Summer Sausage

[Brokennock]

Anyone make summer sausage themselves, beef or venison? Good recipes? Tips/tricks/techniques?

I'd like to make some with venison, I know I can "Google search" a recipe, but the folks here usually have better info and more insight. I'd really like a dairy and grain free recipe but will start with what I can.

Thanks

 

[Phil Coffins]

I used antelope last fall with about 1 part ground pork to 4 parts ground antelope. Using Cabelas summer sausage mix with mustard seed added. Smoking was done with cheery wood. First time we did summer sausage and it was great. Just follow the directions on the spice pack.

 

[sidelock]

The best wild meat I have ever killed was an antelope from eastern Montana. A buck that almost made the Boon and Crocket. I took it to a packer (the first time ever) and asked for the most stakes, then the most roasts, the rest in summer sausage. I will never forget that good eating.

 

[Black Hand]

I'd really like a dairy and grain free recipe but will start with what I can.

???
Why would summer sausage contain dairy or grain? I know some people range far afield for ingredients, but these are a little out there...

 

[coloradoclyde]

commercial fillers?

 

[Black Hand]

commercial fillers?

In a home recipe...?

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

I have made my own for over 20 years, my recommendation is stay away from the commercial cures and find a good recipe, many of these can be found on line or from friends. Word of caution some guys can be real secret about their recipes and methods of preparation. As well as sausage I make my own jerky and corned venison, pastrami etc.. My recipe came from a friend years ago and is closely guarded kind of like the Busch bean guy. Only me and the dog know it :wink: and he is not talking.R.C.

 

[George]

My recipe came from a friend years ago and is closely guarded kind of like the Busch bean guy.

Does something bad happen if the recipe is shared? :grin:

Spence

 

[Brokennock]

Thanks all. I would like to stay away from commercial premade mixes/cures. They usually contain too many chemistry set ingredients.
Whey (a dairy product) and grain products are common in commercial sausage, hot dog, and cured meat ingredients.

I understand recipe secrecy, but im not telling how or why I do. I guess I'm not much looking for people's exact seasoning mix as much as the cure and cook process that leads to a red meat sausage that can be eaten cold and lasts a good while out of the refrigerator.

 

[R.C.BINGAMAN]

I seen my late father turn down 300.00 dollars from a fellow we made sausage for, And nothing really happens if it were to get loose. Kinda like your mothers secret recipes handed down from generation to generation. Just a family secret. Really is a basic sausage mix processed and smoked in a secret way. Hang in there. R.C.

 

[George C]

1 pound venison meat:
1/2 teaspoon --
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Minced onions
Black pepper
Red pepper
Paprika
Yellow mustard seed
1/2 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoon Morton tender
quick salt mixed with the water.

Mix all ingredients and place in refrigerator take out next day remix again put back in refrigerator needs to be mixed three times for spices to be mixed properly.

Roll into four logs about 1 1/2 inches in diameter

Cook 6 hours at 250° or 200° 6 hours internal temperature 160°

Put in fridgerator to cool

This is what I use try it you may like.

 

[Black Hand]

I would like to stay away from commercial premade mixes/cures. They usually contain too many chemistry set ingredients.

Even in homemade mixes, you're going to get chemistry set ingredients in a cure (e.g. Morton's/pink salt/other)...

 

[zimmerstutzen]

What some folks call summer sausage is a fermented meat. To others it is a coarse ground bologna type meat. We have some stuff called bag sausage around here. Meat mixed up and stuffed into a muslin cloth bag and hung up in the smoke house. Sometimes uniform in firmness and other times intentionally hard around the outside and soft and mushy in the center. That soft and mushy is the fermented meat and darn good. I was just having a slice for a snack a few minutes ago.

These two recipes are from the Mennonite Community Cook Book, by Mary Showalter 1950

Old Style Bologna
75 pounds ground beef
5 pounds brown sugar
4 pounds salt
3 oz pepper
2 oz salt peter

Mix together as sausage and stuff tightly into muslin sacks 4 inches in diameter and 24 to 30 inches long.
Hang in the cellar for one week and then smoke to improve the flavor
store in a dry place 6 to 8 weeks before using.


Canadian Summer Sausage
65 pounds ground beef
33 pounds ground pork
4 pounds salt
5 pounds white sugar
1/3 pound black pepper
2 oz salt peter

Stuff into muslin sacks 3.5 to 4 inches in diameter and 2 ft long.
Hang in the cellar 1 to 2 weeks and then smoke
Let dry for 6 to 8 weeks before use.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

Around here the stuff sells for 5 or 6 bucks a pound. At some of the farmers markets you see the dark brown smoked muslin sacks now stiff with the hard meat inside, stacked like cord wood on the counters.

 

[zimmerstutzen]

And here, maybe more than you wanted to know: https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-types/fermented-sausage

 

[zimmerstutzen]

I am gonna add a plug for my favorite cookbook, The Mennonite Community Cook book, first published in 1950, it contains all scratch recipes, many of which are old and handed down for generations. Perhaps not colonial but many old recipes. Library of Congress Number 57-7627 And International Standard Book Number, 0-8361-1393-4

 

[bender20]

I'll second that. It is always a wedding gift in my family. Don't pay much more than 20 bucks for it.

 

[coloradoclyde]

Somewhere I've got a Shaker cook book....Food might have been the only vice those folks could indulge in.... :haha:

 

[Brokennock]

Thank you. That cook book sounds like something I might enjoy. And hopefully I can find time to try those recipes.

 

[Brokennock]

Thank you. It will take a while but I'll put that recipe near the top of the list to try.

The next big question is have the two posters sharing recipes tried these recipes themselves?