I just mixed up my first batch of summer sausage. I used 25% pork 75% venison. Ground and mixed with course grinding plate. Then I mixed in LEM summer sausage seasoning and cure. I mixed it well, covered meat with Saran wrap and put in fridge. My plan is to stuff the casings and smoke them tomorrow. I am using 1 1/2” casings. Smoker is a GMG Pellet Smoker.

Should I run the meat through the grinder a second time to better the consistency and mix it more?

Any tips from experienced sausage/bologna makers? Seasoning tips? Time and temp? I’m excited, this is my first time attempting this.

Thanks, John

You should be fine. Remember, slow and low. Enjoy. Sarge

Guy down the road from me is a game butcher. Makes his with cheese in it too. Some of the best stuff I’ve ever had. Next trip down I’ll bring some for you guys. Might give you a few ideas seasoning wise. I’m due for a trip down in the next couple weeks.

Mixing cheese (pepper jack or Colby) in on part of it certainly wouldn't hurt. I prefer the courser grind and do not run it through the finer plate. I use a big kitchenaid stand mixer to mix the meat thoroughly. (I add 1/4c. of ice water per lb of meat.) I just smoke it lowest you can for about an hour then transfer it to the over set on 200 until it reached 152 degrees internal temp. Stuff the casings then put in the fridge right away overnight.

Yes a second grind will distribute the seasonings better and make for a smoother finish. Preferably it would have been done today. I grind mine though the course then a fine plate.

I always grind mine twice then mix. Once I add seasoning and cure I stuff the casings. It gets really tacky pretty quickly and it might not be very fun to stuff after sitting overnight with cure mixed in. After stuffing I put in the fridge overnight and smoke the next day.

I grind mine a 2nd time through the 3/16 plate. You may need to add some extra water tomorrow to the meat to make I easier to stuff. I usually stuff mine right away then I can let it set over night. I like to add 5 oz.. extra of mustard seed to 25# of meat. I start out low 130° for hour, 160° for an hour, 180° for an hour, then bump it to 200-220 until the internal temp is about 155°. Then I take advantage of mother nature and stuff them in the snow bank to cool them, or ice water, or they will keep cooking, and you don't want that.

Sausage making around here is a social event. Several of my neighbors make their own sausage, each with their own style. Just yesterday I got to help my neighbor make venison ring and summer sausage. He adds beef tallow, lean pork and seasonings. The ring susage is 1/3 venson, 1/3 pork, 1/3 potatoes and seasoning. While the summer sausage is course ground and smoked, the ring is more of a medium ground but not smoked. Most is just personal preference, the key is to just make sure everything is mixed very well before stuffing. To do this simply fry up a sample and taste it. Tweak it as you feel necessary but take good notes for reference next time. Invite friends and family to make it a real enjoyable time plus you always have help. Good luck!

So commercial summer sausage has kind of a twang, or hint of sour flavor to it.

How do you get that in homemade summer sausage, short of tainting it?


Anyone know?

Going to get as many ways to make sausage on here as dip traps. I just made a batch of venison snack stix the other day turned out pretty decent. I did 70% venison 30% pork fat, no meat other than the venison. Was my first try doing it this way with just the pork fat..I've used my own mix of spices in the past for things. But got the spices for this batch of stix from a WI company called PS seasonings..
https://www.psseasoning.com/

I ran everything threw the grinder on coarse plate. Mixed in the seasoning good as I could and then ran it all back threw a finer plate. Put in some cold water mixed it good some more, let it stand over night. Then I ran it threw the 3/4" stuffier horn onto the smoker racks. This batch is Honey BBQ and I decided to try it because my brother in law had made some and I really like them. He used pork sausage in his mix and I've done that before too. This time thought I was experimenting with just using fat.







Mac

Smoke 3 hours at 180 degrees.

Let us know how the LEM seasonings turn out. I use High Mountain and it is amazing. Here's a video of how I do bears, but I do venison exactly the same way.

Think that twang comes from encapsulated citric acid.

I use Lems Backwoods seasonings and like it a lot. This is 50-50 elk and ground beef. Pork is a little more moist than beef. Good stuff nevertheless.

First batch is in the ice bath. Second batch is on the smoker! Temp was 165 after 3 hours 15 min ( started at 160, then 180, and finished them at 200 ). They look and smell great! Will post pics once I get caught up. Thanks for the help guys!

John

If you don’t mind me asking, what kind of casings are you using?

Spotter
I don't use a casing on those it's just run threw the stuffer tube most use for wieners I think. Not sure if it's 1/2 or 3/4 without looking at it. I run them out right on the smoker racks. if you try to pick them up before they are smoked they just fall apart. They do make casing for snack stixs but I've never used them. even when I've done ground jerky and shot it threw the wife's pastry gun in flat strips. It always stayed together once it was smoked or run in the dehydrator.

Mac.

We have used the LEM summer sausage seasonings for several years now. We have a bunch of guys get together after deer season and grind our deer with pork fat, mix the seasonings, and stuff the casings. Then everyone takes theirs home and bakes or smokes it on their own. This year I think we did around 1,300 lbs. I really like their trail bologna mix. I use it and add about 5 TBS of liquid smoke when I'm mixing. Let it sit in the casings overnight and bake it in the oven the next evening. This year was a bust for me though. After I baked it I put it in the bar fridge we have in the basement until I had time to put it in vacuum seal bags to freeze. My daughter was helping me and unknown to me she played with the setting knob and turned the fridge off. I didn't notice till I went back down a couple days later to start packing it all for the freezer. I ended up having to throw out all 25 lbs of it that I made this year.

I finally went and got a small stock tank and used a couple of propane turkey fryers for heat,I smoke at about 120 for 2 hours while I heat the water to 160 degrees then drop the summer sausage in the tank till they come to temp of 160,I process deer so most times I'm running about 200 pounds at a time.Using the stock tank frees up the smoker for pepperoni and smaller sticks ,the stock tank get the polish and german sausage also.

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Ol doe turned into some fine summer sausage! Seasoning was good, I did 2/3 regular LEM summer sausage seasoning without modifying. The other 1/3 I added jalapeño and pepper for some heat. End result was great! Very pleased for my first attempt. Thanks for all the help.

John