Making Sausage

hippietrekker · #1 04-28-2021, 11:23 AM

Making sausage has quickly become one of those things I look forward to post hunt, I have seen numerous posts on AO from others who enjoy this as well. It is a great way for me to get my kids into meat preparation, they particularly like poking the air bubbles.
Every year I try to debone enough snowshoe hare for a 10lb batch. Last year I had a bunch of other recipes I wanted to try so I didn’t make sausage - this year I opted to go the sausage route. Was able to go out several times with my kids and got enough hares (7) for a batch of fresh chorizo. 70:30 hare to pork fat ratio mmmm. A few pictures of the sausage making below.
Next I’ll try my hands at smoked sausage - new to me experience but with a freezer full from my moose there is lots to go around... once I get a smoker.

BEL · #2 04-28-2021, 10:07 PM

Great idea using the hare. What other flavors have you tried. BEL

hippietrekker · #3 04-29-2021, 07:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEL

Great idea using the hare. What other flavors have you tried. BEL

I have thus far only made the chorizo, this was my third or fourth time. I want to do some pepperoni sticks, I suspect those would be delicious.
Hare is such a tasty and versatile meat, I have fed it to a lot of friends and family - hunters and non hunters - always to excellent reviews.

El Carnicero · #4 04-29-2021, 08:11 AM

I love making sausage. It's an art. and very few people understand it. I also love making sausage and then when friends and family eat it they always ask where I got it from. Always looks of amazement when I tell them I made it myself.

aragor764 · #5 04-29-2021, 08:37 AM

same here, love to see my friend's reaction after I tell em its bear sausage! (after making sure i cook em over 170 of course).

Hoopi · #6 04-29-2021, 08:43 AM

Hi: I noticed you adding trim fat...but having tried both trim and fatty burger. I like burger meat a little better. It mixes easier and less/smaller chunks of white fat.

Just my experience. Like you, I enjoy eating as much as hunting.

Hoopi

vance · #7 04-29-2021, 09:24 AM

Good post!
I have found Charcuterie by Ruhlman/Polcyn and The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alt to be great references.
I am hoping to get a bear in the next month or so and make sausage. Made moose heart/pork fatback merguez on Sunday that we are trying today.
Vance

hippietrekker · #8 04-29-2021, 01:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hoopi

Hi: I noticed you adding trim fat...but having tried both trim and fatty burger. I like burger meat a little better. It mixes easier and less/smaller chunks of white fat.

Just my experience. Like you, I enjoy eating as much as hunting.

Hoopi

Thanks for the suggestion, I may have to look into that. This is the first year I used straight trim fat, oddly I used the same ratio for my venison sausage but it seems to render out way more than with these hare sausages.
Previously I used pork fat and meat trim from the animals we butcher every fall, but I made more pork sausage so all that trim went there which lead to using straight fat trim. Ordered some extra from a local organic farm, it seems a nice quality fat.

hippietrekker · #9 04-29-2021, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by vance

Good post!
I have found Charcuterie by Ruhlman/Polcyn and The Food Lab by Kenji Lopez-Alt to be great references.
I am hoping to get a bear in the next month or so and make sausage. Made moose heart/pork fatback merguez on Sunday that we are trying today.
Vance

Thanks for passing on some resources, I am admittedly low on this. I will for sure check these out!

Those merguez sound amazing!

sns2 · #10 04-29-2021, 04:11 PM

Any guy who has the balls to make hare chorizo as one of his first kicks at the can has nothing but mad respect from me. Way to go.

Camdec · #11 04-29-2021, 07:38 PM

Yup. That’s pretty neat. How does it taste? Like chicken?

CDN offroader · #12 04-30-2021, 10:56 AM

If you are looking to get some recipes for smoked sausages, check out Meats and Sausages https://www.meatsandsausages.com/ They have great how to and recipes from the Marianski brothers recipe books.

Len Poli also has some really good ones. http://lpoli.50webs.com/

I found both of these handy when starting out.

Jim Blake · #13 04-30-2021, 03:24 PM

The two go to books I use are The Best of Wurst by Brian Pay and Lloyd van der Linden (DnR Sausage Supplies) and Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas.

BlackHeart · #14 05-01-2021, 12:03 PM

Those look really good. Nice job!!!!

I’ve done pepperoni, bratwurst and garlic sausage. The pepperoni worked great...the other two so-so....edible but not superior. Smoking is the easy part.

