Ingredients
- 1 pound venison (large muscle)
- 1/2 to 3/4 pound solid pork fat (pork shoulder, ground pork, or pork fat scraps you’ve saved in the freezer throughout the year)
- 1 to 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- Sausage seasoning blend of your choice
Directions
- Remove the silverskin (connective tissue) from the venison. Cut the meat from the bone into manageable-sized strips that’ll easily fit through the meat grinder.
- Cut the pork fat into small pieces.
- Process the venison and pork fat through the meat grinder.
- Place the ground mixture into a large bowl, and mix it with your hands until it’s thoroughly combined. Add the salt and sausage seasoning, and mix again.
- Form a small patty, and cook it on the stovetop to test the flavor. Unlike with pure pork sausage, you’ll need to add a small amount of grease to the skillet because of the lower amount of fat in the meat. When the patty is cooked through, taste it, and adjust the salt and seasoning in the rest of your mixture. Repeat until desired flavor is reached.
- Once you’re satisfied with the taste, form the sausage mixture into 1/4-pound logs. Double-wrap each portion with plastic wrap. Place the logs in a freezer bag, and label the bag with the contents and date. If you make more than one flavor of sausage, include the flavor on the label to avoid making spaghetti with maple-flavored sausage.
- Store sausage in the freezer for up to one year. Before use, let it thaw overnight in the refrigerator.
Because partially thawed meat is easier to slice, and is also less likely to muck up your grinder, you should partially freeze both the venison and pork fat for this recipe before beginning. The recipe can easily be doubled or quadrupled.
Discover more information on making homemade sausage, as well as recipes for various seasoning blends, in The Art of Homemade Venison Sausage.
Jenny Flores is a regular contributor to Homestead.org and a blogger for multiple magazines, including Grit and Mother Earth Living.
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