Venison Italian Sausage Recipe

Are you intimidated by making case sausage with your wild game and don’t know where to start? I’m here to show you it’s not that hard. The best tip I can give you is to invest in a dedicated stuffer, rather than using your grinder to stuff casings. The LEM 5 lb. Stuffer is the perfect size for someone looking to just get into making sausage. LEM Backwoods packets come in all sorts of flavors in the 5 lb. size. You could always upgrade to a larger stuffer if you think you may be making a lot of sausage. A stuffer helps make summer sausage, regular-cased sausages, breakfast links, and snack sticks. I processed my own deer for 8 seasons before I finally got the nerve to try my hand at summer sausage, and getting the stuffer was the sole motivator for making it happen.

If you are rolling on a budget like me and want to try making sausage using your grinder, that is completely doable. Most grinders come with stuffing tubes. The trick here is to run the already-ground meat back through the grinder a second time. When you do, you will want to use the grinder's “stuffing” plate (typically three big holes). It is unnecessary, but the LEM foot pedal is highly encouraged so you can start and stop stuffing at your discretion. This is very helpful so you do not blow out your casings or trap a lot of air inside them.

For casings, you can go either way: collagen or natural. Collagen casings create a straight sausage final product, whereas natural casings (intestines) create a curved final product. For me, the snap of a natural casing is just better than using collagen. I suggest initially trying both to figure out what you like the most.

For adding fat to your wild game, the most popular are pork fat or beef fat. For me, the fat I use depends on what type of sausage I am making. For this recipe, I would choose pork fat only because it is more traditional. It's not to say you couldn’t use beef fat if that is what you had on hand or could easily get a hold of. The package calls for a 20% ratio of fat, and that is most certainly the minimum I would use for sausage. A higher ratio (25%-30%) is recommended for a juicier final product. You could also use pork shoulder or pork butt, just as long as whatever you use has a high level of fat content. This will cost more money, but you are buying meat, not just the fat. By adding pork or beef meat to your venison, you will most certainly tame down any flavors that hesitant wild game eaters may pick up on. If you do not process your own wild game but instead get your meat processed by a processor who adds fat to your meat, you save a lot of time! You would simply need to thaw your meat, mix in the seasoning, and start casing it.

Mixing venison with fat and grinding it allows you to make any number of types/flavors of sausage. LEM offers “fresh” and “cured” sausage seasoning packets. These change the cooking style, texture, and color of the sausages. With cured sausages, it would be best to allow them to cure and “set up” before cooking them. As for the fresh ones, you could cook them right away. Again, consider buying both and see which style you and your family and friends like the best. We enjoy both options.

Once you get the hang of things, you can easily make your own seasoning mix. I have been making sausage for about five years, but I still choose to use the premade blends from LEM due to time and cost. Choose the flavor profile you want and add the seasonings to the mixture. The rest of the process is basically the same.

This recipe uses whitetail deer. However, elk, pronghorn antelope, mule deer, moose, and other similar species would also work great. If you want to attempt to make this with waterfowl, I suggest using a cured seasoning option and maybe using a little less meat with more fat so that the seasoning really gets into the meat. I can assure you it will be edible, but I can't guarantee it will be one of your favorites. Everything is worth trying, and when you open the door to new options rather than just your same old comfort zone recipes, you begin to find new ways to enjoy the wild game you love pursuing!

So, here’s the recipe. Keep in mind that if you mess up a casing while stuffing, it's no big deal. Broken or odd-shaped sausages taste just the same. Sometimes, all that means is that those sausages get eaten first!

Prep Time: 45 minutes
Makes 5 lbs.

Ingredients

• 4 lbs. venison
• 1 lb. pork fat

OR

• 3 lbs. venison
• 2 lbs. pork shoulder (something with high-fat content)

AND

• 8 oz. package of LEM natural hog casings
• 1 LEM Backwoods Italian sausage packet (Sweet or Hot)
• 5 oz. water

Directions

Start by soaking your natural hog casings in warm water before grinding (directions are on the back of the bag). If using collagen casings, follow the directions on the back of the package. Next, grind your venison and pork fat together. It doesn’t really matter what size plate you use, but if you plan to grind it twice for better fat distribution, I recommend you start with a coarse or stuffing plate and then finish with a medium or small plate.

After your mixture has been ground, mix 4 oz. of water and the Italian sausage packet, stir well, and then pour that into your meat mixture. Use another 1 oz. of water to clean out the remaining seasoning and pour that into the meat as well. Mix the meat/seasoning mixture by hand or with a meat mixer until thoroughly incorporated. It will start to get tacky when it's ready.

Once it's tacky, load it into your stuffer. Crank the handle until the meat starts to come out of your funnel. For hog-casing-sized sausages, you are going to want the middle-sized tube. The larger tube is for stuffing bulk sausage into Wild Game Bags or for doing summer sausage. The smallest tube is for making snack sticks and breakfast sausage. I suggest using water to lube the outside of your stuffing tube, this helps the casing go onto the tube better. You could also water down your work surface so that the sausage slides better and gets out of the way while more links are formed.

Once you have the casing on the tube and your meat is at the end of the tube, tie a simple knot into the end of the casing, as this helps keep the meat from just flying out of it. You can buy a “sausage picker” or just have a small sharp knife on hand to poke air bubbles out of the casings as sausage is being made. Just keep in mind, poking holes in the casings will ultimately let juices out when cooking them. As your links form, twist the casing to the length you want. If you twist toward yourself on the first link, you will want to twist away from yourself on the next link. Repeat this pattern until all the meat is used up and links are made.

From here, you can either cut them into individual links or hang them somewhere cold so that the casings stretch. Stretching the casings can help with the cooking process and create a better “snap.” This is optional, but if you can hang them somewhere without getting too warm or frozen, it's worth trying. You only want to hang them for an hour at most and then get them into vacuum-sealed bags for the freezer.

I always recommend the grill for cooking sausages; however, depending on your dish, cooking them in the smoker, on the stove, or in the oven works just as well. I hope this inspires you to give sausage-making a try! Enjoy!

--Wild Game Cook