I agree with guntech and shortround. Either start with NON-ground meat, or if you start with previously frozen burger, make up your batch of sausage and cook it off before re-freezing. I did make a batch of sausage this past year from previously frozen ground venison, and it did not hurt me either, but I thought at the time that:
1. it was not necessarily the smartest thing I ever did; and
2. the flavour and consistency I found was not as good.
But hey, what you have is frozen ground moose, and what you want is sausage, so let's deal with your reality Here is Doctor Doug's prescription:
1. Thaw the frozen meat in your refrigerator.
2. Buy an amount of FRESH (not previously frozen) lean ground pork equal to about one third the weight of the ground moose.
3. Lay out a large plastic bag or similar surface on a table and put the two types of meat on it. Mix them up by hand until the mixture is fairly homogeneous, then pat down into a big "pizza" about a half-inch thick. Season all over the surface with Montreal steak spice, whole cumin, garlic powder (or granulated garlic, or fresh garlic, fresh being the best), then drizzle honey all over it. Mix it up again by hand (like kneading dough).
4. When you think you have achieved a good level of homogeneity again, take a small portion of the mixture, flatten it into a patty and fry it in a fry pan. TASTE IT. If the seasonings are good, then you are ready for step 5. If not, add whatever is missing. Typically at this point I find I need to add some seasoning salt, because there is not enough salt in the steak spice to give the sausage enough flavour. (Un-salty sausages are blander than powdered skim milk...) Knead the mixture again. Make another patty with the mixture, cook it and TASTE IT. When you are happy with the taste, go to step 5.
5. If you have a sausage stuffer, make your sausages and either:
a. cook them now and eat them or freeze them cooked;
b. smoke them for two pans of smoke in a smoker (apple wood is very good for this); or
c. freeze them and take a chance on how they taste later when they are thawed and cooked.
6. If you do not have a sausage stuffer, just package the sausage meat up in packages of a pound or so and you have country sausage - you make patties and fry them in the fry pan. Then either:
a. cook them now and eat them or freeze them cooked;
b. make the patties now, and smoke them for two pans of smoke in a smoker (apple wood is very good for this); or
c. freeze them and take a chance on how they taste later when they are thawed and cooked.
And save some for Doctor Doug, eh?
Doug
