Need to turn some ground venison into breakfast patty sausage. Don't want to add pork fat.

Anybody have a good set of spices and the appropriate ratios per pound?

start with elk if you have an option, its oh so much better for sauage!!

As to the pork addition;don't use fat,use Boston Butt.I use a 50/50 mixture + it makes great pan sausage. Sage + cayenne are to individual tastes.

Eldon's sausage in Idaho makes a really good western breakfast sausage seasoning.

I always add bacon at about 15% for sausage. You can leave it out but it won't be like normal sausage. But I'm sure some egg/potato/carrot could be added to bring it closer to the desired consistancy.

The best I ever made was 4/7 elk, 2/7 wild hog and 1/7 bacon ends. It was amazing.

I like LEM's breakfast sausage seasoning, but I'm not sure how it'll work with very lean wild game. I used up some pronghorn trimmings and tougher-than-a-boot Barbary sheep to make damn good breakfast sausage, but I cut in about 10% pork fat. It'd probably work without the fat, but you may not get patties to stick together. Like Jason said, nothing an egg won't fix. Or just eat it as burritos!

Thanks!

I always mix in two eggs per 3 lbs and then "dry it up" if I need to with either seasoned or unseasoned breadcrumbs depending on what I am using it for.

Mike - finally got back, unpacked and (sorta) back on schedule!

My first thought WAS that some pork in some form is necessary. As some here have noted, I would normally, at the very least, add ground pork to the deer; bacon is also a great option - I use "ends and pieces," ground and mixed with the deer. Without some kind of fat or fatty meat, your breakfast sausage would tend to be dry, crumbly, stringy and lacking in texture.

Having said all that, I've never tried mixing in eggs as a substitute or in lieu of pork fat - I like that idea and it would seem to me that it would work well. When I butcher/process my deer, I package the ground deer by itself, with no other meat or fat added; this way, it can be used for almost any purpose that I might later want to go with: burger, sausage, jerky etc. I think I have some ground deer left in the freezer and will give the egg thing a try, using 2 eggs per 3 pounds of deer, and see how it works.

As for recipes, I've got a few that I like - all you need to do is skip any pork and make up the difference with venison, then try your egg method. I do not see any reason why it wouldn't work!


1. "My" Breakfast Sausage

I came up with this one on my own, and like it...it can be tweaked to taste, of course.

Per pound of ground pork:

1.25 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon rubbed sage
1/4 teaspoon fresh coarse ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried summer savory
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
* Optional: 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or substitute paprika)
* Optional: 1/4 teaspoon MSG (Such as Accent flavor enhancer)

For all spices, use a generous or scant measurement, according to your tastes.

Mix the spices into the sausage thoroughly, adding a little water, beer or other similar liquid (if necessary) in order to reach a desired consistency.

Best results seem to be obtained by allowing the sausage to refrigerate overnight, so that the flavours can meld.


2. Potato Sausage

From "The Hunting and Fishing Library:"

1 quart water
2 lbs. peeled potatoes
1 lb. trimmed deer, antelope, elk or moose
1 lb. boneless fatty pork shoulder or pork butt (bacon ends or pieces also work very well)
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
1 egg, beaten
1 Tbsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. ground sage leaves
1/4 tsp. dried basil leaves
1/4 tsp. sugar

In 2-quart saucepan, heat water to boiling. Add potatoes and return to boiling. Reduce heat; cover. Simmer until potatoes are fork-tender, 25-35 minutes. Drain. Cool potatoes and cut into 3/4-inch cubes.

Cut deer and pork into 3/4-inch cubes. In large mixing bowl, combine deer, pork, potato cubes, onion and egg. In small bowl, mix remaining ingredients. Sprinkle over meat and potato mixture; mix well. Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 1 hour to blend flavors.

Chop or grind meat and potato mixture to medium consistency. Shape into thin patties. Fry in nonstick skillet over medium low heat in a small amount of vegetable oil until browned and cooked through, turning once.


3. Fresh Breakfast Sausage

I haven't tried this one, but it looks good....

