Question about Summer Sausage..

[sam3]

I'm getting close to jumping into the world of making and smoking chubs. I've read alot and found some recipes on the internet that I can try. But a majority are using 70% Venison and 30% pork. I have no more Venison in the freezer so my question is, should I use 93/7 GB or perhaps a lean rump roast or something like that and grind it?

Thoughts?

 

[jalan43]

When I'm using beef, I use chuck roast which is roughly 70/30. Last time I made summer sausage I didn't even use pork, just the chuck roast.It came out awesome!

 

[gersus]

IMO, it's a matter of preference. I think all pork is fine, and not all that different from venison/pork. Using beef/pork is good too, but with a bit different taste/texture. Play around with it and see what you like.

 

[Dutch]

Sam, I would go with a lean cut of beef to bring your lean ratio up to 70%. Make sure to remove the tendons and any silver skin before grinding. 

Way back when I used to cut meat, we would have customers come in with venison, beef and pork fat that they wanted to be made into summer sausage.  They felt that the addition of the beef mellowed out the gameiness of the venison. Since they were the customer, we did as they asked.

 

[gersus]

I kind of laugh inside when people talk about venison being gamey. Maybe it's how its prepared, maybe it's the region of the country. Not sure but, IMHO, venison shouldn't be gamey at all and definitely shouldn't be gamey in a sausage. Like Dutch said though, the silver skin should definitely be removed. That's why I like young does ;)

Sorry for the hijack!

 

[sam3]

Thanks for your input guys, I really appreciate it!

gersus, I process my own venison as well. I don't have a problem with a gamey taste at all.

 

[tsulcoski]

Sam

I use beef and pork, but that's just my preference. I usually use chuck roasts to grind for my beef and pork butts for my pork. the combination of the two gives me the fat content I prefer for summer sausage. Like Dutch said, make sure you take time to get the silver skin and tendons out. The other piece of advice i would give you is you will need to add water and MIX,MIX, MIX until the product starts to get little string looking things as your mixing.