Summer sausage

[2sac]

I posted this in my vacation forum but also figured I'd put it where it belongs.
My buddy gave my about 20lbs of deer meat. I picked up a kit at Cabelas for making summer sausage. Made 6 lbs. It consisted of 4 lbs venison, 1 1/2lbs pork, 1/2 lb pork fat. It needs to sit for 12-24 hours to cure. I'm gonna smoke it tomorrow.

[Phrancis]

I'd be interested to know how it turns out and how you made it, trying to get some ideas to cook dear on the smoker.

[2sac]

Making it was more tedious than anything. We butchered the deer 2 weeks ago in my garage because his wife didn't want it in their garage. He gave me half. I originally was going to wing it and pulled some recipies off the internet. I got some "pink salts", which are to cure the meat, from a friend of a friend. He also gave me some intestine but it was quite freezer burnt. Didn't know if that would affect the final product or not so I opted for the all in one kit. All the directions are in the kit. They recommend 2/3 deer to 1/3 pork. I bought some fat from the butcher to cut the pork. We ground up the leg meat when we butchered it, and made the thighs and backstrap into roasts. I bought the pork already ground. I ground up the fat and mixed with the meat. Ran thru the grinder again, added cure and spices mixed and ground one last time. Then filed the casings. Smoking instructions are as follows:Let sausage reach room temp before smoking or cooking * Lay sausage on screens or hang on racks * 120F for 1 hour without smoke to dry sausage * 140F for 1 hour with smoke * 160F for 30 minutes with smoke * 180F until sausage reaches an internal temp of 156F. I'm gonna use hickory chips and hope for the best. Some guys on a fishing/hunting forum I belong to have said it's perfect as is and some others have said to use a 50/50 ratio of deer/pork

[2sac]

Smoked it today but had problems keeping such low temps. Finished it off in the oven. Had a meat temp of 170 when I pulled it. In the fridge now. I'll find out tomorrow if it worked.

[Joehvac25]

Let us know how it taste

[2sac]

The verdict....Tastes like garlic bologna, not summer sausage. Thinking it has to do with the texture. Would you guys agree, or do you think i I should have had a higher ratio of pork and fat? My grinder has 3 dies, coarse, med, and fine. I did it on med. It doesn't really have a gamey taste which is good. Tastes pretty good on a Ritz cracker with some pepperjack cheese.

[Joehvac25]

Here's my deer