Dad's Deer Sausage Recipe

[ragweed]

My Dad made lots of types of sausage in the 70's and 80's, but we all liked his summer sausage the best.  After he died, no one took over for him.  Then, after I retired, I decided to start making sausage myself.  How hard could it be?  After all, I'd helped him lots of times.  I bought a pre mix from Frisco Spices, went through the usual trials and tribulations of a novice sausage maker and managed to produce what my family said was very good.  But I knew something wasn't quite right.

So, I started going through his old sausage making notes and recipes.  The spices were easy: black pepper, garlic powder, coriander, thyme and whole mustard seed.  The proportions took some time.  But the salt and cure part was difficult.  I had no clue what he meant by "salt cure".  Tender Quick, it turned out, wasn't it.

After about a year and a half and a dozen batches of sausage, I've settled on a mixture of kosher salt and cure #1 to replace his "salt cure".  It may not be your classic SS recipe, but my family says I've duplicated Dad's and that was my goal.  I won't take up space with the type of pics you've all seen before, but basically what I did was grind the deer and p. butt coarse, then fine.  Added the spices and cure, plus some pepper jack cheese this time and mixed well.  Stuffed and let cure in the frig overnight.  After 3hrs of hickory, poached in the turkey roaster at 163 F until an IT of 160 F was reached.  Took 1 1/2 hrs.  Then to an ice bath and into the frig for another overnighter.

Then it was time for a taste.




Here's a close-up.



Thanks for looking!

[classicrockgriller]

I clicked on this hoping to get a family recipe.  :D

I didn't.  :-\  But that's OK.

Seen some older recipes that refer to salt cure and I always just think that
they are referring to what we call now "pink salt" or "cure #1".

The SS's look fantastic!

[devo]

I'm thinking your dad would be proud of you for those fine looking sausage.

[NePaSmoKer]

It sure do look good.

[Tenpoint5]

Looks really good nice and moist

[Caneyscud]

Man, that looks good!

[Ketch22]

Real nice Job Looks good  :)

[ragweed]

I clicked on this hoping to get a family recipe.  :D

I didn't.  :-\  But that's OK.

Seen some older recipes that refer to salt cure and I always just think that
they are referring to what we call now "pink salt" or "cure #1".

The SS's look fantastic!

Thank you!

It couldn't have been just cure #1 because he had no salt in the recipe.  That's one of the things that took the time.  Figuring out how much salt to use.

As to the recipe, it's not a secret.  He made a bulk spice blend.  As near as I can figure:
35 tsp Black pepper
7 tsp Garlic powder
7 tsp Ground coriander
3.5 tsp Thyme
20 tsp whole mustard seeds

For the sausage:
5 lbs deer
4 lbs P. butt
6 1/2 tbs spice blend
6 tbs salt cure  (I used 7 tsp kosher salt and 1 3/4 tsp cure #1)

Then processed as above.  There you have it! 

[paulsnapp]

What is "P.Butt"??  I know - I am not a sausage maker but thinking about it!

[ragweed]

What is "P.Butt"??  I know - I am not a sausage maker but thinking about it!

P. Butt = Pork Butt or the pork shoulder roast.  Often sold in pairs, 5 - 8 lbs each.  IMHO the perfect blend of lean to fat for sausage AND of course, makes great pulled pork!

[classicrockgriller]

Thanks! Am making up a cple different 5lb batches of SS tomorrow
or Thursday. I will add this to the mix.

[paulsnapp]

Thanks for the reply.  So is "cure #1" the same thing as Insta Cure #1 and Prague Powder #1?  Also, in your cure formula you used 7 tsp Kosher Salt and 1 3/4 tsp Cure #1.  That is 8 3/4 tsps.  Your recipe shows you used 6 tsp of salt cure.  So did you mix up 8 3/4 tsp batch and only use 6 tsps?

[NePaSmoKer]

Thanks for the reply.  So is "cure #1" the same thing as Insta Cure #1 and Prague Powder #1? Yes  Also, in your cure formula you used 7 tsp Kosher Salt and 1 3/4 tsp Cure #1.  That is 8 3/4 tsps.  Your recipe shows you used 6 tsp of salt cure.  So did you mix up 8 3/4 tsp batch and only use 6 tsps?

[classicrockgriller]

Kinda looks like he made up enough "spice batch" to do (10)

10lb batches (100 lbs). So for a 10 lb batch I came up with:

3.5 tsp Black Pepper
3/4 tsp Garlic Powder
3/4 tsp ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Mustard Seed
1 tsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Cure # 1(14g)

If someone sees something wrong with what I came up with .... pls let me know.

Thanks! Gonna do it.

Ragweed Summer Sausage!

[ragweed]

Kinda looks like he made up enough "spice batch" to do (10)

10lb batches (100 lbs). So for a 10 lb batch I came up with:

3.5 tsp Black Pepper
3/4 tsp Garlic Powder
3/4 tsp ground Coriander
1/2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Mustard Seed
1 tsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Cure # 1(14g)

If someone sees something wrong with what I came up with .... pls let me know.

Thanks! Gonna do it.

Ragweed Summer Sausage!

CRG, now you've got me confused :-\  I'll put my pencil to it and get back to you.  The jerky is calling me!  But this I know.  I used 7 tsp of kosher salt for my 9 lb batch.