Here we have a not so typical Venison Summer Sausage. This summer sausage is flavored with Hardcore Carnivore Camo meat seasoning, which contains a perfectly balanced mixture of garlic, coriander, onion, hickory, and honey. I'm going to process this venison summer sausage in the style of a New Jersey pork roll, which is emulsified and fermented, cooked, sliced thin, pan fried and made into an incredibly delicious sandwich usually referred to as a "pork roll." Alright, here we go!
Since I'll be using a pre-mixed seasoning for this recipe, I made sure to check the ingredients label first to see how much salt was already included. There is 440 mg of Sodium per 2 grams of the Hardcore Carnivore seasoning, so I've adjusted how much additional salt I'll add based on this. To get started, let's weigh out the meat. I have about 500 grams (50%) of venison (harvested locally here in Maryland), 400 grams (40%) of pork shoulder, and 100 grams (10%) of pork back fat.
Along with the Hardcore Carnivore seasoning, you're also going to need cure salt #1, baking soda, dextrose, FRM-52 bacteria culture (which you'll want to bloom in distilled water), and crushed ice.
To mix, add all of the ingredients into a food processor at the same time. You'll puree the meat until it looks nice and emulsified. Then add it into your stuffing container, and smooth the mixture out to try to reduce the amount of air bubbles.
To stuff, I'm going to use a fibrous 88mm casing, and I'll use some butcher's twine to tie off the end. In order to control how packed the casing is, I use my pointer finger and thumb to pinch and release pressure at the end of the stuffing tube. Once stuffed, twist the open end of the casing to get the seal nice and tight, and then tie off with butcher's twine. For an extra tight seal, fold over the end of the casing and tie again to create a "bubble knot." (to see me do it, check out the video to your right!)
Now it's time to ferment! I place the chub in a food grade plastic bag, and then hang it from the dry storage rack in my kitchen. Putting it inside a plastic bag keeps it nice and humid on the inside and helps the fermentation come along nicely. The fermentation shouldn't take more than 24 hours.
PRO TIP: A good use for the leftover meat at the bottom of the stuffer and inside the stuffing tube is to make a smaller chub as a tester. You can use some paper towel and the smaller stuffing tube to get the excess mixture out, and then wrap it up in plastic wrap, and place it near the larger chub.
After about 18 hours, I'll check the smaller chub to see if the larger one is ready. I look for three things when fermenting meats:
Color change to a brighter pink.
A more dense and firm feel.
A small of fermentation.
With a properly calibrated pH meter, I'll test the smaller chub for its pH. It's at 4.9 pH, which will give me plenty of tang and fermented flavor. This means that after 18 hours of fermentation the pH dropped from 5.7 pH to 4.9 pH, quite a significant change in the flavor profile.
Now, to cook the chub, I'll place a thermometer in the chub, and then place the chub in a food grade plastic bag before placing it in a water bath. I set the immersion circulator to 155°F and will cook the chub until it has reached an internal temp of 145°F. Once the internal temp has reached 145°F, I let it stay there for an additional 30 minutes to pasteurize the sausage. Then let it cool in the refrigerator for 24 hours before cutting.
After 24 hours, it's ready to be enjoyed! For this recipe, I'm going to slice it thinly for the Venison Summer Sausage Roll. For the roll, you'll need black pepper, butter, ketchup, eggs, the venison summer sausage, American cheese, and a kaiser roll.
To cook, I'll start by melting some butter in one pan on medium heat. Place the buns face-side down onto the pan. Before placing the summer sausage in the pan, I like to make a few cuts in the slice (at 12, 3, 6, and 9) around the edge of the summer sausage to keep it from cupping while cooking. Then, you'll cook the eggs in a separate pan. Scramble them, then add to the pan (as if you were cooking an omelet). Once they start to cook, lay the pieces of cheese flat in the middle of the eggs, and fold up the edges of the eggs to encase the cheese. Flip the summer sausage halfway through cooking.
Now that everything is cooked, you're ready to built your sandwich. Start by spreading some ketchup on each side of the roll, then add the slices of mea, then the eggs and cheese, and finally top off with some black pepper.
AND ENJOY!
Happy Butchering! Matt the Butcher
