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Making ‘Sausage’ and a Point

16 Comments

Last week we had a Truck Time with Twayn and bS commented "I want to see some sausage-making pictures too." Funny thing is, I was actually in the process of making sausage* so this one is for brian. Unfortunately, I neglected the camera during the mixing/stuffing portion so all you get is the recipe and directions. However, the smoking, eating and drinking the Point Classic Amber was the fun part - so here you go!

*snack sticks actually

In the past, I've paid butchers to process and package my venison but the sticker shock just got to be too much. This year, I did all the processing with a buddy. He owns a heavy-duty grinder (not the one in the picture - that's my home mixer) and we did everything from field dressing to smoking the finished product. It was a LOT of work, but I enjoyed it immensely. Almost like making my own beer and salsa!

Venison Sausage/Stick

  • 2.5 pounds of ground venison
  • 2.5 pounds ground pork
  • 2 tablespoons of canning salt
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons of curing mix
  • 1/4 cup of Worcestershire sauce
  • 1.5 tablespoon of garlic powder
  • 2 tablespoons of onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon of ground black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper powder
  • 22 mm collagen casings (sold in packages for 25# of meat – what I ended up making. Multiply the above recipe by 5...obviously?)

Combine the salt and curing mix with the ground pork and venison. Knead the meat thoroughly to mix in the salt mixture. Place the meat in the refrigerator for two days, mixing well twice each day. Before mixing for the last time, add the remaining ingredients. Mix very well then stuff into collagen casings, twisting into links at ~12 inch increments.

    

 Smoking

                    

Pour lava rock into basin and level. Lay heating element across top of lava rock and scatter wood for seasoning into the open spaces between the elements. Be sure it doesn’t touch the element; you want it to smoke and smolder, not burn up.

                            

Fill water tray with approximately 1.25 gallons of water (for moist heat). Spread links across racks with sufficient space to allow the heat and smoke to circulate. My smoker was an electric so you just plug it in. Smoke for 5-6 hours or until links reach an internal temperature of 170° F.

                            

I've been trying to sample local* beers lately so a sampler pack of Point was on hand for sausage prep. I went with the Classic Amber to accompany my taste test. The venison sticks turned out excellent if I do say so myself. The beer was pretty good too. Poured a clear, copper-reddish color with a nice tan head that dissapated quickly. Malts and fresh hops aroma with clean, bright mouthfeel and light malty taste and a slightly bitter finish. My only complaint was that it was almost too light (in every sense) for the smoky sausage/sticks. Probably should have gone with the Black Ale instead.

 *For my purposes, pretty much anything produced in MN, WI, IA, and IL.

 

16 thoughts on “Making ‘Sausage’ and a Point”

  1. Nice work, Can. I must admit, those sausages look pretty much amazing.

    I bought a hand cranked grinder 5 or so years ago with every intention of making my own brats and various smoked sausages. So far, I've only used it once to make burgers. I really need to pull that thing out and get crankin'.

    1. And hey, if you're going to be a sausage maker, we really need to work on getting that brew day together. 😉

  2. Corn, those look mighty toothsome. I'm going to copy this one down for posterity; once we're in our own place I'd love to get a smoker. And good on you for fabricating your own meat - it's quite a nice back pocket skill to possess.

    For what it's worth, the 2012 Black goes really well when consumed along with coffee (in separate containers, of course). A buddy originated this as a "Trivia speedball" for the 54-hour trivia contest we attend in Point each year. It gets one to the proper level of alertness without any caffeine edginess.

    1. This was actually my first foray with the smoker - it went pretty well and I'm really pleased with the result.

      I really liked the Black so I will definitely try the Trivia Speedball.

  3. This is amazing. My family has made Italian sausage for as long as I can remember and I've recently gotten into expanding beyond that. The kitchen aid grinder attachment is super effective. I got the stuffer attachment for Christmas but that's still a two person job and my wife is vegetarian so, oh know.

    I would like to do more smoking as well.

    1. The stuffing is definitely a two person job. With three guys working, we did more than 300 pounds of meat total in about 7 hours. It took me about that long at home to stuff this 25# batch by myself...

  6. Question, though, how do you measure the temperature of the meat? I would think you don't want to puncture the casings.

    1. I used a meat thermometer. With 25# of sausage, I was willing to "lose" one link per batch to make sure they were done. Turns out, the smoker cooks and dehydrates the sticks enough that after 4 hours (when I first measured temps), I didn't have to worry about losing anything by puncturing the casings. After the first batch, I nailed down the cooking time.

  7. This. Is. Awesome.

    Well played, Corn. I bow down to your delicious-looking meat stick 😉

    What? what?

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