One of the ways we have always wanted to prepare our venison is as a sausage. This year Proeun found this great recipe.

Hot Venison Italian Sausage

2 pounds ground Venison
1 pound ground pork (we used all venison)
1/2 cup water
4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 TBSP salt
1 TBSP black pepper
1 TBSP fennel seeds (we used anise)
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp basil

We added paprika for color, sugar and Sriracha pepper sauce (Asian staple). We also chopped carrots, onion, bell pepper and cilantro. We made approximately 35 pounds of sausage so I am not sure on the proportions.

We ground up the meat, chopped the veggies and added the seasoning.

Turns out sausage making is a long process, especially when you are using new equipment to get used to. Took us one whole evening to figure out how to use the grinder as a stuffer. We ended up calling customer service the next morning. Then it took us a while to figure out the best stuffing technique with natural casing so as not to burst the casing but get them even and full.

Finally after about 2 hours of experimenting, starting and stopping to deal with children we figured it out. Sunday night we were up until 11:30 stuffing and cleaning up. Another long night.

We had some seasoned meat left over for meatballs and tried them in our weekly spaghetti. They were fabulous! Just drain off any fat before adding the sauce.

We also went over to my parents and they made a wonderful dish of venison tenderloin sliced into medalions and dipped in dijon mustard and ground pecans and walnuts and pan fried–so amazing!. Add crusty bread some rice and pasta and you have a meal fit for a king.