Recipes taken from Wild Game Cookery by Carol Vance; second edition.
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Below are several excellent ways of pulling the sausage out of the hunting hat!
Ms. Vance categorizes her venison into Type A and Type B.
Type A is corn-fed, or young deer of tender meat. She says this is best for fast open heat, such as frying, broiling or pan frying. Type B is older animals. Use for slower, moister cooking such as baking in a covered dish, pot roasting, and slow cooker. She suggests Type B meat not be cooked with bone or venison fat.
Making venison sausage is a good way to use scrap meat, but the grinder doesn't like a lot of gristle or fat. I usually pressure-cook scrap meat. It's easier to pull out the sinew and fat and toss it out after the meat is pressure-cooked and then make sandwich meat or soups from the venison.
Italian Venison Sausage
Number One
Types A-B
2 oz. Salt
2 oz. Monosodium glutamate (some folks are highly allergic to this, so be careful. Ask before you serve.)
2 oz. Paprika
1 oz. Cayenne pepper
・oz. Black pepper
・oz. Sage
・oz. Fennel seed, crushed
・oz. Oregano
Mix these spices into every ten pounds of ground venison/pork mixture (one part pork to three-parts venison). Wrap and freeze. May be stuffed into casings. One pound will serve four.
Italian Venison Sausage
Number Two
Type A-B
This is another version of Italian Sausage using smaller amounts.
5 pounds lean venison, ground
2 pounds pork, ground
5 Tablespoons sage
3 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons salt
2 Tablespoons Monosodium glutamate (or leave out if you are serving to a crowd, some of whom might be highly allergic)
2 teaspoons black pepper
4 Tablespoons fennel seed, crushed
3 Tablespoons oregano
3 Tablespoons basil
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste
Add all seasonings to ground meat, and mix as you would for a meatloaf. Can be put in casings if desire. Sausage is moist and spicy. To make Hot Sausage, add red pepper sauce and dried red pepper to this recipe. One pound of recipe should serve four.
Note: This sausage is good in soup recipes calling for sausage・ It is excellent in Mexican dishes, or in place of hamburger.
Cooking Suggestions
1. Cook venison Italian sausage in tomato juice, tomato puree, or spaghetti sauce. Bring the liquid of your choice to a boil, and gently simmer pierced sausages until sausage juices run clear. The sausage enhances the sauce, and the sauce livens up the sausage.
2. Poach gently in Pheasant Stock. Do not pierce sausage, unless you want the sausage to flavor the broth. Resulting broth may be used as soup base.
3. Poach gently in Beef Bouillon. Pierce sausage and serve broth as consomme for a first course. Float parsley on top for garnish.
4. Poach in wine or beer. Do not pierce sausage. Discard liquid.
Freeze sausage uncooked for best results.
The following recipes by Bob Berquist were also taken from Wild Game Cookery by Carol Vance; second edition.
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Bob Berquist's Venison Sausage
Bob Berquist, an excellent archer, meatcutter, banker, shares his expertise on the professional preparation of two kinds of venison sausage. Bob advises, 'When cutting up the meat, do it with care. Be sure to remove the tallow (fat) from the deer and the fatty gland located in the middle of each hind quarter. To further preserve the flavor, cut the meat from the bone, rather than cut through the bones with a meat saw. This keeps the bone marrow from being spread throughout the meat. When grinding the meat for sausage, it is best to use a sausage plate on the grinder. This will give the meat a coarse consistency like that of commercially made sausage.'
Bob doesn't add pork to venison because he says this automatically shortens the meat's freezer life and changes the taste of the meat. He also provides us with a recipe for pure venison sausage.
4 pounds venison
4 pounds ground beef
3 oz. black pepper
・oz. paprika
1 ・oz. crushed red pepper
Wet the hands with water and combine the two meats with your hands. When the meats have been mixed thoroughly, add the spices and rewet the hands. Wet hands prevent the meat from sticking to them as much as it normally would.
Bob says, 'I hate to leave anything to chance, so I always test each batch of sausage by frying up a few patties immediately. That's half the fun of making sausage at home!' This batch was great; not too hot with spices, yet tangy enough to have your taste buds appreciate the fact that red peppers were included in the ingredients.
This recipe and the following sausage variation came from Charlie Burchfield's column, 'Outdoors Today' in the Courier-Express, DuBois, Pennslvania. Charlie and Bob, both successful hunters, enjoy this sausage-making ritual each year.
Pure Venison Sausage
8 pounds ground venison
1 oz. black pepper
・oz. paprika
・- 1/3 oz. crushed red pepper
Proceed exactly as for Bob's original recipe. He tells us, 'When making sausage with pure venison, you have to reduce the quantity of spices somewhat. Since there is very little fat content to pure venison, a greater percentage of the spices remain in the meat, rather than fry off with the grease.
Note: This recipe is most useful for those on restricted diets, for it contains very little fat and cholesterol.
All of the above recipes taken from Wild Game Cookery by Carol Vance; second edition.
Get her
third edition from Amazon.com!
Other Books
America's Favorite Wild Game Recipes
Other Resources
Women Bowhunters - Cooking with SusieQ
Venison From Field to Table - Getting the Most Out of Your Deer
Kitchen Equipment
Bosch Stand Mixer
Bosch Meat Grinder for Stand Mixer MUM 7100UC
Vacu Vin Vacuum Instant Marinater
"The Instant Marinater quickly marinates meats or vegetables, letting you off the hook when you want a flavorful meal but didn't plan ahead. To marinate meat, simply place it with the marinade inside the dish, close the lid tightly, insert the pump, and pull the air out. The vacuum causes the pores of the meat to open, allowing it to quickly absorb the marinade. The Instant Marinater is also great for storing foods, as the vacuum helps keep meat fresh and vegetables crisp. It is freezer-, microwave-, and dishwasher-safe."