My family and I began butchering our own pork last March. We've only done it twice and both times the sausage turned out... badly. The first time I tried for a sweet breakfast sausage and it came out almost too sweet. A lot of sweet maple and apple flavors. Although the texture was good it just seemed gamey. Then we butchered another pig and I ground the shoulder with a mixture of italian herbs and red peppers to make it hot italian sausage. That mixture wasn't so sickeningly sweet, but it still came out really gamey. I thought that it might be the casings we used (the links LOOKED perfect) but even patties which had never touched the casings still tasted off.
In the second batch I left some links to hang in the kitchen to dry and some went right into the freezer. Both tasted the same and I never saw evidence of curing in the hanging set.
Does anyone know what I'm doing wrong?
Thanks