Our first foray into sausage-making, what I call the “Elk Sausage Project”, has been a GREAT success! And it wasn’t hard to do! Hubby Dan sterilized everything, cut up an elk foreleg (removing all the silver skin & sinew), and then double-ground the elk meat, mixed with pork (60% elk, 40% pork for the fat content- elk has No fat). Then we made 3 different kinds of Breakfast Sausage (which makes GREAT burgers, too!): Walton’s Meatgistics “Holly PSS GC5060”, for classic, sage-seasoned breakfast sausage, our friend Daniel Oliver’s recipe for spicy Calabrese Sausage with Fennel, Hot Pepper, & Paprika, and one lb. using Maple-Chipotle Rub from Pepper Palace & some Bourbon Barrell Aged Maple Syrup. Dan then used the grinder to stuff it into 10 Walton’s 1-lb. sausage bags for the freezer. We cooked some of each in a cast iron pan, and ALL THREE ARE DELICIOUS- juicy, flavorful… and they make store-bought sausage patties seem absolutely tasteless! Next time we will probably make some using the Israeli “Meurav” spice mix we created & a Cinnamon-Chile spice blend we have… Other ideas are Garam Masala & Ras El Hanout & Jerk spice blends!

YUM! I am a total “chilehead” and we have an Abundance of all sorts of hot peppers this year- at least 15 kinds, as I get pepper plants from all over the world every spring from www.thechilewoman.com in Indiana. I have made pickled peppers in several styles (Korean, Vietnamese), Italian-style hot peppers stuffed with tuna/capers/parsley in olive oil, hot sauces, hot honey, hot pepper jelly… and frozen bags of them! This year I even have CAROLINA REAPERS, that I grew from seed from www.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com which it’s taken me 2 years to get peppers on!- and I am Always looking for great recipes!!!

Hi from the Extremely Rural southern mountains of Landgraff, West Virginia!
Although I have followed Walton’s for years (and entered many of their sweepstakes…), and my husband is a chef (we have an inn here- the Elkhorn inn & Theatre), and he is truly GREAT at the smoker, we are Totally New to sausage making! We are both hunters (hubs being a very experienced hunter), and we currently have a cow elk in our freezer, cut up into about 5 huge pieces, which we just brought back from Colorado! Help please! (The elk is from a farm, not wild; our recent hunt in Colorado was a total fail - we literally did not see an elk the entire time - but we were NOT driving all the way back to West Virginia without a freezer full of elk! LOL)
We are open to suggestion!
We love very lean sausage, and want the flavor of the elk meat to shine, and not be overshadowed by very strong spices, peppers, or seasonings.
I have No Clue where to start, so recipes, ideas, and suggestions would be Deeply Appreciated!
As we have an Inn & hubs is a chef, we have a Lot of kitchen appliances, and several grills, including a Big Green Egg, and a huge gas grill, but my husband usually winds up using our 20 year old “Old Faithful” Wally World covered charcoal grill as a smoker, with pretty fabulous results… As he is US Army Ret., he also has a penchant for using power tools in the kitchen… LOL His specialties include his Italian herb-crusted smoked baby back ribs, herb-rubbed smoked racks of lambchops, smoked salmon, smoked turkey, etc. (He usually herb-rubs or marinates them overnight, and then slow-smokes, periodically mopping them with his “secret” mops, which often contain apple juice and/or coffee, as well as s variety of herbs and spices…)
Can’t wait to make us some Elk Sausage!

YooperDog Doing one leg at a time! LOL

Sounds delicious! I’ve been looking for Italian sausage recipes (my husband is grinding up elk now for sausage) and this is a keeper! Thank you!

Sounds delicious! I’ve been looking for Italian sausage recipes (my husband is grinding up elk now for sausage) and this is a keeper! Thank you!

YUM! Saving this recipe! Thank you!

YUM! I am a total “chilehead” and we have an Abundance of all sorts of hot peppers this year- at least 15 kinds, as I get pepper plants from all over the world every spring from www.thechilewoman.com in Indiana. I have made pickled peppers in several styles (Korean, Vietnamese), Italian-style hot peppers stuffed with tuna/capers/parsley in olive oil, hot sauces, hot honey, hot pepper jelly… and frozen bags of them! This year I even have CAROLINA REAPERS, that I grew from seed from www.puckerbuttpeppercompany.com which it’s taken me 2 years to get peppers on!- and I am Always looking for great recipes!!!

Funny you should mention this- Today- for the first time- I found this online: https://www.piedmontese.com/ “Real Nebraska Beef - From family ranches to your table”. And it’s on my “must buy and try” list!

Thank you!

YooperDog Doing one leg at a time! LOL

Our first foray into sausage-making, what I call the “Elk Sausage Project”, has been a GREAT success! And it wasn’t hard to do! Hubby Dan sterilized everything, cut up an elk foreleg (removing all the silver skin & sinew), and then double-ground the elk meat, mixed with pork (60% elk, 40% pork for the fat content- elk has No fat). Then we made 3 different kinds of Breakfast Sausage (which makes GREAT burgers, too!): Walton’s Meatgistics “Holly PSS GC5060”, for classic, sage-seasoned breakfast sausage, our friend Daniel Oliver’s recipe for spicy Calabrese Sausage with Fennel, Hot Pepper, & Paprika, and one lb. using Maple-Chipotle Rub from Pepper Palace & some Bourbon Barrell Aged Maple Syrup. Dan then used the grinder to stuff it into 10 Walton’s 1-lb. sausage bags for the freezer. We cooked some of each in a cast iron pan, and ALL THREE ARE DELICIOUS- juicy, flavorful… and they make store-bought sausage patties seem absolutely tasteless! Next time we will probably make some using the Israeli “Meurav” spice mix we created & a Cinnamon-Chile spice blend we have… Other ideas are Garam Masala & Ras El Hanout & Jerk spice blends!

Tex_77 Thank you- that is what I am doing now!

Any links to recipes, techniques, and what supplies I may need to buy would be REALLY appreciated! As there is no processor near us, I have a feeling hubs is going to wind up cutting up Ms. Frozen Elk himself, using our saw… He did that with moose, when he was stationed up in Alaska, but that was decades ago- and elk isn’t moose. LOL