How do you process your venison?

IronNoggin said:
My Buddy and I have the 20 lb stuffer. It is awesome.

Yeah, I have a recipe for what you are asking...

Jalapeno Cheese Smokies

General Measurement Recipe (see below for 20 lbs, I've done the math for you):

Salt 15g/kg
Pepper 3g/kg
Cayenne 0.5g/kg
Garlic 3.5g/kg
Marjoram 1g/kg
Cure #1 (Prague Powder, can buy on AMAZON)3g/kg
Binder 10g/kg
Cold Water 100g/kg
Cheese (Kraft Singles - I prefer High Heat Cheddar Cubed) 130g/kg
Pickled Jalapeno 70g/kg (can use fresh)

For 20 LBS:

Works with pork, beef and venison. Best results are 25% fat content. Do not use venison fat (goes rancid in freezer). Substitute for pork/beef fat
Salt 136 grams
Pepper 27 grams
Cayenne 4.5 grams
Garlic 31.5 grams
Marjoram 9 grams
Cure #1 (Prague Powder, can buy on AMAZON) 27 grams
Binder 91 grams (up to 150 grams if not binding)
Cold Water 910 grams
Cheese (Kraft Singles or High Heat Cheddar) 1200 grams (can go a bit more if desired)
Pickled Jalapeno 650 grams

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Do not add binder yet.
2. Run meat/fat through a grinder (small 1/8” grinding plate. ¼” works too) to obtain a good mix. Sprinkle in dry ingredients (no binder yet) as you go to seam the spices through the meat
3. Cube up the Kraft singles into 3/4” squares (very roughly)
4. Drain pickled jalapenos of all vinegar. Can rinse with cold water. Vinegar unbinds sausage
5. Mix jalapenos, cheese cubes, meat, binder, and add the cold water in a tub. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Mixing is vital for the binder to do it’s magic. This should result in creating a sticky meat “paste”.
6. Run that mixture through the grinder again. Use a 3/8” plate (or ¼” works too) to seam the peppers and cheese through the meat mix. Adding ice chips/cubes can really help the meat stay cold. No need to pre-freeze your grinder components.
7. Stuff into 24 up to 29 mm hog casings (whatever you desire) and follow smoking instructions below
8. wait 24 hrs before smoking so the meat can cure. very important.

Place in smokehouse preheated at 120F with dampers/door open to allow drying for another 45 minutes. Add smoke (your choice of wood chips, play around with it). Gradually adjust smoker to 160-170F with dampers open. Smoke until internal temperatures reach 152F. Don’t worry about it if your smoker does not have dampers. Your smoker can differ so do what works for your set up.

A Bratwurst Alternative:

Jalapeno Chedder Brats

9 lbs. Wild Game (trimmed and ready to grind)
3 lbs. Pork Fat
4 Eggs
16 oz. Beer
3 tsp Ground Black Pepper
2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Nutmeg
2 TBS Dry Mustard
2 TBS Coriander
1 tsp Sage
3 TBS Salt
4 tsp Sugar
4 tsp Onion Powder
2 cups Diced Jalapeños
6 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar
That is a solid recipe and I have made a very similar version a few times, so I can tell you that the binder and cold water step is not optional because that sticky paste is what holds everything together when you smoke it. I learned the hard way that skipping the rest time before smoking leads to crumbly texture, so I always let the stuffed links sit overnight in the fridge now. The cure calculation looks correct for 20 pounds, but I double check my scale each time because even a few grams off with Prague powder makes me nervous. One thing I noticed is that using fresh jalapenos instead of pickled changes the moisture level, so I reduce the cold water a bit when I go fresh. For anyone who wants to branch out into other smoked products, the same principles of temperature control and binders apply to bacon curing, and I have studied commercial preparation systems that use rotating tumblers to speed up protein extraction, which is essentially what your hand mixing is doing on a smaller scale. The bratwurst alternative with beer and eggs is a nice change of pace, but I find the smokies hold up better in the freezer long term because the higher fat content keeps them juicy.
Combine and grind the pork fat with the wild game trim. Mix all the spices except for the cheese and jalapeños in a bowl. Add seasoning mix to the ground meat. Add beer and eggs. Thoroughly hand mix the seasonings into the ground meat. Run meat through the grinder a second time. Hand mix cheddar cheese and jalapeños into the twice ground meat. Stuff into casing using your grinder if it has a casing stuffer attachment, or use a sausage press.
Click to expand...
thanks!
 
I like putting a deer away in as big (but boneless) chunks as I can. I can always make more ground, or slice strips for jerky, but you never go the other way, eh?

Follow the muscle groups in the hindquarters, separate them, and remove the fatty gland that is there in the middle. Typical you end up with a top and bottom round and a sirloin, all great for cutting up after they have been thawed. Or made into Jerky. Or sausage. Or steaks. Or stew.

I usually do the tenderloins in separate packages, the backstrap into 6 or so inch long chunks, those usually go into a fairly hot pan with nothing more than salt and pepper, get browned on the outside, almost still have a pulse on the inside, and sliced in to medallions, and anything I can scavenge of of the carcass goes to burger or sausage.

