This is a truly novel sausage that bursts with flavor and stirs up festive feelings.
Its sweetness makes it well-fit to be served with breakfast, and its fruitiness
makes it ideal for the holidays. Give it a try!
Makes about 4 lbs
- Ingredients -
3 lbs venison, cubed
1 lb frozen bacon, cubed
zest of one orange
2 tablespoons toasted fennel seeds
2 tablespoons crushed rosemary leaves
3 tablespoons oregano
3 tablespoons basil
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 cup red wine, chilled
1 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon black pepper
- Tools -
Weston Meat Grinder
Weston Vacuum Sealer
Weston Sausage Stuffer
Weston Hog Casings
As with just about any sausage recipe, you should be keeping your meat and fat as cold as possible. To keep your fat (bacon) distinct in this recipe, we recommend that you freeze it, and allow it to thaw just a little while you cube your venison. It should be just soft enough to cut with a butcher knife.
Grind the venison and bacon through the coarse plate of your
Meat Grinder. Hand mix with all remaining ingredients
except for cranberries. Grind half of this mixture through the medium plate of your grinder, then mix both grinds together. Hand mix in cranberries.
Vacuum Seal your sausage blend and let it marinate in the refrigerator for 1-2 days.
Thread your
Casings over the
Sausage Stuffer funnel and turn the handle to stuff the Cranberry-Orange mixture into them.
Prepare as you would any other sausage. We cooked ours in the oven at 200 degrees with a little red wine in the pan to keep it moist, until it was 140 degrees F (for safety - the final temp should be 160, so we precooked it to get the internal temperature up). Then we pan fried it in a skillet for 10 minutes, turning midway, until browned and 160 degrees internally.
Serve it however you like! This makes for a great holiday or breakfast sausage.
