Venison Sausage WSM

Hi guys,

I'm new to smoking and new to the forum. I hoping to make my own venison sausage this spring for the first time. I received a WSM 18.5" for Christmas, and am getting excited to use it. Just wondering if you guys have any recipes or processes that you could share for making venison sausage on the WSM.

Thanks!

Ryan

I actually just helped a friend make some. I was just part of the grinding/stuffing session. I think he went on to smoke some of it.

Some tips they may or may not help:

trim your meat fairly well. We did this and didn't have much issue during grinding, however I just talked to a friend that complained that the sinew often clogged his blade so they upgraded to a big, hobart grinder that eats up the sinew (my guess is he just needed his blades sharpened).

You are going to need to mix in pork back fat, and possibly some pork, if the taste of venison is too strong for you. Venison is too lean to make into a sausage on its own.

chop up the venison and back fat and grind them together. We ground them separately, and it was impossible to mix them together. We ended up regrinding it all again to get a uniform mix.

I'm hoping he saved me some. I'll pick his brains when we meet up and report back.

good luck!

Here's a few options for you

Venison Breakfast Sausage

2 lbs. venison 1/2 lb. bacon 1 tsp. salt 1 tsp. pepper 1/2 tsp. sage

Chop the bacon and dice the venison, then mix in the salt, pepper, and sage. Refrigerate the mixture for a few hours before use. Shape the mixture into thin patties. Pour a little oil into a skillet or onto a grid- dle and heat to medium high. Grill the patties for a few minutes on each side.

Venison Old Time Sausage

8 lbs. venison with some fat pork 3 Tbsp. sea salt (see note) 2 Tbsp. black pepper 2 Tbsp. sage

Measure and mix seasonings. Sprinkle over ground venison and fat pork, mix thoroughly with hands. Can be ground the second time for a finer grade of sausage. Stuff in casings with sausage grinder stuffer.When they are stuffed, hang over about 3-inch hickory poles and put a smoke from green hickory chips under sausage to smoke two or three days. Poles should be at least 5 feet above the smoker. NOTE: Remem- ber that some old recipes such as the one above use salt that would, at the time, be likely to contain some salt-peter and other presevatives.These days, most of these minerals are removed from table salt before it is packaged for sale in the supermarket.

Smoked Venison Country Sausage

6 lbs. venison 1 lb. water 1 tbsp. ground white pepper 4 tsp. onion powder 2 level tsp. Prague Powder No. 1
4 lbs. fat pork butts 6 tbsp. salt 3 ozs. corn syrup solids 1 tsp. ground nutmeg 2 cups soy protein concentrate

Grind all meat through a 1/4” grinder plate and mix all ingredients well. Stuff into 32-35mm hog casings and link into 6” links Remove to preheated smokehouse at 120oF., with dampers wide open for about 1 hour or until sausage is dry.Then apply heavy smoke,gradually increasing temperature of smokehouse to 160oF. Damper is to be about 1/4 open while the smokhouse heat is increased at the rate of 10oF. every 30 minutes. Hold until internal temperature reaches 152oF. Remove from smoker and shower with cool water until internal temperature reaches 110oF. Remove and place in cooler for 24 hours before using.

Hunter’s Venison Sausage

4 lb. ground venison 4 lb. ground pork 2 tablespoons salt 2 teaspoons black pepper 3/4 teaspoon mace 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon cloves 1/2 teaspoon all-spice 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

Mix venison and pork together.Add approx. 1/2 cup hot water to meat to gain desired texture for sausage press. Add spices and mix well.

Grandpa and Grandma B’s Venison Sausage

4 lb. ground venison 4 lb. ground pork 2 tablespoons salt 1 tablespoon black pepper 1/2 clove garlic
Again mix the venison and the pork, and add water. Finally add the spices and mix well.

Blaine’s Venison Sausage

6 lb. ground venison 2 tablespoons salt 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 1/2 cup honey When the venison, pork and hot water are well mixed, add spices and honey to mixture and mix in well.

