Greasy deer sausage

[smoothie]

Hello everyone, I'm looking for suggestions on venison trail bologna. I made my first batch a month ago out of last years deer. I mixed 4.5 pounds with .5 pound of pork sausage for fat content and cooked in my smokehouse at 230* until IT was 165*. I know that is high but I couldn't get my temp lower, a problem I am researching in another category on this fine forum. When I got my sausage out of the ice water and removed the casing it was covered in grease even tho it tasted fine, consistency was a bit soft. So how do I harden it up a bit and lose the grease? Now I've learned a bit since this experiment, alot from this forum and my plan for next time is to make sure my meat mixture is about 80:20 fat since I remembered later last year's deer had fat mixed in at the processor. So I'm thinking that me mixing in extra fat and cooking it too high too early may be the root of all my problems. Now not to pile on too much, I've noticed some folks only cook until an IT of 152* is reached, any thoughts on that? I also planned to let them bloom this time, I hadn't heard of that the first time I tried. Could I have fixed my own problem? Just wanted to pick everyone's brain before I ruined some new deer. Thanks in advance everyone!

 

[daveomak]

Smoothie, morning and welcome to the forum......   "Fatting out" of sausage can be reduced or eliminated....   Below are some tables from the Food Safety Inspection Service (FSIS).....   They show that holding meats at a certain temperature, for a certain time, will kill certain pathogens and bacteria etc.....    

Although these charts do not specifically address your mix of meat, exceeding the time specified by a reasonable amount, for a mix that closely matches your mix, "should" be sufficient to make the meat safe to consume and maintain the integrity of the fat....   I personally smoke beef sticks for 24 hours at 140 ish degrees, and there is no fat melt in the sticks.... I would recommend holding the meat, at a given temperature, for hours in place of minutes...  

Smoking meats at low temperatures, for extended periods of time, REQUIRES you use cure #1.......

To learn more about food safety, FSIS is the "bible" of the food industry...

Dave

             .....click on images to enlarge......

Time V Temp non intact meats log 7.jpg

• daveomak
• Sep 15, 2013

Time V Temp non intact meats.jpg

• daveomak
• Sep 15, 2013

Time V Temp poultry.jpg

• daveomak
• Sep 15, 2013

 

[boykjo]

Hey Dustin.. Welcome to SMF.......What has occured is called fat out. Temperatures around the sausage got too hot and the fat in the meat melted. This usually happens around 175 degrees or above. 230 degrees is way too high to slow smoke summer sausage I would work on trying to get temperatures down in your smoker to around the 120's and be able to move up in 10 degree increments and not go over 175... When making summer sausage I like to use lean meat at 5 to 10 percent. When making deer sausage I like to use 50/50 deer and pork butt/shoulder. For hunters who want nothing but pure deer sausage I add 20 percent pork fat...... 152 to 160 IT will be good and a cold water bath will help reduce the shrinking of the casings. Bloom will add color and let the flavors of the sausage meld together..... ask away any questions you have so we can make sure your next deer sausage process is successful........................................................................................................

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/130721/fresh-venison-country-sausage .........................................................................................................

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/113598/venison-sausage-final-open-shot