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Making some Venison/Pork Bratwurst Sausage today for the first time - suggestions appreciated.

hogaholic
hogaholic Posts: 225
edited January 2012 in EggHead Forum
I always wanted to start making my own sausages.  Fortunately Santa was listening and Christmas morning I received the meat grinder and sausage stuffer attachments for our KitchenAid mixer.

I plan to combine 5 lbs of ground Venison with the same amount of ground pork.  There are a ton of recipes out there on the internet and the ones that caught my eye are for Wisconsin-style brats and hot Italian sausage. 

I know that I should get the meat real cold, lubricate the horn of the stuffer with oil, and wash out the casings real well.  One video I watched suggested that you let the seasoned meat mixture sit overnight in the fridge in order to bring together all the seasonings before stuffing.

Any other suggestions before I get elbow deep into this would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Hogaholic
Jackson, Tennessee. VFL (Vol for Life)

Comments

  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    edited January 2012
    don't buy ground pork, because they will trim off the fat.  i don't care what your doctor says, making sausage means using fat. but a butt and grind it yourself.  good fat ration in a butt.

    to be honest, i usually grab a pound of pork fat from the butcher too.

    image

    you should have at least 25% if not a third of your weight being fat.  just how it is.  unhealthy? no, not if you don't eat 12 in a sitting.

    yeah, keep it cold.  put the grinder in the freezer even, before grinding. if you really want to be obsessive, spread the ground meat on a cookie sheet and chill in the freezer (not freeze, but til crunchy) before stuffing.

    if you have a kitchenaid and are using it as a stuffer, toss it in the freezer before stuffing, because it will warm up. takes a long time to stuff with a kitchen-aid.

    and yeah, overnight with the spices is a good idea.

    don't skimp on the fat... and keep things cold (or the fat breaks and the sausage will be mealy)

    my brats are about a third ground veal and two thirds pork. 

    image
    mild, but good.  half and half with venison might be stronger than 'wisconsin style', but i am guessing on that one
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • hogaholic
    hogaholic Posts: 225
    Thanks Stike - great advice.  I am headed to a local store today to pick up some pork belly to increase the fat content.  Appreciate the tips.  Those sausages look great.
    Jackson, Tennessee. VFL (Vol for Life)
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    those are straight from Ruhlman's book "Charcuterie: the Craft of...."
    can't take credit for them.

    i have skimped on the chilling, and must admit i had some brats that were mealy and the fat broke.  can be a pain to do, but the reward is pretty good
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • @Hogaholic.   I have just started making my own sausages as well.  For New Year's Eve, I made a fresh chicken, basil and tomato sausage on stike's recommendation, and last Saturday, made Jagerwurst, which was a cured, smoked sausage similar to kielbasa, except with pork shoulder instead of beef.  It was fantastic.  While stike beat me to the punch mentioning Charcuterie, I'll go one step further and recommend purchasing the book. It is a terrific resource packed with helpful tips and information as well as a shungload of great recipes.  I consider it a "must have" for the home sausage maker.  Kielbasa and Bratwurst are next on my list. Maybe this weekend!  Sausage making is a lot of fun and very rewarding. Best of luck and let us know how it turns out.

    Mark
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    WW: what'd you think i meant, he should shoplift the book? hahahaha
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • hahahaha!  No!  OMG!  Only you......(shaking head)  Well, you didn't explicitly imply he should buy it!
  • hogaholic
    hogaholic Posts: 225
    edited January 2012
    Update:  Picked up a small 3.5lb Boston Butt that didn't have the bone in it (all meat and fat).  I chunked it up into pieces for grinding.  I'll use that and the little less than 3 lbs of ground pork I already have and mix it with about 4 lbs of ground venison for an approximate 3:2 ration of pork to venison.  That should do it don't you think?

    Grinding, mixing and seasoning it tonight, then all night in the fridge.  Stuffing it tomorrow.

    This is kinda fun and it offers something different to do with my venison.  I am recovering from surgery and can't really do much right now, so sausage making is a nice diversion from watching the tube and reading books.

    Thanks for all the help guys.  This type of advice is what truly makes this forum great for those of us who love to cook and experiment with new foods and techniques.

    If I don't blow up the casings [-O<  I'll follow-up with some pics.

    Jackson, Tennessee. VFL (Vol for Life)
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    you might wanna season, let sit overnight, THEN grind and beat it together with a paddle attachment or just work with a wooden spoon until it starts to develop a stickiness to it.

    does your brat recipe have cream and a little nutmeg? i think egg too.  makes for a pretty traditional lighter sausage.  probably my favorite, honestly.

    i think you can let it sit overnight already ground. i just never have.
    good luck
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante
  • hogaholic
    hogaholic Posts: 225
    edited January 2012
    Stike

    Didn't have time to grind the meat and season it last night.  This morning I got up early, ground up the butt that I cut up and mixed it up with store-bought ground pork and my ground venison and ran all that through the  KitchenAid again using the fine plate. I am trying to post a pic but am having trouble getting it uploaded to Photobucket.  This is approximately 6 lbs of pork and 4 lbs of venison.  I will season and stuff later today.

    I'm all over the place with the recipe.  What is your recipe that provides for a "pretty traditional lighter sausage"?  I want to make about 5 lbs of that and use the remaining 5 lbs for a hot, sweet Italian sausage.

    One other thing - the online reviews of the meat grinder attachment for the KitchenAid are mixed, but I thought it did a very nice job.  It took me about 25 minutes to run 10 lbs of meat (already ground up, which made it easier) through it.  It got clogged once when I started grinding the chunks I cut up form the boston butt, but that was my fault for trying to cram too much down the tube.  After I cleared it all I had to do was drop the meat down the tube and it did the rest - eazy peazy.

    image




    Jackson, Tennessee. VFL (Vol for Life)
  • stike
    stike Posts: 15,597
    ruhlman's recipe in "charcuterie"
    a little cream, nutmeg, i believe egg even.

    traditional german bratwurst (i don't know the wisconsin style, but heavy german population, so maybe similar).  not as light nor emulsified as weisswurst though
    ed egli avea del cul fatto trombetta -Dante