Problems Cooking Wild Game?

Turn it into Sausage

For the uninitiated, cooking wild game can seem a pretty daunting task.

It needn't be...Just turn it into sausage.

Almost any good venison sausage recipe will work very well with meat taken from elk, antelope, moose, wild sheep and goats, bears...You name it.

Small game (like rabbits and squirrels) and more exotic species (like kangaroo) also make very good sausage.

Just remember that most game meat, with the possible exception of bear meat, is much more lean than its domestic counterpart is. You'll need to add fat to the mix to get the best tasting results.

Here's a sausage recipe that I have used for deer, elk, pronghorn, and moose meat. The sausage has turned out great in every case.

Recipe

3 1/2 lbs very well trimmed game meat

1 1/2 lbs fatty pork shoulder or trimmings

1/2 cup brandy

1/2 cup ice water

2 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt

2 tablespoons fine ground black pepper

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon ground mace (or 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg)

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

Cube both the game meat and the pork, then grind it through the medium plate on your sausage grinder.
Combine the brandy, water, and all the spices.
Pour the spice/water/brandy combination over the ground meat and mix it in very well using your hands.
Stuff the sausage immediately into the casings of your choice (I like to use 35mm natural hog casings) or leave it bulk to be made into patties.

There are many ways you can vary this basic recipe. For example:

Add 2 tablespoons of dried red pepper flakes for a hot game sausage
Add 1 tablespoon of liquid smoke for a smoky fresh sausage, or...
Add 1 teaspoon of cure (prague powder #1 or Instacure #1) and smoke the stuffed links in the sausage smoker.