With all the wild game cook books etc out there, none cover the regional Texas historical cultural version foods, and I feel like they are going by the way side.

Example- dry sausage (or ring), how many on here know how to make it? Hudbone sent me some of his that he had made and it was exceptional. Thank you again sir.

We need a how to thread on processing dry, fresh, brawts, whole muscles recipes etc.

Don’t have to have top secret recipes but processes.

Just a thought,

I agree

A good thought

I bought a sausage stuffer to go along with my meat grinder. Would be neat to have helpful hints on whats the best casing for different kinds of sausage/links and the recipes.

Been making our own as long as ive been big enough to help. My opie and my daddy let me turn the sausage stuffer crank when I was small enough I had to hang on it to get it to move.

Ive got some dry link sausage on the counter at the house waiting to be cut... thanks to covid I think work is about done for the day im gonna go do that!

Typically get casings from local meat market. Some HEB's sell casings vaccum packed in salt, you can also buy them on amazon. If making dry sausage I prefer to get casings from the meat market as they are generally fresher/better. They, at least ours sell casings specifically for dry/fresh sausage. have used both pork and beef casings, pork is a thinner link, but I find beef casings to be stronger and easier to work with in general.

You can get collagen casings from many places, they work good for snack sticks, but I prefer to not use them for link type sausage.

Go to a butcher and get beef casings.

eating some now

Had this discussion with a guy I know from Rowena, Texas. He sent me these 2 links. An article in Texas monthly and a link to the Texas BBQ Forum

https://www.texasmonthly.com/bbq/a-guide-to-texas-dried-sausage-the-perfect-portable-snack/

http://www.texasbbqforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=12522

Granzin is a good source. He can taste yours and come pretty close to telling you all that you got in it. They process thousands of deer a year. Don't know if it's into five figures yet, but it has been high four figures for years now.

Deer sausage...

cant believe you let your sausages touch

Was always a pet peve of my opies that the ends be level

Lol miss that old square head.

ends gotta be level - so many nuances

I've been keeping the art alive for the past 25 years both as a chef and a culinary instructor. The second picture is from what my students made in class before spring break/covid-19 break, they should be dry by the time we return to school. The first pic is of some whole muscles we did a couple of years ago.

I agree Bobo. I process all of my own unless I have no choice but to use a processor. I love making all sorts of sausages and I used to post threads on some of them back in the day, in the Food/Recipe Thread, but haven't in a while. Along with different whole muscle recipes and other dishes. I try to make it a point to prepare sausages and other dishes that are traditional to S Texas and S Louisiana, because those two regions are where I've spent most of my life and I love the food and tradition. On that note, I'm getting ready to make another batch of fresh pork & green onion sausage and another batch of smoked (ring) deer sausage. I'll post up.

You need to make a vid or detailed write up...plus I’ll be down there in a few weeks or less to sample

great idea Bobo ... I started helping make fresh sausage when I was probably 5-6 years old. My dad & uncles would usually buy a hog or calf and do all our own processing including making a variety of different types of both pan and link sausage. Even had an old smokehouse at my grandmother's house that reminded me of the one on "Ole Yeller" made out of cedar fence corner posts, about 8x8.

As I got older, I helped a lot more and it basically became my dad and I doing all the work. I had bought my dad a sausage & wild game cookbook that had a number of good recipes. Dad would try exactly per the recipe, then make various tweaks to better suit his likings and made notes in the margins of that cookbook for all the changes with stars marking his/our favorites. When dad passed, somehow that old marked up cookbook got misplaced or sold in an estate sale (a long with all our old grinders/stuffers/etc.). I would give good money to get that one back with all his notes. We also made a smoker out of an old metal lined upright freezer (or fridge) that worked like a charm.

we continued to do all our own processing up until the last few years of his life. He had taken one of my nephews hunting, shot a deer and tried to talk my nephew thru the gutting and skinning process (dad was highly allergic to the hair on a deer) but finally ended up getting a friend to help load the deer and took to a processor. After that one was done, dad called me and said we were done processing (he and mom were in their late 80s, so it was a lot of work to them).

anyway, I have given it a lot of thought on getting back into doing all that. but no one in my family is very interested and that is a lot of work for one person ...plus my wife says I am NOT using her kitchen ... LOL ... but maybe one of these days I will give it another shot.

A good book to learn the art of meat curing and sausage making is Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas. I have had mine for 35 plus years

Like PMK said it is a lot of work, and it is hard work. One person can do it, but 2 makes it so much easier. Everybody likes to eat the end results, but when it comes time to make up a bunch of sausage, everybody is always too busy with other must do projects.

That’s the book I started with. I think I bought it in 93 or 94. It’s a pretty good book. Maranski’s book is very good if you want to get into dry curing.

We have our deer processed and invariably the casing is just too tough. Is that because the casing is from beef rather than pork? Do some use casing from sheep? Tried a new place last year and the taste of sausage is great but the case is too tough.

Couple more pics

A tip for sausage making:
Mix all of your spices together, then add them into your cubed up meat BEFORE you grind it.
Using a good size cooler for mixing is best, jump in with both arms and get after it, have a friend sprinkle in the spices as you stir.
Feed meat into grinder (1/8” plate) alternating, pork-venison-pork-venison…
Mix by hand again after grinding
This will mix everything up really good

Add jalapenos and cheese (if you want) after grinding.