Hey there fellow hog hunters! Recently took a hog. In the past I've always taken my meat to a processor but recently killed a young boar and just want to make my own breakfast sausage. I have a list of questions I would love answered by some of you pros:

1) I have a hard time finding pork fat from a butcher anywhere near where I live. Can I add bacon or something else I can just get at a store? How much would you recommend adding?

2) for grinding I've read you want to chill it in the freezer beforehand. I assume you don't want to freeze it but just have it cold enough for it to grind better. Is that correct? How long before grinding do you stick it in freezer?

3) do you need to have a meat mixer or will it turn out ok to just mix all the spices, etc by hand?

Thanks guys!!

1) Use bacon ends & pieces, I prefer an 80/20 mix. I weigh and grind 1 lb of bacon with 4 lbs of pork per batch.

2) Meat grinds best when it's about half frozen. I prefer to freeze mine first, then let thaw a little & start grinding.

3) No you don't need a mixer, I have one that I seldom use as I prefer to hand mix. After grinding spread your meat out in a meat lug or whatever pan/container you are using. Use your fingers to poke the meat full of holes then pour your measured/seasoned liquid mix in evenly and mix it in by hand (I use gloves). This is how I like to do it, some people season the meat and then grind.

I agree with the above

Thanks Guys. For some reason I thought you couldn't freeze meat and then refreeze it. I assume I can freeze the cubes, thaw it partially as you said, grind it and then freeze the finished sausage? Thanks again!

Yeppers, that is correct! It doesn't hurt anything to freeze and then re-freeze. Have fun! I enjoy home processing, it's a lot of work but it's rewarding and addicting.

If your hog is fat like the majority of hogs at our place you wont need the bacon.

Last year I did kill one big guy who was almost pure russian.. fat was stringy and gross, but the next day we killed a big ol butterball and saved all his fat to mix with deer meat for sausage. Came out great!

Pretty much what skinnerback said. After I cut the meat from the bones, I put it in ziplock bags and freeze it. Then I set it out and let it partially thaw (usually the edges get a little soft while the core is still hard) so that I can cut it into strips small enough to go through my grinder. You do want the meat to be firm or it will get mushy when you grind it.

I think the theory is that freezing/thawing/freezing meat causes it to lose some nutritional value, but doing it once or twice isn't significant.

There are dozens (hundreds?) of recipes for breakfast sausage on the internet or in cookbooks, but here's the one I'm currently using:

Get a 12oz container of TexJoy sausage seasoning. Add 3 Tablespoons of Cayenne Pepper (more or less to taste — you might start with two) and mix well. That should season about 40 Lbs of meat, ratio it out according to the amount you have. Add about 1 Tablespoon of sage for each 5 Lbs of meat.

Voila! Breakfast Sausage

I do this with Venison but the same thing could be done with hog.