Venison Breakfast Sausage Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the ratio of pork fat to venison for breakfast sausage? ›

A lot of people seem to go much leaner than 20% with their venison grind. But the rule of thumb for sausage seems to be 20-30%, or 25%-30%. I was able to source pork back fat and pork shoulder. Right now I'm leaning towards: 20% back fat, 20% pork shoulder, 60% venison = ~26% fat.

Breakfast sausage (or country sausage) is a type of fresh sausage, typically made from pork, that is a common breakfast food in the United States. In the United States, the predominant flavorings used for seasoning are black pepper and sage. There are also varieties seasoned with maple syrup or cayenne pepper.

Depending on what you're planning to cook, you may want to add fat to your ground venison. This added fat can be bacon, pork shoulder, pork belly, beef tallow, etc. It's purely personal preference. I always add about 15-20 percent fat if I'm making hamburger or kebabs, which makes the meat juicier and more flavorful.

Pork fat is usually added to the venison meat to add fat. You can get pork trimmings from your local butcher. I like to make 60/40 venison sausage, which means you mix 60% venison with 40% pork fat trimmings. Cube the venison and pork trimming to a size that you can feed into your grinder.

Pork can be almost all fat (trimmings), or lean with fat (pork butts or shoulders). Here are some guidelines for Venison or Elk: 1. Using a ratio of 50% game meat to 50% pork butts or pork shoulders will give you a high quality sausage with a pork influence.

We like to use a 50/50 ratio of ground pork to ground venison. So, for every pound of venison you'll use a pound of pork. This is completely subjective, though. You can use more pork to venison or more venison to pork.

MUSCLE MEATS. Skeletal muscle meats from slaughtered animals are the principal ingredients used in sausage production. However, the different skeletal muscles vary not only in their contents of fat, water and proteins, but also in their water binding and emulsifying properties, colour, etc.

From the Package. PORK, WATER, CONTAINS 2% OR LESS: CORN SYRUP, SALT, NATURAL FLAVOR, VINEGAR, SUGAR, PORK BROTH, MONOSODIUM GLUTAMATE.

Salt was the main seasoning and preservative and it still plays an important role in sausage today. It was even named for salt, derived from the Latin word salsicus, or “seasoned with salt”. When you make your own sausage, you're in control.

My rule of thumb is to add 10-20% fat when making venison burgers. The 90-10 ratio will produce a lean patty, whereas an 80/20 will be richer. On the other hand, an authentic sausage should be succulent. Fat is fundamental to creating a juicy product.

Can you mix ground beef and venison? ›

Sometimes I combine ground venison and ground beef 50-50 to make a better mix for any recipe that calls for ground meat. If you do this, you can buy the cheaper ground beef that is a 75-25 mix of lean to fat, and when you add the leaner ground venison, you still get a pretty lean mix.

That's because it contains high amounts of stearic acid. The stearic acid in deer fat does the same thing and it coats your mouth with the venison flavor. Some people really don't like this, but drinking something acidic like wine with venison can cut through that mouthfeel.

Lard is melted or rendered fat and is not good for making sausages.

Sausage Ratios

The standard for sausage preparation is a 2:1 lean to fat ratio (65-70% lean meat to 30-35% fat). Some ratios are as high as a 1:1 lean to fat ratio (50% lean meat to 50% fat) or lower at a 4:1 lean to fat ratio (80% lean meat to 20% fat).

Beef trimmings are an alternative to pork fat. When buying a fatty brisket or steaks, I trim off the fat and save it to add to ground venison. You can also ask your butcher to set it aside for you.

Sausages should contain 25-30% fat. This may seem like a lot but many commercially made sausages contain 50% fat. So, you need 250-300g of fat per 1kg of sausage mix. Like most things to do with sausages, it is not necessary for the ratio of fat to meat to be perfect.

Typically, when making sausage you want to aim for a cut that gives you a ratio of 80% meat and 20% fat. When making sausage you want to avoid leaner cuts of pork which will typically end in the word “loin” (i.e. tenderloin).

Remember adding pork butt, you are adding meat as well. The pork butt is not pure fat, probably only 30-40 percent fat. Usually when I add pork butt I will go with 70% venison and 30% pork butt.