Sausage making recipe

[KJUN]

This is related to hunting, so here goes?

Who has a good fat to LEAN meat ratio for their favorite sausage recipe?

I just got a nice smoker, so I'm starting to attempt to make linked SMOKED sausage now. (Until now, I just made pan sausage or BBQ some stuffed sausage.) My first use of the smoker was not so great. I KNOW my main problem was that I had the temps too high. It took me a day to get the wood:air ratio correct...lol. I knew I should have did a "dry run," but I was too male for that.

BUT, my recipe is off too making it too dry. I'm making pure pork sausage from wild piggies, but the problem is that I clean almost ALL of the fat off of the pig and make the sausage out of EXTREMELY lean meat. I want as LITTLE fat as possible in my sausage, but I don't want it too dry to enjoy eating. Thin line to walk, isn't it?

I don't want to use boar fat, so I plan to add beef tallow until it is just moist enough for me to eat. Anyone know of why this wouldn't be a good idea? ...or am I off on a completely wrong track all together? I just want to keep the fat in my diet as low as possible at this point.

I would LIKE to add beef tallow to the lean pork, but I have no idea what an absolute minimum needed for good sausage might be. Can anyone offer some practical suggestions????

Thanks in advance,
KJ

[jasper]

If your talkin' venison sausage, we have very good results with 1lb. bacon to 10 lbs. venison. usually the cheap bacon works best due to higher fat %, no fancy flavoring ,smoke, etc...Grind the meat up, split up the bacon & add to meat, run thru grinder again, hand mix in spices and run it thru one more time. This also gets out most of the sinew that is left in. I've not heard of anyone using beef fat with any success. But it might be a taste thing.

[KJUN]

If your talkin' venison sausage, we have very good results with 1lb. bacon to 10 lbs. venison. usually the cheap bacon works best due to higher fat %, no fancy flavoring ,smoke, etc...Grind the meat up, split up the bacon & add to meat, run thru grinder again, hand mix in spices and run it thru one more time. This also gets out most of the sinew that is left in. I've not heard of anyone using beef fat with any success. But it might be a taste thing.

Thanks, but I'm making pure/straight pork sausage. I'm not gonna "waste" deer by putting it in suasage. I reserve that for ground meat and steaks! :bird:

Sounds like you are using about 10% fat, and that is in accordance with what else I've heard. Never thought about using Bacon, though. THANKS for the idea.

I got the idea for using beef tallow from a butcher that added some to a friends fallow or axis deer (can't remember which) to make sausage. It was pretty tastey, actually!

KJ

[jasper]

" I'm not gonna "waste" deer by putting it in suasage. I reserve that for ground meat and steaks!" venison sausage or meatballs in homemade spaghetti sauce, or v sausage patties with eggs ......ya gotta give it a try!