I just have to bragg on my successfull batch of venison summer sausage. I tried making some with High Mountain seasonings last year and it turned out terrible.
This year, after doing more research on sausage making, I made a 25lb batch.
I ordered the ingredients from ALLIED KENCO. The things I put in besides seasoning and cure which made a big difference were powdered milk and citric acid capsules and 25%boston butt 18 lbs venison 7 lbs of boston butt. The powdered milk acts as a binder and helps with moisture retention and the citric acid gives it the tangy flavor.
Ground and Seasoned/cured it one day, remixed it again every day for 3 days, then added the powdered milk and citric acid on the 3rd day right before stuffing in fibrous casings. Then cooked them in the oven at 200' to an internal temp of 155'. I then pulled them out of oven and gave them a cold water bath to stop the cooking process. I've gotten several genuine complements from hunters and non hunters alike. One very experienced hunter said it was the best he's ever tasted (though no deer processors around here make good summer sausage). My cousin who lives in Missoure and gets great summer sausage from "Oberly" in south east Missouri had a hard time believing I actually made it myself.
For anyone interested check out the link. They seem to have the best prices on ingredients and you can order exactly how many items you want of anything (if you only want 10 casings, you don't have to order a minimum package of 20).
They also have helpful tips on how and why to use various ingredients.
All the seasoning, cure, powdered milk, citric acid and casings cost me less than 30$ and that made 25lbs of summer sausage. It would have been even less if I had ordered enough to make 50lbs. The boston butt added about 8 bucks. So for $38 I was able to make 22 one pound+ sausage logs. My processor charges $10 for a 3lb stick of "summer sausage" and it crumbles apart like cold dry meat loaf.
