Tom's Venison Seasoning

[vagreys]

Last summer, a friend asked if I would make up some venison sausage for a party, if he provided the venison. He gave me enough venison and pork to make sausage for 35 for his backyard party. It must have been memorable, because the first thing some of the people who attended asked, after I got back, last month, was when I was going to make some more. So I thought it might make the cut with the discerning crowd, here.

This is the seasoning for a 6-pound batch. 4 pounds of venison, 2 pounds of fatty pork shoulder, and fat trimmings to bring the batch up to 20% fat. I used a little red wine to dissolve the salt and infuse the seasonings. I don't remember what I used, now - some leftover merlot, most likely. I would have used about 6 fluid ounces for 6 pounds of meat.

Seasoning for 6 pounds:
6 teaspoons salt
6 3/4 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
4 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
3 1/4 teaspoons garlic powder
3 1/4 teaspoons ginger
2 1/4 teaspoons dried rosemary, finely chopped
2 1/4 teaspoons dried thyme
1 1/8 teaspoons mustard
1 1/8 teaspoons dried oregano

Prepare medium hog casing. Dissolve the salt in the wine and stir in the seasonings to infuse. Chill and cube the meat and fat in 1" cubes. Mince the meat and fat separately through the primary grind plate (I use a 1/2" plate). Combine the meat and fat in a large bowl, add the wine and seasonings and fold to distribute the seasonings. Chill and run through the final grind plate (I use 3/16" or 1/4" or even 3/8" depending on the sausage I want). Stuff into casing.

[jenny_haddow]

That looks like one to store for when I next get a batch of venison.
Thanks for that.

Jen

[dave zac]

While I am certainly just a newbie...wouldn't this sausage be better served with some amount of water and rusk???

Still learnin'

Dave

[Spuddy]

Not necessarily Dave.

The addition of rusk is very much a British thing and I believe a result of war time/poor times frugality. It seems we got used to it.

Most of the rest of the world prefer their bread to be on the outside of the sausage.

[vagreys]

Not necessarily Dave.

The addition of rusk is very much a British thing and I believe a result of war time/poor times frugality. It seems we got used to it.

Most of the rest of the world prefer their bread to be on the outside of the sausage.

Dave, the great thing about sausage is that it can be tailored to your particular tastes. There is no reason why you couldn't add rusk and water to your version of this sausage. If you are going to make a British-style sausage, then in addition to water and rusk, you might want to consider cutting back on all the seasoning, except the salt. You will have a different sausage, but perhaps one more to your taste.

A little additional information. Although I am an absolute amateur, my friends often request that I make sausage for them. When I am making a 'request' sausage, I have more to consider than my own tastes. I happen to enjoy the flavor of well-prepared game and don't like to mask it; however, I didn't have control over the game I was using for this sausage, and I wasn't making it for someone whose tastes I know. Instead, I was making a sausage from slightly strong tasting venison, for a group of people with unknown varied tastes, some of whom might not even like venison. So, I tried to design a sausage that would be acceptable to most of those attending the party. For myself, I'd cut back a little on the seasoning, but clearly, the party attendees enjoyed what I prepared for them.

[dave zac]

Thanks fellas...I have made venison sausage before learning more here (just winging it) and it usually came out very dry. I thought perhaps the water and rusk would help with that.

Maybe I just needed more fat?

[captain wassname]

Hi Dave: It is almost certain that you need more fat

I have been experimenting with low fat sausages but am only getting through 2 experiments a month.Ive been working with a 50-50 mix of turkey and well trimmed pork.Venison is on my list to do but I see no reason why a similar mix would not work with venison.My best mix so far uses no rusk. If you are interested I will post.

Jim

[dave zac]

Hi Dave: It is almost certain that you need more fat

I have been experimenting with low fat sausages but am only getting through 2 experiments a month.Ive been working with a 50-50 mix of turkey and well trimmed pork.Venison is on my list to do but I see no reason why a similar mix would not work with venison.My best mix so far uses no rusk. If you are interested I will post.

Jim

Always interested...please do post

[vagreys]

Thanks fellas...I have made venison sausage before learning more here (just winging it) and it usually came out very dry. I thought perhaps the water and rusk would help with that.

Maybe I just needed more fat?

If dryness is what you are trying to combat, it would help to know what your recipes were that came out that way. Dryness in a sausage can come about several ways, including the recipe, ingredients, technique, or cooking.

That said, I shoot for a minimum of 20% to a maximum 30% fat content in my sausages - usually closer to 20%. I use no rusk, because that is the way I was taught, but I intend to make some traditional British sausages, so I'll be using rusk in those.

[captain wassname]

Hi Dave: Firstly let me say that there is no reason to think that Toms receipe would be dry. He has obviously made his with a large degree of success.I suspect that your dry sausages were a result of not enough fat or insufficient mixing ,or even the mixture got too warm.
Anyway here if my low fat sausage mix for which thus far I have only used a 50-50 mix of turkey and extremely well trimmed pork.

85.49% meat
2.93% tapioca starch
0.69%phosphate
2.07%seasoning
8.63 water.
0.13% MSG

One could easily use venison as the meat and I have no reason to suppose this would not work.
The phosphate is in simply because it was part of the full fat sausage I am trying to replicate
The MSG is in because I had doubts that without fat as a flavour carrier the reciepe would work.Having said that with venison this may not be needed.

An alternative is
http://www.sausagemaker.com/index.asp?P ... rodID=1378

This works OK and has an advantage of increasing the meat content to 92.4% but in my opinion does not produce such a (for want of better word) juicy sausage.

The point is I tried both reciepes with rusk and more water but the results were not as good
I claim no credit for the tapioca starch.This was something posted ages ago by Richard (sausagemaker)

Hope this is of interest

Jim

[dave zac]

I got my buck today. 6 point White tail with bow. First up is vagrey's sausage and venison ham. Butchering this coming weekend. I can't wait!

Dave

[wheels]

I certainly look forward to seeing the results.

Phil

[captain wassname]

It makes a very good sausage. See my soon to be revealed low fat sausage thread.

Jim

[dave zac]

Venison sausage after one night in the fridge.


I only ran one large grind. I didn't like the texture as it was too 'rough' for me, however my wife preferred the texture compared to some english bangers I made with a double grind. She prefers more of an italian sausage as made around here.

The flavor was very good. I would call it a success

I also added 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes per pound of meat for a bit of zip. This gave between mild and medium heat. very good.

Dave

[wheels]

You're making me hungry!

Phil