Making wild game sausages

If you own a Kitchenaid mixer there is a grinder attachment that can be purchased and works very well. If you only intend on making small batches of sausage this can be a great option. However, if you plan to make lots of sausages I would recommend getting a larger grinder that is capable of doing large amounts of meat. The next thing I would recommend is a sausage stuffer. Trust me, this makes stuffing your sausages a lot easier.

If you intend on making a lot of sausage it is totally worth the money to buy a stuffer. Once you have your basic equipment, the sausage making process is only as difficult as you want it to be.

It can be as easy as buying a kit that includes all the casings and seasonings, or as difficult as fermenting your own salami. The first thing to figure out is what kind of sausage you want to make. There are thousands of different sausage recipes.

Fresh sausages are a great place to start. This includes bratwursts, Italian sausage and Merguez. All you need to do is fry them in a pan or throw them on the grill. The four basic components to fresh sausage are the meat, fat, salt and seasonings.

All of my sausages are made with wild game. Venison and antelope have very little fat so it has to be added to your sausage mix. I like to use pork back fat for this purpose. When making a five pound batch of sausage that comes out to be 4 pounds of meat to 1 pound of fat. I would use this blend to make Sweet and spicy Italian sausage or Merguez. Other sausages like Bratwurst have a different blend of meats. The Casing — Manny options exist for the sausage casing.

Lamb, hog, cow, synthetic and plastic options are all available. Only one casing is really needed — the hog casing. It is the most reliably good casing and will work for most occasions. Read the instructions and follow them. Nothing is worse than trying to stuff a casing that is not fully hydrated or rinsed — this one I know from experience. The Temperature — Keeping it simple — the meat needs to be as cold as possible. Nearly freezing is the best possible option.

I like to thaw my meat until I can just cut it with a sharp knife, then I grind it. Be quick and if you have to stop keep the meat in the refrigerator. The Seasoning — By far the most important seasoning ingredient in the sausage making process is salt. After that ratio the rest is up to you or the recipe you are working with. Some recipes recommend adding the seasoning before the grinding, some recommend it afterword.

I typically split the difference and add the salt before the grind and the rest of the seasonings — herbs, garlic, wine ect — after the grind. This way I can make different flavors of sausage without having to clean my grinder. For an especially mood killing technique use a blender and puree an onion in red wine and add it to the meat after it is ground. Tastes great, but your breath will cause brain damage. The Grind — Grinding the meat is what starts the sausage process and is what can lead to an increase in temperature.

If possible grind the meat into a stainless steel bowl that is sitting on top of ice. This will keep the whole pile of meat as cold as possible. I also freeze my grinder attachments. Speaking of grinders — if you are going to buy one make sure it is of high quality.

Nothing is more frustrating than a grinder that cannot keep up, clogs, over heats or is just a cheap POS in the first place. I have never made a better investment for wild game meat. I typically use the smallest diameter possible on my ground meat.

The Bind — As tacos will tell us ground meat is inherently crumbly. But crumbly is not a desired texture with sausages. The way to avoid this texture issue is by forcefully mixing the ground meat together. This forceful mixing is called the Primary Bind and can be done by hand or in a mixer with a paddle attachment.

The mixing and mashing of the ground meat activates the protein myosin , making the meat sticky. That stickiness is what gives you the good sausage texture. Remember to keep the meat cold! If the meat warms up to much in the Primary Bind stage the fat can melt causing it to lose its structure. This can also cause a drying out of sausages. The Stuff — This is more art than science.

Take the rinsed casing and get it onto the extruder tube either on the grinder or on the sausage stuffer. This will be an awkward moment in life, just an FYI. I like to get multiple casings onto the extruder at one time. This lets me make more sausage and not have to constantly add more casing to the extruder. Leave a portion of the casing off the end of the tube; tie this in a knot, then poke a small hole on the machine side of the knot.

This will allow built up air in the device to escape and the casing will not have an air pocket. Next allow the meat to extrude into the casing. Plan on using about 20 feet of millimeter natural hog casings for 10 pounds of sausage. Start by soaking the hog casings in lukewarm water then set them to soak in clean water at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes.

When the casing is pliable and clean, rinse the inside of the casing by fitting an end over the faucet in your sink and running water through the entire length of the casing. Fill the hopper of your sausage stuffer with meat and lit the tube with a length of the washed and rinsed casing.

Tie the end of the casing in a simple granny knot, so that the knot is tight against the end of the tube of casing. Working slowly, stuff the sausage into the casings. When you are finished with a length of casing, tie off the end with a granny knot. Twist the sausage into links measuring inches long. There are several ways to do this, but the following is easy and works quite well. For the first sausage, measure the desired length of your link and press with a finger to form a crease.

Spin this link about eight times. Then measure ahead another inch and press a crease there. Then move ahead to the next sausage. When done twisting links, cut the center of each twist.

Refrigerate or freeze immediately. Preheat your grill for direct heat on medium-high. If using charcoal, make a slightly cooler section of the grill so that you can remove the sausages from the heat if they are cooking too quickly. Lightly brush the sausages with oil and set them on the grill. Grill them gently, reducing the heat if necessary; high heat will cause the casings to burst. The Essential Meatcrafter Knife. Bring home the entire Mega Spice Collection and change the way you cook.