pasty venison sausage

[watchdog56]

I ended up with a little dry but mushy/pasty venison sausage. I used a Cabela's snack stick kit. Forgot to add water to recipe. Ground 4 1/2 lbs venison and 1/2 lbs of lean pork butt. Used a 5/16 coarse plate and then reground using a 1/8" fine plate. Then used a stuffing plate for final. Made 2 batches,one I cut up some pepper cheese and hand mixed all ingredients in a bowl. The cheese only went through the stuffing plate. The one made with cheese was more mushy.  Smoked with no smoke at 130 for 1 hour then up to 150 with 2 hours of smoke then up to 160 no smoke 3 hours until internal temp hit 150. I have a 4 rack digital and was using an auber PID along with maverick et73.
Should I only use coarse plate and no fine or stuffing plate? My grinder is one from Gander mountain called the guide series it is a .5HP. Or should I have used ground pork which would have  a little more fat?

[pensrock]

NEPAS is the snack stick guru, but till he chimes in, I'll give it a shot. first off, it was dry because you used no fat or water. Lean venison and lean pork make a dry end product. I would say the mushy texture came from all the times being run through a grinder. An 1/8" plate is very fine.  I would say you need more fat and less times going through the grinder. IMHO
pens

[HawkeyeSmokes]

NEPAS is the snack stick guru, but till he chimes in, I'll give it a shot. first off, it was dry because you used no fat or water. Lean venison and lean pork make a dry end product. I would say the mushy texture came from all the times being run through a grinder. An 1/8" plate is very fine.  I would say you need more fat and less times going through the grinder. IMHO
pens

I would have to agree with Pens on this. I like any sausage a little on the course ground side. And if I'm not mistaken, the meat to fat ratio should be about 80/20 at the least. I'm sure others will chime in on this also.

[NePaSmoKer]

pens and Hawkeye are right. When i do venison its 80% venison and 20% pork butt. I use my medium plate for most of my grinding thats why you got an emulsion from the grind. Next time try the course then med plate.

If you use regular cheese you can get the oils in the meat when you smoke making it mushy. I have found that high temp cheese works best when doing any kind of sausages.

Your meat ratio should have been 4 lbs of venison and 1 pound of pork butt. Boneless butt has about the perfect meat to fat ratio. When i do briskits i trim the fat cap back some and freeze it for this use.

nepas

[watchdog56]

the only reason I went with 3/1 ratio of venison over pork is that is what my regular butcher who does my venison uses and it is some of the best sausage I have come across. Been using him for 25 years.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

the only reason I went with 3/1 ratio of venison over pork is that is what my regular butcher who does my venison uses and it is some of the best sausage I have come across. Been using him for 25 years.

I think some of the problem is your ratio. Using 4.5 venison to .5 lb of pork is about a 9 to 1 ratio. A 3 to 1 would work out to about 3.75 lb venison to 1.25 pork butt. And don't try to make the pork to lean. Like Nepas said, boneless pork butt is just right. Hope this helps.

[watchdog56]

sorry my original post should have said 1 1/2 lbs of pork.

[HawkeyeSmokes]

No need to be sorry. All of us are just trying to help. After reading this, I think some of the problem is grinding to fine, forgetting the water and your pork may have been to lean. A good sausage does need to have fat in it. Keep us posted and good luck.  ;D

[watchdog56]

Does anyone know? Will I have to keep these refrigerated if I used Cabela's smokehouse kit?

[pensrock]

I really do not know, does it have cure in it? Did you take them till the IT was 152? NEPAS may know. I normally keep my sticks in the fridge and I know there is cure in them. But they would be fine at room temp. Now some sticks, I dehydrate after getting the 152 IT. They are more like a Slim Jim type of texture. I do not refrigerate these.

[watchdog56]

Yes it has cure and I did get temp to 150 then pulled from smoker and put in frig right away.

[pensrock]

I would say they are fine. I would not have a problem eating them at room temp. Like I said, I still keep mine in the fridge but when I take some out for work, I do not worry if they sit out a while because of the cure.