Venison summer sausage

[drano]

Made a 15 lb batch of venison summer sausage last weekend. 
Got the venison from the in-laws.  Used half pork butt and half venison, with pikeman's recipe. 
Little more fat than I'd like.  I had about 8 lb extra pork, so I put most of the fat in the SS to make up for the lean venison--guess I overdid it. 
They liked my beef/pork SS, and asked if I'd convert their venison into SS.  No problem. 
Bumping my hot water bath to 165-168 really cut down on the time.  They went from 110 to 155 in 1 hour for the 3 lb chubs and 30-45 minutes for the 2 lb chubs.  I'm a big fan of hot water bath. ;D
Letting it set in the fridge a couple days before removing the casing dried it out perfect as OU recommended on my last SS batch. 
Anyway, just one pic--the money shot.

[Mr Walleye]

Looks excellent Drano!  8)

Mike

[pikeman_95]

I have found that the Costco pork butt is already trimmed and has about the right level of fat for good venison summer sausage. If you like your sausage a little leaner just hold back a couple of the larger chunks of fat that are found on the inside of the pork butt between the muscle groups. How did you like the favor. I have found for my taste I like the venison 50/50 with the pork butt.

[fuzzy1]

Nice looking summer sausage. That is what I am going to try next. I am converting an old commercial fridge over to a propane fired smoker so when I get that done I will try a batch. As Pikeman said, I also find the Costco butts are about perfect for the stuff I make. Thanks for the picture. sure looks good.

[STLstyle]

Nice work!

[drano]

I have found that the Costco pork butt is already trimmed and has about the right level of fat for good venison summer sausage. If you like your sausage a little leaner just hold back a couple of the larger chunks of fat that are found on the inside of the pork butt between the muscle groups. How did you like the favor. I have found for my taste I like the venison 50/50 with the pork butt.

After I cut up the butt, I put the fatty portions in this batch.  The rest was ground pork for the future.  I made 2 lb of that into chorizo, and it's very lean.  Oops, put too much of the fat into the SS.   Oh well, still good.  Won't divide the fat out so much next time. 
Overall, tastes great.  The 50/50 mix has no wild game taste at all. Its different than beef, but very good too. 

I took it to my brother in law today, and he insisted on sending some home-fed beef home with me--rib eye steaks, sirloins, roasts.  I brought home more beef than I gave him back sausage--they're great family.  Of course I didn't tell him I spent 6 hours cutting/mixing/grinding/stuffing, and about 4 hours smoking/water bathing--he would have given me the whole freezer. 

Thanks for the comments guys.
get smoke'n
drano

[squirtthecat]

Good trade!

[pikeman_95]

Drano
I think when you just grind the complete pork butt without doing any splitting you will do fine. Some sausages call for coarse ground fat to stay with the traditional look of the sausage. But for me I grind my pork and venison through a 3/16 plate. It is a coarser grind then the fine plate but not as large of a grind as the 3/8 or ¼ inch plates. Lets face it now days my wife gives me crap if she sees too much fat in the sausage. The larger the chunks the easier she sees it and the less she will eat it. By grinding it with the 3/16 plate the fat is more dispersed and the sausage has a medium texture. I like the texture and the look better, but I think it is up to the individual. I just know what works better in our house.
Kirby