Venison Kielbasa ?

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got14u

Master of the Pit
Original poster
OTBS Member
SMF Premier Member
Oct 12, 2008
1,936
10
WYOMING
Curious if you guys have any tryed and true recipes or if you know how much fat to add....I am thinking 2lbs pork fat to 8lbs venison....What do ya think
 
Well I'm not bragging or anything, but my wife, who is Polish, swears that the Kielbasa I made last year was the best she has ever had. For years, she would have the place in Pennsylvania fly it out on dry ice so she could have some. Then I discovered this site, and shorty after that, I got Ryteks book and made my own. She does not fly it in anymore.

Here is how I make mine.

for 10#
7# Ground Pork Shoulder
3# Ground Venison
2 Cups non fat dry milk. (use as a bining agent)
3 Tbl Kosher Salt
2 tsp Cure
1 Tbl Raw Sugar
1 Tbl Black pepper
2 Tbl finely choped fresh garlic
1 Heaping tsp Marjoram
2 Cups Ice Water

Assuming all meat has been ground, mix all the above ingredients minus the dry milk and the meat, in the ice cold water. After mixed in well, add to the meat and add dry milk. Mix well and proceed to stuff. Let hang somewhere for 30 minutes or so until casings are dry. I smoke them at 165 degrees until I get an internal temp of 152 degrees according to Ryteks book. Remove and give them a good shower of cold water until internal temps drop to 110 Degrees. Hang at room temp until you get a nice mahogany bloom, but I would not go past an hour. 30 minutes should do.
Here is the last batch I did. They did not last long. In fact, my wife has taken orders from her co-worker for the next time I make some.
 
thanks guys...I to was going to use ryteks recipe for this. I had made some a couple months ago and it was great. But it was all out of pork butt. this time I want to use mostly venison with some straight pork fat. I think 10% fat will probably do good. I got about 175lbs or so of venison I am going to process. We went and got a big 6 point bull. So now it time to start working...lol

lmao... i just figured out I am calling elk venison..lol oh well in the same family right.
 
I tried making a "low fat" bratwurst venison sausage. Worse use of venison i ever did.

I couldnt figure out what is did wrong until I took soem to my local butcher, he cut it in half and just started to laugh. Not enough fat. He said i used the right plate, not overstuffed, but probably tasted like sawdust because there was very little fat.

He is the one that coined the phrase that there is no such thing as a healthy sausage.
 
Thats it I have to go get the set up for sausage making. I have been wanting it for so long and all of you here making such very good sounding sausages too.
 
so what was the ratio he used?? very curious
 
I was using recipes from the Rytek bible and reducing the fat in those recipes and using more venison instead of pork. The butcher said because venison is such a lean meat that I may want to increase the amount of fat.

Like anything its trial and error. Next time I am going to mix a batch, stuff a couple maybe do a quick cook and cut them open to see what they look like before stuffing the whole batch.
 
I'll be making venison kielbasa today/tomorrow too, I'm figuring somewhere between 20 and 50% pork, depends how much my wife buys and how fatty it is. :) I'm using rytek's recipe too - this will be my first try at kielbasa.
 
I have made a ton of kilbasa using ryteks recipe. the only thing I change is I use half the salt and half the soy protein the recipe calls for.
using venison I would not go any more than 70% to 30% pork fat or butt
or it will be too dry
smoke it @150 -160* no higher
mine is a also a big hit with polish friends that are used to authentic polish kilbasa from the polish delis in chicago.
 
thanks everyone....I was reading in his book how you can mix a 50% pork to 50% fat and still get a better product then what's in the stores...I guess I will be leaning towards a little to much fat then a little lacking. Most things I am finding with venison or any wild game are around 20-30% fat content.
here is the diffirent kinds I am planning
#25 Smoked Venison Polish Sausage
#50 Kielbasa
#50 Bacon
#50 summer sausage
#25 maple sausage

and there might be some left to do another kind. but this will keep me busy for awhile
 
My hunting group has been making our own venison sausages for a long time and the lowest percentage of pork butt we use is 40% (60% venison-40% pork). When using pork trim we will go 70%-30% if the trim is fatty.

Summer sausage is a little different....That can vary from 70%-30% to 90%-10%

The post should read "highest percentage of pork butt"
 
great...thanks alot jimr I plan on just useing fat trimmings from the local grocery store....thanks to all reply's and will post pics when we get going on this stuff
 
I make kielbasa and summer sausage with the geese and antelope that I shoot. I always mix 50/50. So for 30lbs of sausage I use 15lbs game and 12lbs pork, then add 3lbs of pork fat. It always turns out great. If you like the gamey flavor try a 60/40 mixture. But you cant go wrong with half and half. I buy the butts when they go on sale around here, usually around 99cents a lbs.
 
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