Homemade Sausage Making

[center]Made some elk snack sticks.
Got the meat all seasoned for stuffing and in the fridge over night to blend the flavors together.

The line up. Missing in the picture is 1 level tspns instacure #1 , but it was added in case your wondering. This is for a 5 lbs. batch



All mixed and into the fridge over night


3lbs. elk
2lbs. pork
2 tablespoons Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce (great stuff )
31/4 ozs. of pepper stick seasoning
1 level tspns. instacure # 1
1/2 cup cold water/ mix all ingredients together
Stuff into 19-21 sheep casings. [/center]

[center]Here is what they looked like coming out of the smoker.
It was a very long smoke as I lost one of my duel elements in my smoker.
So 1 element and below freezing temps -30F*with the wind chill was hard to hold temp in the smoker and took a long time but they got done
The heat from the Scotch Bonnet pepper sauce is just right, not so hot that your mouth is burning but enough that the top of you head starts to feel the heat
The only thing I would change is the pork to elk ratio as it still was a bit dry. Maybe a 50\50 ratio would be better
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Maybe just increase the fat to lean ratio. Swallow was asking and commenting on cold smoking. - 30 F is sorta over doin it.

The Mrs. neighbor from Poland used a 3 parts pork to 1 part venison. for his sausage for smoking. Also, he would pan fry a burger to check for moisture and seasoning before stuffing.

I personally have never tasted elk and I don't like the taste of deer but I will say that the best pepperoni that I have ever tasted was made from moose. It was made by an old Ukrainian sailing buddy of mine. I have no idea what the recipe was or the procedure involved but it was simply the best. Is elk similar to moose insofar as that moose is Very dry.

Swallow

Swallow , I think that the taste of most venison depends on the forage the animal had for the three months before its death.
A rancher I knew in Oregon said that he preferred to take a deer about three weeks after the wheat harvest ended while they were still eating grain and before they moved back down into the canyons and started browsing sage brush.
Just as pork taste reflects the feed I am sure the same holds true for wild meat.

ssorllih wrote:Swallow , I think that the taste of most venison depends on the forage the animal had for the three months before its death.
A rancher I knew in Oregon said that he preferred to take a deer about three weeks after the wheat harvest ended while they were still eating grain and before they moved back down into the canyons and started browsing sage brush.
Just as pork taste reflects the feed I am sure the same holds true for wild meat.

Well Ross, I'm not knocking what others eat But in this area the deer feed almost exclusively on alfalfa, corn and hay.(Damn moochers). I have a lot of deer around here both white tail and mules, as well as moose and the occasional elk does pass through. As matter of fact as I write this I can looking out of my office window see seven does feeding in my pasture. All toll I probably have around a thousand or so deer on my property according to the wildlife dept estimates. I bale up 74 acres of alfalfa every year, two cuts, 75% of which I sell to other farmers and the rest gets fed to the deer. My dairy herd of Two Dwarf Jerseys don't eat all that much. These deer are well fed and fat but to me they still taste like deer. But as I don't hunt or allow hunting on my land it ain't much of a problem and the extended family here at the Swallow's Nest continues to grow.

As to my question I was just wondering if there was a difference in taste between deer and elk with the forage being equal. I do know that there is a huge diff between deer and moose.

Swallow

I am sure that there is a difference just as there is between sheep and cow. I know people that claim to be able to tell the difference between an Angus steer and a dairy steer when it is cut and grilled .

For me tell you how elk tastes I would have to try it without adding pork or beef. I only make sausage out. The elk I get comes from a game farm down the road from me and they get feed grain and all the good stuff so I'm sure they taste different than wild elk.

Ross wrote:

I know people that claim to be able to tell the difference between an Angus steer and a dairy steer when it is cut and grilled .

Ross, do you mean to tell me that you CAN'T taste the difference? Out here we have the bally-faced Hereford and others of course, but I can taste whether it was raised on grass or hay. Very easily distinguished but then, I've been chasin' the dang things all my life.

You are absolutely correct about deer diet during their last 3 months. Those raised in the brush even begin to taste like it. Back up in the timber, they taste different - not better... just different. When a deer has been running and is shot, it tastes like... it was running and shot! Many hunters don't know how to clear away the musk glands, anus, bladder etc., and those things also "contribute" to the flavor many people complain about. Good deer meat is delicious. Elk is marvelous. It's texture is a bit more coarse and some say it's tougher but those are the folks who don't know how to cook it. Hey, come and visit and we'll even have you shoot a bear and a buffalo! I'm just not going with you on your sailboat the "Bietzpaddlin". You see, I'm afraid of sharks ever since I saw "Jaws".

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon

Chuckwagon, You don't have to be concerned about sharks here the pollution kills them before they get this far up the bay.

Good looking sticks Devo!!!! I like the color!!!