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Deer brats

midwesterncrosshair

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 29, 2018
Messages
180
Location
Western Illinois
Hey Folks
I made a batch of deer brats, snack sticks, summer sausage, and breakfast sausage so far from last years kill. Summer sausage and snack sticks are superb, deer brats are okay, and have yet to dig in on the breakfast sausage. Everything was mixed with 20% pork butt with 10% high temp cheese (except breakfast sausage) and followed the seasonings to a T.

I'm curious to hear everyone else's recipe for deer brats that they have perfected. Maybe I did perfect it and I'm just not a fan but I'm willing to try other recipes to find something I like.

Thanks
 
Venison is a lot denser meat than pork, so you will probably never get something that resembles a Johnsonville brat out of it. Not to say you can't get outstanding sausage out of your deer, but the meat you have to work with does better in Kielbasa-type sausages- a little heavier, generally smoked (because venison takes smoke so very well), and more of a knife-and-fork sausage than a bun sausage. In my own limited experience, in order to get a bratwurst-type result, you need to use mostly pork or veal, and that's just a shame. I'd rather make summer sausage and kielbasa with the venison, and go get a couple of pork shoulders from Costco to make brats. Another thing that's on my to-do list when I have a better season than I did this year is Landjaeger.
 
For venni brats, I go to about 50/50 mix, due to the venison being so lean. As mentioned, it still will be dryer than a greasy johnsonville. Which I don't personally care for. I add lots of cheddar or pepper jack cheese for the taste and to keep juicier. I eye ball it, so can't say what %. I also use a "dark beer" to add flavor instead of just mixing seasoning with water. Don't just use a lite beer. Other times, I've diced up cans of mushrooms and swiss cheese for mushroom-swiss brats. I've also diced up cooked bacon and added that with the cheddar. Some I'll add sauteed onions and peppers. Just keep mixing it up for variety. I been using the LEM brand brat seasoning as the base. Haven't had anyone put a brat back yet cause they didn't like it.
 
I made this recipe from a previous post. Tripled it for a large batch. They turned out very good.



4 lbs venison
1 lb pork back fat
3 tbs kosher salt
2 tsp ground white pepper
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1.5 tsp grated nutmeg
2 large eggs
1 cup heavy whipping cream.

Grind your meat with all the ingredients except the eggs and cream, then mix in the last two until almost a paste, and stuff your casings.
 

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