Strong Venison Taste

[Riney]

I did 50/50 venison to pork butt. I made 7 lbs of breakfast sausage (forget which one) and 7 lbs of blue ribbon brats. I don’t mind and will eat up, but for the non-venison lovers of the house - not sure. Would I have been better of with pork fat vs pork butt? More seasoning? Any advice would be appreciated.

[barry145]

I normally use 60/40 ratio for snack sticks. 60% Venison to 40% pork butt.
So your 50/50 shouldn’t have been strong unless your venison was strong.
The meat you start out with makes a big difference. Did your deer meat have a strong smell?

[Riney]

Thanks for the reply. No, venison was normal and fresh. Seems I did everything right. It may just be the fact of how lean the venison is and retaining some of the venison taste. Maybe my expectations were off. Can’t take sirloin steak and make it taste like a ribeye! Lol

[mikehoots]

barry145 said in Strong Venison Taste:

I normally use 60/40 ratio for snack sticks. 60% Venison to 40% pork butt.
So your 50/50 shouldn’t have been strong unless your venison was strong.
The meat you start out with makes a big difference. Did your deer meat have a strong smell?

[Parksider]

Riney if it’s not the meat is it the spice? Something just doesn’t sound right. I use 50/50 version to pork butts.

[Riney]

147 pork sausage seasoning calls for .50 lb to 25 lbs. meat I used 2.6 oz + 3 tblsp for 7 1/2 lbs. Blue ribbon brats calls for 1.125 lbs to 25 lbs meat. I used 6 oz. This was my first shot at fresh sausage, so was unsure of my results.

[Parksider]

Riney I’d recommend doing all calculations in oz. So 8oz/25#=.32oz per pound. 7.5x.32=2.4oz so i’m not sure where the 2.6 came from and why did you add 3T? Sounds like you have a lot of spice in there.
i came up with 5.4oz on the blue ribbon, so again you have more spice than recommended. I do know some people that use the mixes and only put 20# of meat, they like the spice but I like to also taste the meat. Hope this helps.

[APoreda]

I also target 50/50 Port to Venison usually using Shoulder for more fat content. I actually buy ground Fat in case the Fat content runs too lean. Make sure you trim the fat off the venison before freezing. I use a vacuum sealer to minimize air exposure. Air exposure when thawing seams to increase the gamey flavor. Trim the venison again where necessary, especially dark and bloody spots. I thaw in the vacuum bag to further minimize any gamey flavor. Grind the pork and Venison together with seasoning and your good to go.

[Riney]

Parksider Thanks for the help. I am learning a lot from everyone. I threw the extra in when I did not have the flavor I thought I should. The when splitting decimals in oz should be minimal. I agree oz is the way to go.