# Venison chorizo sausage



## 73saint (May 24, 2020)

I have been craving good chorizo, and I have some extra venison from last year.   Wanted to make a nice quick batch of burger and chorizo.  So I ended up with about 20lbs of burger, and 20lbs of chorizo.  My burger mix was simple.   10lbs venison, 7lbs ground chuck, and 3lbs Brisket fat trim. I did a double grind, starting w medium, and finishing w fine.  I used my Cabelas #32, so this was a breeze.  I took my time, over two days.  Cleaning as I went so it was a very simple project.  As I finished the burger and packaged it into 1.5lb bags, I would temper them in the freezer before vac sealing.  Makes for a better seal without pulling moisture from the meat. 

Once all equip from the burger was clean, I started on the chorizo.  Simple again, 10lbs venison and 10lbs pork shoulder (fat included).  I did the same grind as the burger (personal preference even though I know traditionally chorizo is a courser grind). I used Walton’s chorizo blend, added 1/2 cup of flat iron smoke show peppers (super hot smoky blend of dried pepper) and 8oz of white vinegar per Walton’s recommendation.   I like spicy, but I was afraid of making it too hot for everyone else.  This batch came out just right.  
















Here is a look at the venison and beef I was working with.  I used hind quarter cuts, and this really pretty chuck roast.  Along with the brisket fat ,I think I got a nice blend. 











Burger all ready for the freezer.  We package our burger in 1&1/2 lb packs.  Seems to be perfect amount for what we do.  The mrs. says this is the best batch of venison burger I’ve made thus far.  Bet it’s the chuck. 

I worked alone so didn’t get many chorizo pics but here are a few:















I linked up about 10lbs, and loose-packed another 10.  Was going to loose pack it all, but I wanted to try out some new casings I bought from the natural casings company in Wisconsin.  We shall see, but I like the way they handled on the stuffer. 

The fry test last night got me excited.  Wonderful flavor, but a bit too much heat (perfect for me), I hoped that they would mellow a little overnight.  Well, this morning I decided to make breakfast burritos to really put the sausage to the test.   I browned off a lb of the chorizo, then added red onion, green bell pepper and tomatoes and let that cook down for a few minutes.  
	

		
			
		

		
	
















Then I added some eggs, and scrambled the whole thing up.  As that was going on I heated a few mission low carb tortillas, added some sargento sharp cheddar, a pile of the scrambled egg mix and a little sour cream (ok maybe a little too much but I was still worried about the heat levels)















Well, with everything added to the party, the heat levels were just fine, maybe a even a tad mild.  But boy am I happy with this sausage, it came out great!  And we have a lot of the eggs to make more breakfast burritos for the week.  
Thanks for looking!


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## chopsaw (May 24, 2020)

Very nice work , and well done thread . 
I used AC Leggs chorizo mix , all pork . Man it's good . 


73saint said:


> I took my time, over two days. Cleaning as I went so it was a very simple project.


Only way to go . Keeps it fun too . Great work ,,, thanks for posting .


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## 73saint (May 24, 2020)

chopsaw said:


> Very nice work , and well done thread .
> I used AC Leggs chorizo mix , all pork . Man it's good .
> 
> Only way to go . Keeps it fun too . Great work ,,, thanks for posting .


Thanks Chop!  Man, I need to try the AC Leggs...ALL of their stuff seems to be top notch.  Not sure why one always forget about them when ordering sausage seasonings.


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## chopsaw (May 24, 2020)

I would bet they are about the same . Yours has a nice red color to it . Is that the venison or the seasoning ? 
If you want to try another place look thru the list at Owens BBQ . Really good seasonings .


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## 73saint (May 24, 2020)

chopsaw said:


> I would bet they are about the same . Yours has a nice red color to it . Is that the venison or the seasoning ?
> If you want to try another place look thru the list at Owens BBQ . Really good seasonings .


Ahh, I just finally ordered from them (Owens).  Have some red barn bologna seasoning, Thats the next project!
I believe the red is the seasoning more than the venison.  It had a really nice color.   The links are in the fridge now and seem to be reddening even more.


