How to make your own venison breakfast sausage at home

Anyone can whip up a delicious batch of venison breakfast sausage with just a few ingredients and a little time. It’s not as difficult as most people think.
Anyone can whip up a delicious batch of venison breakfast sausage with just a few ingredients and a little time. It’s not as difficult as most people think.

Killing one of Arkansas’ white-tailed deer each year lets me feed my family well on nature’s healthy, organic steaks, tenderloin and other cuts of venison. But for me, personally, the best thing about having a sizable annual supply of deer meat is being able to make lots of tasty breakfast sausage at home that I can use throughout the year.

As my family would tell you, I love sausage and eggs, sausage biscuits and sausage used as an added ingredient in many of the recipes that my wife, sons and I use on a regular basis. Pork sausage certainly tastes delicious, but I much prefer the rich wild flavor of deer sausage. Making my own sausage at home allows me to create a version that’s much leaner and healthier, so I can eat it as often as I like.

Several years ago, I thought sausage making was probably too complicated for me to try on my own. But after buying a book that included all the necessary sausage-making knowledge, I gave it a whirl and learned that whipping up a big batch of this spicy breakfast food at home is really very simple. After all the meat has been properly prepared, it takes less than an hour to make a 4-pound batch that my family and I will savor for several weeks.

Here’s how I’ve learned to do it and how you can do it, too.

Meat Preparation

The steps I follow after killing a deer, then field-dressing and skinning it, are quite simple, really. First, I remove the tenderloins and loins along the backbone and prepare them for cooking or the freezer myself. The remainder of the deer, with all the entrails removed, is then quartered and taken to a meat processor for further preparation. I request that they cut the big hams into steaks, then grind the rest of the meat and package it in 1-pound or 2-pound packages.

If you follow the same steps, don’t neglect to ask the processor to refrain from adding fat to the ground meat. They often add beef fat, which seems to me to give the sausage an off flavor. Pork fat is better, but I prefer to add my own fat later when making the sausage at home.

Also ask the processor not to freeze the meat. Some do, but you’ll want some fresh-ground venison so you can make fresh sausage immediately after transporting the meat to your house.

Should you prefer, you can purchase a meat grinder and prepare the ground venison yourself. Just be sure to remove all silverskin, fat, gristle and bone before you run 1-inch cubes of the cold but not frozen meat through the grinder. You can use any cut of meat you like, and sausage making is a good way to use tougher cuts such as neck meat and scraps you might not use otherwise.

You can freeze the packaged ground venison and use what you need throughout the year after thawing it. But I always like to set aside 3 pounds to make a 4-pound batch of fresh sausage I can sample as soon as possible.

Selecting Ingredients

Before you begin the actual sausage making, you should visit your local grocery store and buy a few things, unless you already have them at home.

If the guy behind the meat counter makes fresh sausage to sell, and you’ve tried it and found it to your liking, I suggest that you ask if he’ll sell you some of his seasoning mix for you to use. Some have tasty mixtures already packaged and ready for purchase. Just be sure you get instructions on how much of the seasoning you should use per pound of meat.

Otherwise, you’ll need to buy the following items, from which you’ll create enough seasoning to make 4 pounds of sausage: fresh sage, fresh thyme, brown sugar, kosher salt, crushed fennel seeds, crushed red-pepper flakes, coarsely ground black pepper, garlic powder, paprika and

1 pound ground pork.

Venison Breakfast Sausage

Ingredients:

Start your sausage making by mixing the following in a big bowl:

4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh sage

4 tablespoons finely chopped fresh thyme

1/8 cup light brown sugar

1/8 cup kosher salt

4 teaspoons crushed fennel seeds

2 teaspoons crushed red-pepper flakes

2 tablespoons freshly ground black pepper

2 tablespoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons paprika

Directions:

In another bowl or a pot, one large enough to handle 4 pounds of meat, add the 1 pound of ground pork and 3 pounds of ground venison, and gradually sprinkle the seasoning mixture over the top. You can vary the amount of ground pork you add to create sausage that is juicier (more pork) or leaner (less pork), as you like it.

Work the sausage seasoning into the meat using your hands or a large sturdy fork. Then sprinkle more seasoning over the top, work it into the meat as well, and continue this process until all the mixture has been incorporated into the ground venison and pork. When finished, the pork and deer meat should be well mixed, with the herbs and spices evenly distributed throughout the sausage.

That’s it! Now you can cook some of the sausage and dig in. Just make sure you make plenty to share with family or guests in your home. When they smell that mouth-watering aroma as you start cooking, everyone will want a taste.

To make patties, I scoop up 1/4-cupfuls of the mixture, place each on a piece of waxed paper, and flatten until about 1/4 inch thick. These are cooked on a griddle or in a skillet over medium-high heat until browned on one side — about 2 to 3 minutes. Then flip and cook 2 to 3 minutes more or until the meat is well done all the way through.

You can make the patties a couple of days ahead of time, stack them between pieces of waxed paper, cover and chill. Or prepare the patties, place them between pieces of waxed paper and freeze in a zip-seal bag until you’re ready to use. I find they freeze well for up to a month, but rarely do they last that long in our home.

The fun part of sausage making is experimenting with your own seasoning mixtures. I like the one I’ve presented here best of all, but in cookbooks and on internet cooking sites, you’ll find many other recipes you can try.

If you’re feeling real adventurous, you can also purchase kits like those from Hi Mountain Seasonings (himtnjerky.com) that contain everything you need to make bratwurst, salami, summer sausage, snack sticks and other cased sausages.

If you’ve never tried sausage making, don’t feel intimidated. It’s much quicker and simpler than most people realize, and you’ll enjoy the reward of a scrumptious meal created from wild game you killed yourself. Enjoy.

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