I process my own, although a coworker gave me some jalapeno cheese venison summer sausage and I almost changed my mind. But once the deer were home, I went back to my old ways.
Backstrap, tenderloins and large muscles become steak, the rest is ground. I pick up pork fat from the butcher and beef trimmings from the local grocery store. Add the fat by weight for the percentage I want and grind it.
Burger gets beef fat, pork pan sausage gets pork fat. This year I used Leggs off the shelf breakfast sausage spice mix and it turned out great, second and third batches had garlic and garlic-habanero powder added to the mix.
I bag the pan sausage in quart ziplock bags, about 12 ounces, flat so it thaws quick and goes right in the pan, no need to make patties.
I have not made smoked sausage in casings yet, but I plan to upgrade my grinder with a LEM Big Bite and practice using pork butt in preparation for deer season. I want to use the chub packages with the LEM grinder rather than vacuum bags for burger, appears to be a lot easier.
