# Venison Summer Sausage ( jalapeño and cheese)



## metal man

OK guys i told you i was gonna do some Venison Summer Sausage soon. Here's a little "how too" on the way i make mine.There are many ways to make SS.  If you have never done this i would suggest giving it a try. This is a great way to use ground venison.

For the beginner it may just be easier to pick up a sausage kit. It comes with all your spices,cure and casings in one box. But if your like me you can never leave well enough alone and have to have your own mix that you constantly change...lol

Here's one of my recipes.

You will need:

5 lb Ground Venison

1 lb Ground Beef ( You can substitute with ground pork trim )

2 cup Water

3 Tbsp Morton Tender Quick (This is the cure and is VERY important)

2 TBSP Non Iodized Salt ( Kosher Salt ..ect ) ( The extra salt is optional and to my taste)

4 Tbsp Soy Flour ( Non Fat Dry Milk will work)

3 Tbsp Course Black Pepper

1 Tbsp Mustard Seed

1 1/2tsp Onion Powder

2 tsp Garlic Powder

1 cup Jalapeño Pepper's Chopped ( Fresh is best)

2 cup High Temp Cheddar Cheese

2 to 3   2 1/2" X 20" Fibrous Casings

Liquid smoke ( Optional)

2 Tbsp  Red Pepper Flakes ( Optional  . I only add this if I'm looking for a touch of heat. Wife and kids don't like it)

While your getting every thing together you'll need to start your casings soaking in a pan of warm water.I add a little salt to the water when i soak mine. It takes about 15 to 30 minutes in warm water for them to get pliable enough to stuff.

Now i do enough of this and various other things that it was worth it to me to buy a mixer. I've had it so long that i don't remember what i gave for it but I'm gonna guess around $100. But you do not have to have a mixer to do this. You can easily use a large plastic bowl.First off I'll start with the ground venison and ground beef in the mixer. I'll give a few turns before i add the spices.








 Before we get to far let me mention if you don't already know. The cure is very important. Do not skip this part.You can play with the rest of the mix if you like. I'm using Morton's Tender Quick. Morton says use 1 1/2 tsp per pound of ground meat. There are other types of cure on the market ( pink salt cure ect..) that may call for a smaller amount of cure per pound. This is OK,you will just need to figure out the difference and the adjust amount of cure plus salt you need to add. What every you do don't add more cure then it calls for. Too much cure is a bad thing.

Now you can add the spices( not peppers and cheese). There are two ways to do this. You can just dump them in with the meat or you can mix them together with the water and pour them in.This help distribute the spices better. If you plan to add liquid smoke,add it to the water before you pour it in the meat. Even though your gonna be smoking this i still like to add a small amount. It can be hard to get that smoky flavor deep in the sausage. I use 1/2 tsp of LEM Liquid Smoke per 5 lbs of meat.Once you have all the spices and water in you can add the soy flour .It acts as a binder and helps the sausage retain some moister.   Now MixNNNow mix

Once  the mixture is mixed up good you can add the peppers. Now you can adjust the amount of peppers to your taste. if your in to adding a little kick you could add some cayenne's to it. Mix the peppers in nice and good before you add the cheese. Its the last thing you want to add because it breaks apart very easy.

I like to use the High Temp Cheddar Cheese. I can not find it local so i always order it off the Internet. There's a bunch of places that offer it for a decent price. I've tried regular cheddar cheese many times and it never comes out the way i like it.So i stick with the high temp stuff.

Here's a pic all mixed up and ready to stuff.
	

		
			
		

		
	







OK now we got to get it in the casings.First take the casing out of the water and shake the water off.Its OK if there still wet.Then get to stuffing. This is super easy to do with a stuffer but you might not have one. What i use to do before i bought the stuffer was use my jerky shooter to stuff the casings. You can pick one up a Walmart pretty cheap. Or you could just roll the meat into small balls and drop it in the casing. Then use your fingers to push it to the end like a tube of tooth paste.Whether you use a stuffer,jerky shooter or by hand the meat needs to be packed pretty tight in the casing. Completely filling it out. The casing is breathable so any air in the casing will need to be pushed out. Once full you can tie the end of the casing off with just about anything. I used bread ties this time.













Once you have the meat stuffed you will need to let it cure. The very minimum amount of time i would wait is 24 hours. I usually let mine cure 24 to 48 hours.

