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.