I've always done my own. Killed a young buck saturday w/20 ga slug. Went through an he never even kicked.
Attachment 229980 Neat thing about the slug, good pass through at 60 yds but very little damage to surrounding meat. This is the exit side. Within 2 hrs had him cleaned and on ice. Made burger out of most of this one and I'm lucky in that the club where I cook uses some choice but mostly prime beef. I'm selective about the fat I use but have been accumulating for a couple of months and cryovac the trim immediately and freeze. Thawed the trim Sunday and ground and vacuum sealed Monday, quickly in the freezer. Also selective about the venison, removing all silver skin and connective tissue. As mentioned before, Gotta have moisture, at least 20% fat for a good burger. That may sound like a lot to some but a lot of that cooks out. Another source of moisture, I used 2 med - large sweet onions finely diced and about 1/4 of fresh garlic, also diced. Seasoned with salt and pepper. This was with about 23 lb of venison. Had about 1/2 bottle of decent savigon cabernet, poured over the whole tub and mixed well. Let it sit in the cooler about an hour then mix again. This assure the seasonings are well blended as well as the fatty beef and venison. A qt of apple cider or juice works as well. cryovaccuumed in 2 lb portions and froze. The next one or two will be mixed with pork and if you don't have access to good trim like I do, boston butt is naturally 30% fat in itself. 2 - 8 lb butts with a good fat cap does okay with an equal amount of lean venison. I like the old original Leggs sausage seasoning, 1 bag per 25 lbs meat. Moisture is still needed as this is a fairly lean sausage, so 1 cup or so of cider or white wine, plus 1/4 cup fresh garlic. Some additional fresh sage if you've got it, about 2 tablespoons of crushed red pepper plus 2 tablespoons of coarse grind black pepper. Mix, let it sit in the cooler and mix again. The liquid is the medium to assure the mix is even and the peppers offer flavor as well as a visual to see if it's mixed evenly. Grind and always cook a sample to see if it needs more seasoning.
I've done this a looong time and these combos work to most peoples taste. I used to stuff into hog casings but now mostly put it up bulk in 2 lb. packages. Generally if you use the Leggs you don't need additional salt. Once you get the sausage down to your taste it's hard to beat. Not much better than a couple of sausage biscuits with a fried egg on top of the sausage anytime. Plus good GRITS of course. Hah! I know that will get some of you going!
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