat

 

Greetings,

Hope you didn't think I was disparaging the family tradition, just following my curiosity. And you know, you're probably right about the smoking process adding the flavor. We get so used to artificially flavored stuff that we don't realize how much is imparted by the real thing.

And I'll bet that process makes good jerky as well -- that's easier to eat on an ATV. There, I've gotten us back on topic so the modierator doesn't delete us.

Hey, have we ever discussed our favorite snack to eat while riding? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

 

I can take a stab at this one. I was given the honor to open the ancient scrolls handed down through generations a couple of years ago and found out the exact amounts.[img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-happy.gif[/img] Seems as most people for regular sausage use the same recipe, just little variations.The following is for a 50 pound (50/50 mix) batch of regular sausage or a 1/3 pork to 2/3's deer for dry sausage. 25 LBS OF PORK25LBS OF DEER 14 OZ. OF SALT (canning or curing salt) 4 OZ. BLACK PEPPER (COURSE) 1 OZ. OF CAYENNE 2 OZ. CURE (pink stuff)This is a Salt Peter substitute which is a preservative and can be found at butcher supply store. (ask were you buy it for the mixture rate. With what we get add no more than 2oz. per 50lbs)We weigh out all the ingredients and mix them in a quart jar filled with water and your garlic water( take a clove of garlic in 2-3 cups of water and boil till soft) add 1/2- 1 cup of garlic water to your taste. Pour over the meat a mix in real good. You will know when you have it mixed good the meat will get real sticky and like Texascat said it's a good idea to wear some rubber or latex gloves. Otherwise the salt will dry your hands out real good and the older you get the better it does it. If you have never made sausage I'm sure I'm leaving out a bunch. Let me back up here a little. First you cut up your meat and course grind it with the 1/2" chili plate the plate that goes on the grinder. Then mix in the seasoning re-grind with the 3/16" plate, stuff it, hang it, let it sit till you don't see no more water droplets forming on the casings, usually 1-2 hours, start smoking for appx. 6-hours. First thing next morning we wrap it up.I'm sure I left out a bunch but if you have any questions just ask one other thing I wouldn't try to mix a 100lb batch at one time unless you got a really big tub or something. If I were you I would break it down to 25lb batches and do a little experimenting with each batch and I know if there is any buddies/beer around there will be some experiments.Good Luck