Elk brats that aren’t dry?

[Carpool4L]

I make a lot of my own sausage from scratch.

This is my preferred ratio. Works out to roughly 30% fat.

40% lean game
40% pork shoulder
20% pork fat

As a rule I say 20% fat is a minimum for sausage.

 

[schiffer99]

So I have started saving all the fat trimmings from beef steaks I have been eating and freezing them.

Plan is to mince the fat like garlic and then mix it into the elk meat prior to stuffing. This sound like something that would work?

 

[Jstumbaugh]

Send it through a grinder and keep it cold. I like to smoke my brats in bulk and then freeze them. Keep the temp down to not "melt" the fat out.

 

[huntcookwrite]

Agree, I’d grind the fat with the lean and then case.

 

[HiMtnHntr]

Pork is your friend, plus some ice water…

 

[Curtdog]

I

Got my first elk last season. Had the butcher do quite a bit of elk bratwurst and hot Italian that was loose packed like burger
(10% beef fat added to the grind). Earlier this week I stuffed some of the bratwurst into casings and tried to do a beer braise followed by searing.

Flavor was good, but the meat was pretty dry. Wondering if I braised for too long or took the internal temp to high? Anyone have any pointers or a cooking method that worked for them? I have a pellet smoker and blackstone as cooking options.

If you feel like they are drying out and would like to keep them 100 percent elk meat I like adding some frozen butter cubes into my grind from time to time if I have especially lean meat. Typically I don’t care for adding pork to my meat so that is an easy alternative. It also helps if you boil the brats in water or beer before cooking them on a hot grill.

 

[butcherboy]

So I have started saving all the fat trimmings from beef steaks I have been eating and freezing them.

Plan is to mince the fat like garlic and then mix it into the elk meat prior to stuffing. This sound like something that would work?

You really don’t want beef fat in a sausage. It will work but not like pork. Also, the trimmings from steak aren’t what you want either. Fine for burger but not sausage. For sausage if using beef fat then I would use kidney fat. I don’t use beef fat though for sausage.

 

[Snowwolfe]

Pork butts average 30% fat. I use butts for breakfast sausage. When I fry up a patty you can barely see a trace a fat in the skillet. I can't imagine making sausage with less than 30% fat. You have plenty of dry spices absorbing moisture and fat within the sausage.
Burger on the other hand, you can get away with 15% fat due to the fact it is just red meat and fat.

 

[Rodinaz]

I also do 50/50 venison and pork butt for brats and fresh sausage. To me, that combo works very well and provide good moisture and fat amount.

 

[GODSPEED]

I have them made but the butcher mixes 50/50 (venison/bacon) with cheddar cheese and jalapenos and they're amazing, they call them "Big Papa" sausages and it's the only way I order brats now. I should probably try it myself since half bacon is hard to mess up.

 

[diamond10x]

So is everybody making pork/beef sausage or wild game sausage?

You can make all sorts of different sausages with 100% wild game. It comes down to cooking temps and time that determine how dry the end product is. Even at 50%+ pork or beef you can still overcook it and it be dry. The trick with wild game sausage is cooking at lower temps and not letting that temp get above 130-135.

 

[wowzers]

I use beef fat in my burger and pork in my sausage. We also end up with a lot of roosters that I make chicken apple breakfast sausage out of that I use bacon ends for the fat.

 

[Elkhntr08]

Did 20% pork fat with my bear brats last year and we love them.

 

[highcountrymuley]

60/40 or 50/50 ground venison to ground pork shoulder for sausages. They are supposed to be GOOD! 100 % Venison is too lean for a sausage. I do not mix any fat into my ground venison that I use for tacos and burgers, I mix olive oil into the ground meat and pour some oil on outside of patty or in pan to brown loose meat for other dishes.

 

[Azone]

Sausage is not a health food and beef fat is for burger. Dry crumbly sausage is terrible and will quickly turn people off from venison or wild game in general. These are a few basic guidelines I use when making my own or stuff for family and friends.
50/50 well trimmed venison to pork butt or 70/30 well trimmed venison to pure pork fat.
One cup of liquid per five pounds of meat.
I generally prefer wine but on some recipes I will use plain ol ice water just depends what I’m making. My salt level on most recipes is about a 2.00 to 2.25 percent salt to meat ratio. Anything at or above 2.50 percent in a fresh sausage is too much for my liking.