Smoked Venison Polish Sausage

6 lb. ground pork (lean) 2 tablespoons pepper 1/2 teaspoon sage
2 lbs. water (1 quart) 6 tbsp. salt 2 level tsp. Prague Powder No. 1 2 large cloves of fresh garlic 8 lbs. lean elk or venison
2 cups soy protein concentrate 2 tbsp. powdered dextrose 1 tbsp. ground black pepper 1 heaping tsp. marjoram
2 lbs. regular pork trimmings

Chill all meat and grind through 1/4” or 3/16” grinder plate. Remove the blood clots, bones and sinews. Place all meat into mixer, adding all the ingredients. Mix well until all the ingredients are evenly distributed. Remove, place in stuffer and use 35-38mm hog casings for stuffing. Let sausage dry at room temperature for about 45 minutes after stuffing. Remove to smokehouse preheated at 120 degrees F. and leave dampers wide open. Sausage will dry more for about 45 minutes.After this period, gradually adjust smoker to 160- 170 degrees F. with dampers open. Allow product to smoke until the internal temperature reaches 152 degrees F.

Venison Summer Sausage

15 lb venison 7 oz (or 2/3 C) salt 1 oz (1/4 C) mustard seed 3 oz (1/2 C) sugar
10 lb pork trimmings (5 lb lean-5 lb fat) 1 oz commercial cure* 3 oz (1 C) pepper 1/4 oz (3 T) marjoram

Mix salt and cure with coarsely ground venison and pork trimmings. Pack in shallow pan and place in cool- er for 3 to 5 days.Then add rest of ingredients and mix well. *Cure is optional. It is used to develop a pink color and as a preservative. Sausage is quite spicy. If you like less spice, cut down spices. Stuff prepared sausage into casings and smoke at 140 degrees F for 1 hour; 160 degrees F for 1 hour; and 180 degrees F for 2 hours, or until the internal temperature reaches 152 degrees F. (Insert a meat thermometer in the thickest part of the sausage.) Remove from smokehouse and spray with hot water for 15-30 seconds. Fol- low with cold shower or place in ice water until internal temperature is reduced to 100 degrees F. Let dry for 1 to 2 hours. Place in cooler.

Venison Thuringer

8 tbsp. salt 8 tbsp. powdered dextrose 1 tsp. ground ginger 7 lbs. lean elk or venison 6 ozs. Fermento
2 level tsp. Prague Powder No. 1 1 tbsp. ground black pepper 6 tbsp. corn syrup solids 3 lbs. fat beef trimmings

Grind all the meat through 1/4” or 3/16” grinder plate. Place in mixer with all the ingredients and mix until the ingredients are evenly distributed. After mixing, place all the meat into the curing pans, not over 6 inches high, and pack tightly. Be sure all the air pockets are removed. Let the meat cure in the cooler at 38-40o F. for 3-4 days; the thuringer is properly cured when it has a nice red color. After curing, regrind all the meat through a 1/8” plate. Pack meat tightly into stuffer to prevent air pockets. Stuff the meat into 2 3/4” diameter by 30” sewed single-wall beef middles; or, you may use the 3 1/2” by 24” fibrous casings.To produce a thuringer that has a consistent sour flavor, it is of the utmost importance that the correct curing and smoking temperatures are followed very closely. Close attention also should be given to the weather condition, which will govern the conditions in curing and hanging time. After stuffing, hang the thuringer on the smokehouse sticks and space properly.Allow the thuringer to hang at room tem- perature for at least 10-12 hours or until the product is completely dry. If the weather is cool, increase the hanging time of the thuringer to 24 hours; that is, if the temperature is lower than 65o F.Then place the thuringer into a 100 degree F. smokehouse, apply a heavy smudge and smoke at this temperature for 8-10 hours. Keep the temperature between 100-110o F. during this period.Then raise the smokehouse temperature to 145o F. and heat at this temperature until an internal temperature of 138o F. is obtained. Place in 45 degree F. cooler and chill for at least 24 hours before using. NOTE: During the time the thuringer is being smoked, it is extremely important that you not exceed the maximum of 100o F.

Wow thanks alot for the recpies/tips guys. I will jot these down. I realistically won't be making the sausage until the spring when the weather gets a little more ideal for doing alot of smoking. Thanks again and I will be sure to post back once I finally get this going. Gotta buy a grindger first! Any recommendations on a good grinder at a decent price?

First of all- you need to control your fat ratio when using venison meat, which is usually very lean.
Why wait until spring? The ideal time to make sausages is when you have the worlds largest freezer just on the outside of your front door. You will need to keep things cold. And I mean everything- the meat, the grinder, bowls, utensils and so on. I've had several unsuccesful "sausage runs" during my first tries, and usually the error was that I did not succeed to keep the temperature a tad over freezing point. Then the fat starts to smear, and the taste may be great, but the texture will be wrong and actually quite unpleasant.
The temperature you'll need when you smoke your sausages is the least of your problems.