i've made a lot of various sausages. i used to try recipes that i had mixed results with. the past 10 or more years i have used Con Yeager mixes with consistent excellent results. as for ratio, i aim for around 60/40 ven/pork. i buy the cheapest pork shoulders i can find on sale and freeze them and when i'm ready, i debone and grind. i also save all pork scraps from tenderloins, etc for sausage. Con Yeager also makes excellent jerky mixes. i have never found any of their mixes to be less than excellent.
as for casings, some con yeager kits come with the celluose ones and any that don't i use natural salt packed casings. i have a pretty crappy grinder and stuffer though and need to upgrade those one of these days.