This inspires me to give it another try at sausage.

hippietrekker · #15 05-02-2021, 09:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Camdec

Yup. That’s pretty neat. How does it taste? Like chicken?

The meat itself is pretty mild, these chorizo sausages offer an excellent, strong pepper, slightly spicy but not overpowering.
Hare in general what I notice most is the texture, it’s a stringy meat and quite dry. Other than sausage I general cook it over an extended period in liquid.

saskbooknut · #16 05-03-2021, 05:34 AM

I like sausage making, particularly venison sausage.

My wife, after many years of eating my sausage, decided she didn't like the casings. She finds them tough.
I made up the sausage and divided a generous individual sausage portion into plastic snack bags, shaping them and getting out all the air before they go in the freezer.
Two of these little packages for a meal, one each. Turn out the sausage while it is still a little firm from the freezer.
Sausage cooked on the BBQ is now a top meal choice again.
They hold their form while cooking, and brown up beautifully.

vance · #17 05-07-2021, 11:29 AM

The moose heart/pork fat sausage turned out great. Couldn't find harissa (spice blend or paste used in merguez so used President's Choice Piri Piri and it was similar.
I like knowing I have a way to use heart that my family likes. Another part of the animal that I can use.

Vance

BEL · #18 05-07-2021, 04:03 PM

I tried weisswurst in Germany and couple of years ago and really liked it. I am going to try it this weekend. BEL

fatboyz · #19 05-07-2021, 06:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEL

I tried weisswurst in Germany and couple of years ago and really liked it. I am going to try it this weekend. BEL

I love Weisswurst! I make it all the time. I use 55-60% deer or moose and 40-45 % pork belly trim. I have a buffalo chopper as it's an emulsified sausage and you need one to make it, or a real good food processor and make a bunch of small batches. Are you going to use a food processor?

BEL · #20 05-07-2021, 06:57 PM

I bought a high powered food processor especially for this type of sausage where you must emulsify. Do you use a small portion of pig skin? Some recipes call for it. BEL

fatboyz · #21 05-08-2021, 08:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEL

I bought a high powered food processor especially for this type of sausage where you must emulsify. Do you use a small portion of pig skin? Some recipes call for it. BEL

Not for the weisswurst, it takes a real good cutter or you get little tiny chewy tough bits. I do like to add 1/2 a fresh small onion and 1/2 a whole lemon, just the seeds removed. I have a small Buffalo chopper. This is what the
Emulsion looks like.

BEL · #22 05-08-2021, 10:00 PM

I cooked up the skin and onion today and used my emersion blender. Did a great job on the skin, almost liquid. Will complete the job tomorrow. I should try to post pics tomorrow. Am also making a beef with swiss cheese and bacon sausage which has turned out great in the past. BEL

fatboyz · #23 05-09-2021, 06:13 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEL

I cooked up the skin and onion today and used my emersion blender. Did a great job on the skin, almost liquid. Will complete the job tomorrow. I should try to post pics tomorrow. Am also making a beef with swiss cheese and bacon sausage which has turned out great in the past. BEL

Cooking the skin should help. I have a couple head cheese type sausage recipes that use cooked skin. It helps with the bind. My Weisswurst recipe I got from the fellows at Rocky Meats before it burned down and closed. Good lean deer/Moose trim and good quality pork makes a difference too. Also instead of ice cold water or shaved ice I use frozen milk, makes it nice and white. I crush it first and it helps keep the temp down in the cutter when making the emulsion.

BEL · #24 05-09-2021, 12:11 PM

Well, I finished the weisswurst. What a messy operation when the food processor bowl is too small. Next time I wont double the recipe. Next is the swiss cheese bacon sausage. By the way the ice cold milk idea saved the day for me as the ice was next to useless. BEL

fatboyz · #25 05-09-2021, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BEL

Well, I finished the weisswurst. What a messy operation when the food processor bowl is too small. Next time I wont double the recipe. Next is the swiss cheese bacon sausage. By the way the ice cold milk idea saved the day for me as the ice was next to useless. BEL

Ice is difficult, you need almost like Slurpee crushed ice unless you have an industrial cutter. Ice cold water or for Weisswurst the milk, woks awesome. It's surprising how much heat is generated by the friction of the blades cutting the meat. Super sharp blades make a huge difference too.