Hello everyone. My son in law got an elk this past fall and wanted help making some smoked sausage so just before this pandemic broke loose we got down to it. We used 7 lb of elk that he had previously ground and I got him to pick up 3lb of the fattiest pork belly he could find so I estimate it ended up close to 80/20 lean to fat ratio. Both the elk and the belly were ground once with the medium plate. Used a roasted garlic premix that I bought from a sausage supply store that called for 2 cups of water for 10lbs but I only added 1 1/4 cups to get the consistency that I usually shoot for. The premix uses toasted wheat crumb as the binder and there is enough in the mix that it should easily absorb the added water. I used the proper amount of cure and the test patty seemed fine. Due to time factor we stuffed the same day into natural hog caseing but hung it in my basement fridge for 12 hours before smoking the next day. I warm smoked for about 6 hrs at 130* and the used my sous vide in the kitchen sink to finish at 145 for 2.5 hrs to be sure it was pasteurized. The end product is very soft and mushy texture. Doesnt seem to matter how long or what method you use to cook it it still has that mushy finished texture almost like raw ground meat. I dont hunt so this is the first wild game I've made sausage from. I make quite a bit of pork or beef sausage and have never had this problem before. I'm thinking its maybe useing the pork belly as the fat but I've used it with other sausage without issue other than you have to be real careful with temps useing belly as the fat content. Any ideas. I would like to figure this out before we make another batch( which could be awhile with this pandemic). TIA for your input.
Sorry no cut shots.