Once it's cured we need to smoke it . I use the MES smoker with hickory wood chips for this smoke. When using a smoker remember that a nice thin blue smoke is what you after. Keep your smoker temps in the 180 to 225 range. Your looking for an internal temp of 160 in the center of the sausage. Once it hits 160 you can remove the sausage from the smoker. I start out low on heat and bump it up as the cook goes along.







Soon as you remove it from the smoker your gonna need to cool it down. You'll need a tub,sink,cooler,ect full of ice water ready for it. Just chunk the sausage rolls in the ice water and let them soak. I let mine soak till the center temp is about 80 degrees.







Once you have the sausages out of the water you gonna need to hang and let them Bloom. If you used a clear casing you will see them take on a darker color after they have hung awhile. The mahogany casing are already dark. You will see the sausages take on a fuller look. If I'm only doing a few sausages I hang mine for a few hours over a trash can so any water will not end up in the floor.Today  i had several sausages to hang so i hung them out side. After they have hung a few hours i put them in the fridge. Or you can wrap them and freeze at this point if you like.







And that's it!!! Once you have let one set in the fridge and cool down its ready to slice and enjoy







I also tried something different this time. While i was stuffing the Summer Sausage casing i figured i try adding my mix to some smaller hog casing as well. Here is the result.







I ended up chopped it into small snack pieces and putting them in a zip lock bag in the fridge. Kids wiped them out pretty fast.lol







That's it for now. Hope you enjoyed it.


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## rbranstner

That is some great looking summer sausage! I hope to be making some very soon.


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## Bearcarver

That looks excellent, and this is a very well laid out post.

A great tutorial !

Everything looks perfect!

The only thing that caught my eye is the 2 TBS of salt added to the 3 TBS of TQ.

I never add any other salt to sausages, when I use TQ.

Do you find that it is needed?

Just curious.

Thanks a lot & thanks for an outstanding post!!!!

Bear


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## countrysmoke

I make this alot during hunting season, my recipe is alittle different but I am  going to try this one. Thanks alot great post


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## old poi dog

Great looking Sausage.  Thanks for the great tutorial...


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## metal man

Bearcarver said:


> That looks excellent, and this is a very well laid out post.
> 
> A great tutorial !
> 
> Everything looks perfect!
> 
> The only thing that caught my eye is the 2 TBS of salt added to the 3 TBS of TQ.
> 
> I never add any other salt to sausages, when I use TQ.
> 
> Do you find that it is needed?
> 
> Just curious.
> 
> Thanks a lot & thanks for an outstanding post!!!!
> 
> Bear


Good eye Bear carver.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





The extra salt is not needed and is indeed optional just like all the ingredient other then the cure. I've made many batches of this sausage over the years and this is my tweaked to fit me recipe. I've tried it with just the TQ and while it was good it lacked a little extra flavor i like.

I actually meant to add that to the original post but it kinda got lost in all the putting together of it. But i did go back and edit it to say optional.


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## les3176

Great post!!! And good looking sausage!! Keep em coming!!!


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## smokin relaxin steve

Nice Job!!!!!!!!!! that looks awesome!


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## rp ribking

Very nice tutorial for a person that has not made sausage before, like me. Kind of nice to have all the right tools.


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## Bearcarver

Metal Man said:


> Bearcarver said:
> 
> 
> 
> That looks excellent, and this is a very well laid out post.
> 
> A great tutorial !
> 
> Everything looks perfect!
> 
> The only thing that caught my eye is the 2 TBS of salt added to the 3 TBS of TQ.
> 
> I never add any other salt to sausages, when I use TQ.
> 
> Do you find that it is needed?
> 
> Just curious.
> 
> Thanks a lot & thanks for an outstanding post!!!!
> 
> Bear
> 
> 
> 
> Good eye Bear carver.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The extra salt is not needed and is indeed optional just like all the ingredient other then the cure. I've made many batches of this sausage over the years and this is my tweaked to fit me recipe. I've tried it with just the TQ and while it was good it lacked a little extra flavor i like.
> 
> I actually meant to add that to the original post but it kinda got lost in all the putting together of it. But i did go back and edit it to say optional.
Click to expand...

I didn't state my question properly.

I know the only thing that is not an option is the right amount of TQ.

My question was meant to be, "Do you think it is necessary to add the two TBS of salt to the 3 TBS of TQ?"

