Yes, I truely enjoy making my own summer sausage, sticks, brats, hotdogs, kielbasa etc. during the off season. I will try to make this brief, but informative.
1st - I double grind my deer meat and mix in 5 - 10% beef fat that Fareway saves for me, and I freeze it in one and five pound packages. That way I can use it to make small 5 - 10 lb batches of sausage any time I want. Frozen are good, freshly made are best!
(Most sausage recipies call for 90% lean meat and I think uncured ground meat keeps fresh in the freezer better than sausage)
2nd - Seasonings for sticks. The best I have found is what I can buy them from Eldons Sausage.
http://www.eldonsausage.com/
My favorites are the Pepper stix and the Teriyaki/Hawaiian premixes. Eldon's spices have complete instructions on the container, and you will have to add some nonfat dry milk and water.
3. Casings - I like the 19mm Callagen casings that I get from The SausageMaker Inc.
http://www.sausagemaker.com/ Cabelas also carries these, and gets them from the same place. Eldon's has 21mm collagen casings that work fine, but I just like the smaller ones better. Sausagemaker also has some stick premixes, but for me Eldons turns out better. (better texture & taste)
4. Basically I follow the instructions on the seasoning package. I use an old enterprise lard/fruit/sausage press to stuff the sausage, let it cure over night. Then I hang the stuffed casings from wooden dowels in my electric "luhr Jensen" type electric smoker for about 2 pans of saw dust(about 3-4 hours). I like cherry & apple saw dust, but hickory, alder or misquite all work well. My smoker does not get hot enough to fully cook it, so I finish it in the oven on real low heat 175 - 200 , using a meat thermometer until internal sausage temp reaches about 165.
5. Let cool, cut into shorter lengths, place in zip lock bags and then stick in the fridge for 12 hours or more. (12 hours in the fridge helps the moisture content become more consistent throughout the entire batch)
Very seriously folks, anyone who has tried these has nothing but compliments about them. I think the mild pepper stix seasoning is great(I'd add some extra heat but them my wife and kids wouldn't eat it.) I sometimes take 5lbs to work and they disappear before 10 a.m..
Let me know if you want any more info
IaCraig
