Many years ago I started making my own smoked Sausages, Turkeys, Chicken, Salmon and on a couple of occasions Ham Shanks.
About 20 years ago a meat cutter I was working with saw me eating some of my smoked sausage with saltines and crackers on my lunch break. He asked if I’d consider making some out of his frozen deer meat and I said sure! I also told him that I’d add some pork with fat to make it sure it was moist and he thought that was a great idea.
What I got was deer hamburger with some kind of fat already mixed in (it looked plenty 'fatty' so I didn't add any pork) I just mixed my spices as usual and had a go at it. The sausage came out ‘so-so’! It was ‘fine’ when it was hot but what ever kind of fat was in it had a lower melt temperature than the pork I’d always used as it left a ‘greasy’ film on the roof of the mouth.
Fast forward to today and I’ve got deer sausage in the smoker! My son Connor and I put a team effort together to make it from his deer he got this year. He had 4+#’s of meat and I added 1+# of fatty pork shoulder. I made sure that I trimmed and tossed every bit of deer fat that I could.
It’s been a ‘tradition’ that if any of the kids helped dad make sausage, I’d take what was left in the bottom of the stuffer and mix a few drops of liquid smoke into it and then gently fry patties for them as a ‘treat’! Today was no different and the initial taste test was good! (I only got a small taste as ‘Gut’s' got the rest for helping)!
The other patty was put into the frig to get good and cold for the ultimate test. I just tried a bite and I’ve got a keeper here!! :tu Guts gets the rest when he gets home from work!!
The Chop-Right #22 has been washed and dried as has the Sausage Maker’s 5# stuffer, the sausage is on it’s second pan of damp hickory chips and I’m looking forward to tasting the end results of our efforts!! (The actual ‘smoked’ sausage is Always Much Better than the sample with the liquid smoke)!!
Hopefully I can get a picture or two posted later today!!:shrug:
Sanfte Rasur, mein Klingenbruder!
(Smooth Shaving My Brother In Blades)