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## tallbm (May 24, 2020)

73saint said:


> I have been craving good chorizo, and I have some extra venison from last year.   Wanted to make a nice quick batch of burger and chorizo.  So I ended up with about 20lbs of burger, and 20lbs of chorizo.  My burger mix was simple.   10lbs venison, 7lbs ground chuck, and 3lbs Brisket fat trim. I did a double grind, starting w medium, and finishing w fine.  I used my Cabelas #32, so this was a breeze.  I took my time, over two days.  Cleaning as I went so it was a very simple project.  As I finished the burger and packaged it into 1.5lb bags, I would temper them in the freezer before vac sealing.  Makes for a better seal without pulling moisture from the meat.
> 
> Once all equip from the burger was clean, I started on the chorizo.  Simple again, 10lbs venison and 10lbs pork shoulder (fat included).  I did the same grind as the burger (personal preference even though I know traditionally chorizo is a courser grind). I used Walton’s chorizo blend, added 1/2 cup of flat iron smoke show peppers (super hot smoky blend of dried pepper) and 8oz of white vinegar per Walton’s recommendation.   I like spicy, but I was afraid of making it too hot for everyone else.  This batch came out just right.
> View attachment 446547
> ...



Man that all looks great, Im glad it turned out so well!


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## Ishi (Jun 3, 2020)

Oh YA! Nice job and great info! 
My next venture is to start making sausages!


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## buck bob (Jun 24, 2020)

Looks great, im planning to make some venison chorizo for the first time over the weekend.


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## archeryrob (Jul 31, 2020)

Anyone have a fresh chorizo recipe? I got a bunch of left over ground venison and this the one thing I have not found a recipe I like yet.


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## indaswamp (Aug 2, 2020)

archeryrob said:


> Anyone have a fresh chorizo recipe? I got a bunch of left over ground venison and this the one thing I have not found a recipe I like yet.


Might have one for you rob...lemme ask if it can be shared.....


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## archeryrob (Aug 2, 2020)

Thank Inda, Pm's are appreciated also.  I'll probably change it anyways some and use it as a base. The wife unit, has particular tastes. I can't make most German recipes as she doesn't like Mace, all spice type flavors.


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## mitch96 (Sep 18, 2020)

indaswamp said:


> Might have one for you rob...lemme ask if it can be shared.....


Hi I’m new to the venison chorizio made a bunch out of a recipe that was used leaving out pork belly fat and tried to keep it more venison I made a couple of strips and took out of the curer last night it lacks spice I’m a chef not a curer but want to get into the smoking and curing meats but that’s in the pipeline should I have added pimento to the mix along with cayenne apart from lacking spicyness it tastes amazing like the stuff you get in the German beer bars I lived in münster for 4 years would be great full appreciated any input or recipes that could be pm’d to me per kg of venison many thanks
Davy highlands of Scotland


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## tallbm (Sep 18, 2020)

mitch96 said:


> Hi I’m new to the venison chorizio made a bunch out of a recipe that was used leaving out pork belly fat and tried to keep it more venison I made a couple of strips and took out of the curer last night it lacks spice I’m a chef not a curer but want to get into the smoking and curing meats but that’s in the pipeline should I have added pimento to the mix along with cayenne apart from lacking spicyness it tastes amazing like the stuff you get in the German beer bars I lived in münster for 4 years would be great full appreciated any input or recipes that could be pm’d to me per kg of venison many thanks
> Davy highlands of Scotland



Hi there and welcome!
I don't have a chorizo recipe but I make about 80-120 pounds (38-58 kg?) of venison sausage each year.  I like keeping my venison sausage as much venison as possible so I only add pork fat that I buy.  I do 80% venison meat 20% pork fat.  This ratio works great for all my sausage.

A nice practice when making sausage is to make a small patty and fry it in a skillet to see if it has good flavor and is or is not too salty.  The flavor will NOT be exactly like the final sausage product but if it has enough spice and flavor then you know it is good to go.  Once you have a good flavor you can stuff the sausage into casings or put into ground meat bags for storage.
I suggest you do this as you adjust recipes.  Most online recipes are bland or must be fixed in some way.