The reason I ask is SO MANY PEOPLE SAY they use cure #1, instead of TQ, because TQ IS TOO SALTY.

It appears you agree with me that TQ is not too salty, or you would not be adding even more salt on top of it.

I use TQ in every cure, and have never had anything too salty.

Thanks MM,

Bear


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## metal man

I use both TQ and cure #1 and like both. But to answer your question,no i have not had any problems with TQ being to salty


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## mballi3011

Now thats some fine looking summer sausage you made there. Now I'm working on some of my hunting friends for some more venison to make some myself. I have a really good recipe I made last year.


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## golson

Is it safe to lay down the sausages? I heard that is not a good idea. I like your opinion on the difference between hanging the sausage and laying them down. Thanks


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## metal man

golson said:


> Is it safe to lay down the sausages? I heard that is not a good idea. I like your opinion on the difference between hanging the sausage and laying them down. Thanks


The only difference I've noticed is laying the sausages on the wracks will leave ugly marks on the sausages.I've done both and see no difference in the out come when I'm doing Summer Sausage using the Mahogany casings. So i just lay them in there because its easier.

I do hang all my other sausages for better smoke coverage. Minus the one little test sausage i done this time. I just layed it in there as well and it turned out fine but if you look you can see the rack marks on it.....but you can't taste them LOL.

As far as "safe".... why would it not be safe? The meat was cured and safe internal temp was reached.


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## metal man

mballi3011 said:


> Now that's some fine looking summer sausage you made there. Now I'm working on some of my hunting friends for some more venison to make some myself. I have a really good recipe I made last year.


Mind sharing your recipe? I'm always looking for new ideas. I found a good looking venison bologna recipe on this site i plan to try in the near future as well.


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## Bearcarver

golson said:


> Is it safe to lay down the sausages? I heard that is not a good idea. I like your opinion on the difference between hanging the sausage and laying them down. Thanks




I agree with Metal Man. I make sausages & Beef sticks without casings, so I have to lay mine down, because they would fall apart if they were hung up.

All you have to do is keep them from touching each other. They won't smoke right where they are touching each other.

You get grill marks on the down side, but I don't care.

Nothing unsafe about it.

Bear


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## golson

Bearcarver said:


> I agree with Metal Man. I make sausages & Beef sticks without casings, so I have to lay mine down, because they would fall apart if they were hung up.
> 
> All you have to do is keep them from touching each other. They won't smoke right where they are touching each other.
> 
> You get grill marks on the down side, but I don't care.
> 
> Nothing unsafe about it.
> 
> Bear


I was mostly concerned about smoke coverage and the parts laying on the grill not being cooked all the way through even though it is a very small area.


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## Bearcarver

golson said:


> I was mostly concerned about smoke coverage and the parts laying on the grill not being cooked all the way through even though it is a very small area.


That's not a problem, because it's only sitting on thin wires, with a lot of space between each wire.


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## beer-b-q

Looks Great, Nice Job...


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## joe tardif

first off thank you for posting this it is very informative, just wondering how long it took to smoke yours. i just made a batch only i doubled the amount going to smoke it tommorow


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## fpnmf

Nice post and pictures...

I kinda like the grill marks on the smaller diameter ones you did!!

  Craig


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## metal man

Joe Tardif said:


> first off thank you for posting this it is very informative, just wondering how long it took to smoke yours. i just made a batch only i doubled the amount going to smoke it tommorow


Joe i don't cook it a certain time length. I cook till the internal temp hits 160 ( truth is 154 to 160 is fine) But I'd say a ball park is about 6 hours.


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## metal man

fpnmf said:


> Nice post and pictures...
> 
> I kinda like the grill marks on the smaller diameter ones you did!!
> 
> Craig


Thanks Graig. Those little bit size pieces were a hit with everyone. The kids had them whipped out in no time flat.


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## tyotrain

Man O Man that is some great looking summer sausage.. nice job bet it was tasty


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## cwaynef1s

When you let it cure for 24-48 hrs do you just leave it out at room temp. Or should it be refrigerated? I'm going to make some this weekend.


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## jimmyinsd

cwaynef1s said:


> When you let it cure for 24-48 hrs do you just leave it out at room temp. Or should it be refrigerated? I'm going to make some this weekend.


it still needs to be refridgerated.


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