Tis the season for processing

[twilliams]

Since deer season is wrapping up i weighed all my venison to see what i had. I plan on using 50% venison and 50% ground pork for the snack sticks. And 50 lbs for ring bologna. I have a few questions.

1. I have 50 lbs of venison to do ring bologna. I want to smoke them so that would need a cured process correct? What casings do i use?
2. If i divide it to two 25 lb batches what seasonings would you choose?

As far as snack sticks, seasoning i have on hand is:
Mild snack stick/ pepperjack cheese
BBQ snack stick/swiss
Habanero BBQ snack stick/mozzarella
Willies snack stick/cheddar
Dill pickle snack stick/
Jalapeno snack stick/cheddar
Landejager snack stick/swiss

As you can see i have high temp cheese listed on all but dill pickle. Should i leave it plain or what cheese should i add? I have cheddar, swiss, mozzarella, and pepper jack.
Also is the cheeses picked a good choice for the spice or should i switch them up?
Quantities as follows:
Snack sticks=81.25 lbs venison 81.25 lbs pork= 162.50 lb total meat block
Ring bologna= 50 lbs venison? Pork added?

[Jonathon]

twilliams For Ring Bologna use 40mm Collagen Casings, these are an inedible casing though, so they will have to be peeled. Yes, if you are wanting to smoke these you will need to add the cure.

I just made some Kielbasa using Signature Smoked Kielbasa with Venison and Pork Fat and it was awesome!

Now, out of the ones you chose the Willies, Dill or Landjaeger would all be excellent choices and you are correct on not adding cheese to the dill!

Only one I would change would be the BBQ, go with Cheddar on that not swiss.

Your Snack Stick ratio is correct and I would mirror that on the Ring Bologna or just add 25% of the venison weight in pork fat!

Good luck!

[twilliams]

Jonathon please correct me if i am thinking of this wrong on the ring bologna mix. If i want to make 25 lbs of the signature smoked kielbasa. 25% pork fat of 25 lbs venison=6.25 lbs pork fat and 18.75 lbs venison.
Or do i not count the pork fat in the total meat poundage, for example 25 lbs venison + 6.25 lbs pork fat (25%) =31.25 lbs

[blackbetty61]

twilliams you’re right with the first one you count your pork in with your total so 6.25 pork and 18.75 deer

[twilliams]

blackbetty61 keep in mind that it is solely fat, no pork meat. That is where it is confusing me

[blackbetty61]

twilliams I would still use the 25% of the total. If you were unsure you could use just 5# of pork (20%) keep in mind that deer is really lean and like Jonathon would say in his vids (which are great and informative)flavor is in the fat and it gives you a good mouth feel. We use pork butts and usually do 50/50…I’d think you’d be ok just my opinion

[Jonathon]

twilliams What blackbetty61 said is correct! You do count the pork fat, so 6.25 to 18.75 would be pretty much perfect!