When dry curing whole meat I have found using 3% salt is way too much for me so I imagine it is even stronger with ground dry cured sausage.  I like more of a 2% - 2.25% of salt. 
The same goes for my NON-dry cure sausage seasoning and my brines or marinades.

For more spicy flavor, powders work best to get the spice and flavor into all of the sausage.  Having pimento or some other diced pepper in there is also great but doesn't spread the flavor spice as much as a powder will.  Where you bite and taste that diced pepper will be amazing but that pepper's spice and flavor will not have spread much past the point where it is sitting in the meat.
This is why people who add jalapeno powder to their jalapeno and cheese sausage when they  want more jalapeno spice and flavor.

I hope this info helps and I look forward to seeing what you make and post :)


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## JLeonard (Sep 18, 2020)

I will PM you my shipping address for about 10lbs of that! Looks mighty tasty.
Jim


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## archeryrob (Oct 8, 2020)

I tried one out of various recipes and chili powder is not enough to make it. I didn't know there was a difference between chili powder and red chili powder. Got to try over again with just  pound. Now I got 4# in the freezer that might need cayenne added.


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## tallbm (Oct 8, 2020)

archeryrob said:


> I tried one out of various recipes and chili powder is not enough to make it. I didn't know there was a difference between chili powder and red chili powder. Got to try over again with just  pound. Now I got 4# in the freezer that might need cayenne added.


Let us know where u land with it :)


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## mitch96 (Oct 27, 2020)

tallbm said:


> Hi there and welcome!
> I don't have a chorizo recipe but I make about 80-120 pounds (38-58 kg?) of venison sausage each year.  I like keeping my venison sausage as much venison as possible so I only add pork fat that I buy.  I do 80% venison meat 20% pork fat.  This ratio works great for all my sausage.
> 
> A nice practice when making sausage is to make a small patty and fry it in a skillet to see if it has good flavor and is or is not too salty.  The flavor will NOT be exactly like the final sausage product but if it has enough spice and flavor then you know it is good to go.  Once you have a good flavor you can stuff the sausage into casings or put into ground meat bags for storage.
> ...


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## mitch96 (Oct 27, 2020)

Quite spicy but lovely in omelettes etc now to try something different more flavour needed any reccomendations ??
Thanks
Davy


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## tallbm (Oct 27, 2020)

Wow 
M
 mitch96
 that looks great!

If more flavor needed then it tends to be more garlic, onion, and or salt.  If you are missing  a particular flavor then it would be some other spice or spices but general overall savory flavor the 3 seasonings I mention would do the trick.

I have used online seasoning recipes for making sausage and found all of them bland and lacking.  I've gone through at leas 3-4 Frank/Hot Dog seasonings alone and nothing held a candle to LEM's cured Franks seasoning.
Also the LEM's Brat seasoning makes the most amazing brats i've had from anywhere (Wisconsin, Minnesota, numerous German restaurants in US and a few in a couple of other countries but never been to Germany and East Europe).

AC Leggs Peppered Sausage seasoning is great and I used it for summer sausage I made earlier this year.  I was looking for a different kind of summer sausage flavor but this seasoning is probably what I will stick with as it makes a great summer sausage :)

My holy grail sausage to figure out would be Czeck Klobase, I think Domace Klobase may be the full name and type (not Polish Kilbasa).  Recipes and seasoning blends I've tried have all fell short :(


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## chopsaw (Oct 27, 2020)

tallbm said:


> My holy grail sausage to figure out would be Czeck Klobase,


I ground 15 pounds of pork cushion yesterday .  Was looking at Klobase . but haven't mixed it yet . 
Mixed 2.2 lbs of reaper sausage .  5 lbs out for breakfast . I have all kinds of seasonings in the pantry , but was interested in the Klobase . Which one did you use that needed help ?


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## zwiller (Oct 27, 2020)

That is crazy, I just made some chorizo for this exact intended use!  Looks killer!  Nice job.  



archeryrob said:


> I tried one out of various recipes and chili powder is not enough to make it. I didn't know there was a difference between chili powder and red chili powder. Got to try over again with just  pound. Now I got 4# in the freezer that might need cayenne added.


