Summer Sausage Deer to Pork Ratio

[ragweed]

I'm runniing short of deer meat to make SS.  My recipe calls for 5 lb deer to 4 lbs pork butt w/the fat.  I've got lots of deer burger put up.  85 - 90 % with beef suet.  I'd like to try using the deer burger.  Should I use leaner pork allowing for the suet when calculating total fat?  Or just forget there's suet in the deer and use 4 lbs of pork butt as usual?  Or skip the idea and hope the late season provides more raw material?

Opinions and alternatives would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks...Ragweed

[NePaSmoKer]

Why would you use 5 lbs of venison and 4 lbs of pork? Might as well eliminate the venison and just make pork SS.

If your going to make close to 10 lbs of venison SS i would go 8.5 lbs of venison and 1 lb of beef fat and 1/2 lb pork butt or 9 lb venison and 1 lb of beef fat or pork butt.

I might be looking at it in my own way but your 5/4 ratio is way to fatty

[devo]

I don't get deer meat any more so I really can't offer an opinion but one member here Pikeman_95 uses 50% wild meat and 50% trimmed pork shoulder from Costco. It stretches his venison and makes a good lean sausage so he say's

[Mr Walleye]

Ragweed

I make a fair bit of venison sausage for my in-laws. I do like Kirby and mix 50% deer and 50% pork. The deer I use is pretty much 100% lean so the pork I use is approximately 70/30. This makes the final produce about 85/15 or there abouts.

For me and my taste I like a lean to fat ratio of around 80/20 to 85/15. I have made it leaner but it has a dryer or mealy feel in your mouth.

In your case you already have some fat mixed into your deer meat. If you used 50 % deer and 50% pork butt it would be about right. Pork butt is approximately 80/20 with some of the fat cap removed. You final mix would be around 85/15 or there abouts.

Mike

[watchdog56]

I have used pikemans recipe also and like Mr. Walleye my venison is also very lean. I made my summer sausage 2 way,1 part ven and 1 part pork and also 2 parts ven and 1 part pork. Did taste test with about 20 people and they liked it both ways. I just made a batch with 2/1 ratio and it was great.

[OU812]

When making deer sausage I like to use 60% deer which is 100% lean and 40% pork butt with the fat cap. I figure a butt with the fat cap is around 50/50

So for a 10 lb batch it would be 6lb deer, 2lb pork and 2lb fat and that gives you 20% fat.

I like sausage/snack sticks with 20% fat.

I also make sausages/snack sticks that are 80% deer to 20% beef fat that I trim off a brisket.

So if you have deer burger thats 85% deer to 15% beef fat I would add 5% more fat to what you have and that would be a good 80/20

If you need a small amount of fat go to your meat counter and ask for some back fat, or just go buy a brisket and trim off that big hunk of fat separating the point from the flat.

Let us know how the sausage turns out for ya which ever way ya go.

[ragweed]

Thanks for the input!  I haven't made any SS since my Dad died 12 yrs ago.  I found his old recipe and decided to try making it on my own.  Everybody here liked it so well, I ran out of raw material.  Hence the idea to use up the burger.

Several good ideas.  I'll pick one and LYK how it turns out.

Ragweed

BTW...OU812.  Where in NE?  I'm in Lincoln

[njxbow]

what i mix with all of my venison sausages is 7 lbs of ground venison to 3 lbs of ground bacon. this is for both fresh and smoked sausages. it does not alter the taste of the sausage at all and it gives the sausage a just the right amount of fat, not too fatty, not too lean. if you are smoking the sausage you will have to adjust the amount of cure #1 that you use as the bacon is already cured. i use a grain scale and use 122.5 grains of cure #1 for 7 lbs of ground venison. if you dont have a grain scale you can use 7.5 lbs of venison to 2.5 lbs of ground bacon in with case you would need 1.5 teaspoons of cure #1. also, buy the cheapest bacon you can find which is usually the fattiest. 

[OU812]

Thanks for the input!  I haven't made any SS since my Dad died 12 yrs ago.  I found his old recipe and decided to try making it on my own.  Everybody here liked it so well, I ran out of raw material.  Hence the idea to use up the burger.

Several good ideas.  I'll pick one and LYK how it turns out.

Ragweed

BTW...OU812.  Where in NE?  I'm in Lincoln

Just a bit North of Blair.

Caint wait to see/here how your sausage turns out.