2 lbs. lean, ground venison, crumbled
2 lbs. ground pork, crumbled
1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp. ice water
1-1/2 Tbsp. salt
1 tsp. white pepper
1 tsp. rubbed sage
1 tsp. ground thyme
1/4 tsp. nutmeg (optional)
1/4 tsp. ginger (optional)

In large mixing bowl, combine ground venison and ground pork. In small mixing bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Add to meat mixture. Mix by hand until ingredients are evenly distributed. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Sausages may be pan-fried or grilled. Wrap tightly and freeze any remaining sausage for future use.


4. Venison Breakfast Sausage

This recipe is fast, flavorful, and easy, with no special curing agents or stuffing meat into casings.

1 lb. trimmed venison (deer, elk, antelope, moose, etc)
6 ounces lean bacon ends or slab bacon
3/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dried, crushed sage leaves
1/4 tsp. pepper
*optional – 1/2 tsp. ground ginger

Cut the venison and bacon into 3/4-inch cubes. Place in medium mixing bowl. In small bowl, mix salt, sage, pepper and ginger. Sprinkle over meat; mix well.

Chop or grind mixture to desired consistency. Shape into thin patties and fry over medium heat until browned, turning once.

You da Man

If you try any of those, let me know how well they work!

Too complicated for me .
Three parts venison
One part pork such as pork shoulder with a fair amount of fat
add to taste salt, pepper , and nutmeg

In Italy they would call that luganega .

As a bread crumb filler I use Pepperidge Farms dressing mix.Tastes much better.

I ended using this one but backed off on the red pepper flakes

https://www.bonappetit.com/rec...ba-breakfast-sausage

Well Mike you said you didn't want to use pork fat but you ended up using pork shoulder which is full of pork fat. Try using some "ham base" which has the pork flavor but is nearly fat free. You could substitute Crisco vegetable shortening for fat but recent findings indicate these artificial fats are worse for you than pork fat.

I should have been clearer, I used that spice mix.

I did not use any pork shoulder or other meat. It was all moose meat with 1 egg per pound added and some plain bread crumbs.

Made breakfast on my front lawn for 30 of my neighbors and they all loved the moose breakfast sausage.

I took a look at the recipe you used and the combination of spices looks like a good one! Sounds like it turned out pretty well with the non-pork ideas.

I'd like to give this a shot sometime; it will probably be next year, since our hunting season was a bust, for multiple reasons. I do have plenty of ground pork, but I also want to try the fat/binding alternatives with all-venison sausage.

I just made a batch up tonight.

6 lbs venison
4 lbs pork shoulder
1 lb thick cut bacon
2 tbs Sage
1/3 cup Morton's meat cure
2 tbs Pepper
3 tbs Red pepper flakes
1/2 cup brown sugar

I recall seeing an article in Sporting Classics magazine touting the the virtues of Plantation mix #6 if memory serves.Be worth pulling up online.

Ya gotta get past that no fat, you sound like my cardiologist.. He loved my elk sausage, said he had to make an exception..LOts of finely chopped Jalapeano is primary and its hot..the rest is standard South of the Border seasoning..

Has nothing to do with the fat. Has everything to do with wanting to taste Moose or Elk or Venison and not wanting to taste beef or pork fat.

If I wanted sausage that had the taste of domestic pork or beef in it, I would go to the grocery store.

mike that's plum scary with deer, but works with elk, Ive made sausage with elk only and loved it...Deer IMO is just a bit too wild to by without fat..I dont' even like deer hamburger, but I love elk hamburger without fat added for tacos, burritos, spegetty, sometimes in enchaladas, oh hell I like elk anyway you can fix it..

ONe of my favorite recipes is make a pot of beans, spiced to hell and back with lots of garlic, cilantro, etc, can or two of Herdez, the do the same with coursest ground elk hamburger cooked well and toss that into the bean pot, mix it up and let it slow simmer for 30 minutes to an hour..eat it out of a bowl with crackers. I cours grind all the less palatable cuts and scrap.