Strip off the legs, and package the chunks off the shoulder blades, boneless, for later use. All else goes to the burger or sausage plan.

I bought my sausage stuffer from Princess Auto, it was cheap, and is still effective for (IIRC) it's 3 pound capacity. Was a great buy! Have had two grinders, one, bought new at CTire, immediately stripped off the corners that it needed to drive the screw and plate cutter, almost as soon as I used it. The other, is a used PA Grinder, that still sounds like it's gonna explode in my kitchen, but has lasted me some 14 years since I paid $5 for it at a Garage sale...

Good place for decent quality sausage casings in about any size, https://www.halfordsmailorder.com/.
They sell large lot packages of premixed cure and spices for a lot of different sausages, and I agree with the previous statement that the salt can be a little heavy on them, try half, maybe two-thirds, of the recipe amount. Add more after a cooked taste test. Or buy some Cure, and work out what you like for tastes.
 
IronNoggin said:
My Buddy and I have the 20 lb stuffer. It is awesome.

Yeah, I have a recipe for what you are asking...

Jalapeno Cheese Smokies

General Measurement Recipe (see below for 20 lbs, I've done the math for you):

Salt 15g/kg
Pepper 3g/kg
Cayenne 0.5g/kg
Garlic 3.5g/kg
Marjoram 1g/kg
Cure #1 (Prague Powder, can buy on AMAZON)3g/kg
Binder 10g/kg
Cold Water 100g/kg
Cheese (Kraft Singles - I prefer High Heat Cheddar Cubed) 130g/kg
Pickled Jalapeno 70g/kg (can use fresh)

For 20 LBS:

Works with pork, beef and venison. Best results are 25% fat content. Do not use venison fat (goes rancid in freezer). Substitute for pork/beef fat
Salt 136 grams
Pepper 27 grams
Cayenne 4.5 grams
Garlic 31.5 grams
Marjoram 9 grams
Cure #1 (Prague Powder, can buy on AMAZON) 27 grams
Binder 91 grams (up to 150 grams if not binding)
Cold Water 910 grams
Cheese (Kraft Singles or High Heat Cheddar) 1200 grams (can go a bit more if desired)
Pickled Jalapeno 650 grams

Directions:
1. Mix dry ingredients in a bowl. Do not add binder yet.
2. Run meat/fat through a grinder (small 1/8” grinding plate. ¼” works too) to obtain a good mix. Sprinkle in dry ingredients (no binder yet) as you go to seam the spices through the meat
3. Cube up the Kraft singles into 3/4” squares (very roughly)
4. Drain pickled jalapenos of all vinegar. Can rinse with cold water. Vinegar unbinds sausage
5. Mix jalapenos, cheese cubes, meat, binder, and add the cold water in a tub. DO NOT SKIP THIS STEP! Mixing is vital for the binder to do it’s magic. This should result in creating a sticky meat “paste”.
6. Run that mixture through the grinder again. Use a 3/8” plate (or ¼” works too) to seam the peppers and cheese through the meat mix. Adding ice chips/cubes can really help the meat stay cold. No need to pre-freeze your grinder components.
7. Stuff into 24 up to 29 mm hog casings (whatever you desire) and follow smoking instructions below
8. wait 24 hrs before smoking so the meat can cure. very important.

Place in smokehouse preheated at 120F with dampers/door open to allow drying for another 45 minutes. Add smoke (your choice of wood chips, play around with it). Gradually adjust smoker to 160-170F with dampers open. Smoke until internal temperatures reach 152F. Don’t worry about it if your smoker does not have dampers. Your smoker can differ so do what works for your set up.

A Bratwurst Alternative:

Jalapeno Chedder Brats

9 lbs. Wild Game (trimmed and ready to grind)
3 lbs. Pork Fat
4 Eggs
16 oz. Beer
3 tsp Ground Black Pepper
2 tsp Cayenne Pepper
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Nutmeg
2 TBS Dry Mustard
2 TBS Coriander
1 tsp Sage
3 TBS Salt
4 tsp Sugar
4 tsp Onion Powder
2 cups Diced Jalapeños
6 cups shredded Sharp Cheddar

Combine and grind the pork fat with the wild game trim. Mix all the spices except for the cheese and jalapeños in a bowl. Add seasoning mix to the ground meat. Add beer and eggs. Thoroughly hand mix the seasonings into the ground meat. Run meat through the grinder a second time. Hand mix cheddar cheese and jalapeños into the twice ground meat. Stuff into casing using your grinder if it has a casing stuffer attachment, or use a sausage press.
Click to expand...
Wait, can you use kraft singles instead of high heat cheese? How does it end up? Does it melt or get greasy?
 
IronNoggin said:
I generally prefer the high heat cheese, but the singles is a decent alternative.
Holds its' shape & not greasy.
Click to expand...
Yep. Use real cheese. Garlic. And don't spare it. Either one!

Never had a sausage that felt like it was worse for having a bunch of cheese in. Or garlic!

Bacon has always been good too! Never had a sausage that was worse because it had less bacon in it's mix!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom