Vension Sausage

[Thin Blue Line]

Heres the recipe I use. Its for an italian style sausage. I use pork fat, but you can use beef suet if you want. I myself dont care for it. I mix the venison to fat at about a 4 or 5 to 1 ratio. More or less depends how moist you like your sausage. Cut your meat into chunks as well as the pork fat. Weight it out into a batch and season it all. Make sure you toss your meat( sounds weird?)to get seasonings spread out on it. Put it in a freezer to firm up for 10 or 15 mins. Take it out and grind it. Hand mix it and get your casings on the tube and ready. Grind it again as you put it into the casings. The key is to let your sausage sit in the fridge for a day or so after you make it to let the flavors meld together. Then I vacuum seal them. Heres the recipe I use. If the mix looks dry I use some red wine to moisten it. Usually a chianti or a merlot. Something dark. If you get a air bubble in your casing prick it with a pin.
5 pounds lean venison
1 pound or so pork fat
5 Tablespoons sage
3 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons black pepper
4 Tablespoons fennel seed, crushed
3 Tablespoons oregano
3 Tablespoons basil
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder, or to taste( use fresh garlic if you have it )

A lot of the recipes say to mix ground beef or ground pork with the vension for flavor. I like a true venison sausage so I dont. Also I have made this recipe and thrown in green bell pepper and onions that I ran through the food processor into the mix as well as some extra sharp provolone cheese grated up and thrown in. I also make a hot sausage with paprika,black pepper,red pepper, salt, and garlic with a pinch of sugar.
If you check online a lot of recipes call for MSG, I dont add that either.
Good luck, let me know how it goes. - Tony