That's some thing I had thought about. I'll give it a try in a couple weeks. (muzzle loading season starts Sat) When making brats, I've been at kind of a loss on grind - I've thought about 1/4" grind, then 1/8' (which is what I normally do), then maybe second 1/8" grind? Do you think that would get ...

thanks- I have been reluctant to try anything extra, but it sounds like I should.

I made some Andouille earlier this year - it turned out quite nice - I used some small cubes of pork, mixed with a finer ground mince. I've bought Andouille from the Best Stop in Scott, La (the best!) - and theirs is much coarser throughout. Like 1/4-3/8" chunks of pork and fat, in a large 45/55mm c...

4200 g lean meat (about 65%deer, 35%wild pig)

1190 g pork fat

Salt 91.6
Cure #1 13.5
BP 21.5
Juniper 5.25
Garlic P 37.7
Cayenne 16.2
Celery Seed 10.8

I had about 6 lbs cubed deer, and 4 lbs cubed wild pig in the freezer from the winter. With deer season less than a month away, I needed to do something with it. There was a touch of freezer burn on some, but I trimmed it carefully. Bought some pork fat at the local Mexican grocery. Mixed about 22% ...

Very nice! I've made these using deer/wild pork mix and they turned out great. 100% right on the sheep casing but I do like to use them for a few things. I noticed when I quit buying the "home pack" and started buying bigger lots , the quality went up. Apparently some of the small packs are shorts a...

"Hobbyists/amateurs tend to smoke theirs sausages longer than do the commercial processors. The long smoking phase will result in a dryer sausage and a tough casing." I noticed this by accident - sausages that I didn't have time to smoke as long, actually had a nicer casing and better "feel" than on...

Yes, thank you. I'll have to try that, as fat binding (or not) seems to be my constant struggle.

SickString Said: Thanks Redzed! I have made so many disappointing sausages in the past (learning curve), from poor texture, to dry to no flavor. Others on this site have helped me with texture and moisture and I have found with their expertise and knowledge that adding more fat to wild game seemed ...

Man, that sounds like a great day in the swamp. How about a "hunter sausage", heavy on the juniper berries? I mixed some venison, wild pig, added dom pork fat and smoked. There's several recipes out there, fits the wild pig really well.

The plate(s) and knife look to be in great shape. Made a small batch - used some egg whites as binder - came out MUCH better, still had some very small spots of fat pooling. I poached some and they were done in 30 minutes, poached some more, they were done in 27. Next batch I'll check even sooner, I...

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll try some small batches and see what combination works.

No - I'm sure that recipe is guarded like Ft Knox. I'm not trying to copy their seasoning, as much as get the precooked texture to be right. Here's what I did: Deer - 1816 g Dom Pork fat - 454 Salt - 41 BP - 7.7 Onion pwder - 6.6 cardamom - 2.1 celery seed - 2.0 mace - 1.8 ginger - 1.4 nutmeg - 1.4 ...

That sounds tasty! The only reason I'm stuck on this is - I've been taking deer meat to the same sausage place for years. They make brats, fully cooked, and I'd share them with the whole family. Since I've started making my own, I've tried to replicate the pre-cooked brats. I'm wondering if a longer...