From your thread, I actually ended up making some with new mexican red last weekend but have not tasted it yet.  That said, it smelled INSANELY good.  I also used Mexican oregano which I say is a must for spanish/mexican.  Pretty different than store bought oregano which is mediterranean.   https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/chorizo-mexican



tallbm said:


> I was looking for a different kind of summer sausage flavor but this seasoning is probably what I will stick with as it makes a great summer sausage :)



I like and use Leggs mixes as well.  Do not be afraid to tweak it.  The Leggs I've had do not have msg in it and in my opinion sausage needs it.  Thanks for the lead on the Leggs pepper mix.  Sounds good.  WRT to trying to nail a style like klobase.  I have learned in homebrewing in order to replicate you need to use authentic ingredients.  German beer= german ingredients.  I took a a quick look and see paprika listed often for klobase.  I was turned onto paprika paste by another member here for the use in paprikash and it is NOTHING like Kroger paprika.  Might be worth a try.


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## tallbm (Oct 27, 2020)

zwiller said:


> That is crazy, I just made some chorizo for this exact intended use!  Looks killer!  Nice job.
> 
> 
> From your thread, I actually ended up making some with new mexican red last weekend but have not tasted it yet.  That said, it smelled INSANELY good.  I also used Mexican oregano which I say is a must for spanish/mexican.  Pretty different than store bought oregano which is mediterranean.   https://www.meatsandsausages.com/sausage-recipes/chorizo-mexican
> ...



Thanks for the info.  The biggest issue I find with attempting Czech Klobase is that I can't get any Czech people that make to give up any info on how to make it hahahaha.  They are taking the secrets to making this stuff to the grave unfortunately hahaha


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## tallbm (Oct 27, 2020)

chopsaw said:


> I ground 15 pounds of pork cushion yesterday .  Was looking at Klobase . but haven't mixed it yet .
> Mixed 2.2 lbs of reaper sausage .  5 lbs out for breakfast . I have all kinds of seasonings in the pantry , but was interested in the Klobase . Which one did you use that needed help ?



So the recipe online that comes up is incomplete like half the content got cut out.  
This web page here seems to be the same recipe but completed haha




__





						Domáce Údené Klobásy
					

Domáce Údené KlobásySlovak Homemade Smoked SausageIf you have been a member of this forum for...




					foodsoftheworld.activeboards.net
				




I haven't attempted the recipe in the link above, but I did attempt from the "slovak cooking" cooking website back in my early days of sausage making and discovered the hard way that the recipe was incomplete hahaha, i just grilled those guys up and ate em though, no smoking em.

I have also tried a prepared seasoning in my early days of sausage making that I was told "is the exact seasoning and recipe" used by the family in my home town that makes the most amazing Klobase..... I was lied to and I had to easily double up the spice to have any flavor so another set of failures playing with that seasoning hahaha.

Some day i'll get close I hope but as for now the link i posted is the next attempt but i'm kinda put off from trying so who knows when I'll give that recipe a shot :)


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## zwiller (Oct 28, 2020)

tallbm said:


> So the recipe online that comes up is incomplete like half the content got cut out.
> This web page here seems to be the same recipe but completed haha
> 
> 
> ...


What you are saying resonates in me.  German brewing recipes and techniques are deliberately made crude and/or missing crucial information.  I get that.  I have some recipes I will never give up.  It is somewhat shocking to me when you say you were given a recipe and you had to scale up the spice!  I think that is a HUGE hint!  That is probably the legit recipe and you just need to properly scale it.  IMO people that give out a recipe like that obscure it so that only others who know what they are doing can use it.  I could give you my exact formula for a batch of homebrew but you would have to be a very experienced brewer to use it.  That is done intently...   I wager the recipe you were given was based on 1kg batch and would need to be scaled up 2.2x for pounds.  Absolutely no shame in not stuffing and smoking batches until you are happy.  I made a round 8 - 1lb batches to dial in one of mine and just made fried patties.  Made a spreadsheet to tweak recipe.  Learned immensely.


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