I've been thinking about the next time that I harvest a deer I plan on grinding the whole thing up for sausage. But I will need a whole lot of pork fat in order to do this. Does anyone know where I could purchase bulk pork fat?

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 16, 2001

Answers

Response to Pork fat

I get it from a local butcher who does custom kill and processing. In fact, when I buy a hog to butcher from a farmer, I have him save all the fat that looks worth using for sausage. I also have him save beef fat for me for soap. i keep it in the freezer. It keeps pretty well until ground up.My dad just made up some Caribou sausage...it was great!!!!!

-- Jenny (auntjenny6@aol.com), October 17, 2001.

Could you just buy suet that you feed the birds and put that into your receipe or how able salt pork..or what they use to call fat back. Ask your butcher at the markt... Good Luck !!

-- Helena (windyacs@npacc.net), October 17, 2001.

The problem that I'm having is that I have called all the local processing plants withing a hours drive from me and all of them are saving theres to mix with deer that they process. I guess what I need to do is start looking for some starting in the middle of the summer.

-- r.h. in okla. (rhays@sstelco.com), October 17, 2001.

Hi Go to your local butcher and have them put some aside for you. When people pick up their pork 9 out of 10 don't want the fat and we throw it out. So getting some is real easy. Being in the butcher/sausage- making/deli shop for 20+ years, I'd recommand that you have a mix of beef and pork fat to add to your vension. The beef fat is not as greasy and adds a nice flavor while the pork fat adds the moisture so it's not dry. Are you making frying sausage or going to make a smoked variety. Good luck. Anne

-- Anne (pygmy@bulkley.net), October 17, 2001.

r.h., why not plan on getting a hog and putting it in the freezer at the same time? If you had the room it would work out pretty well. Just keep the hog as chops and roasts and have the deer for sausage.

-- Jennifer L. (Northern NYS) (jlance@nospammail.com), October 17, 2001.

RH, I agree that a combination of beef and pork is best. I would not suggest using straight fat though. Your sausage will turn out much better by weighing your boneless deer meat then add a third of that weight by using pork butts and ground beef 73% lean. The pork butts are really a cut from the shoulder and can be purchased anywhere. The ground beef comes to your grocer in 10# "chubs" (plastic bags). This will make your venison sausage taste great. The fat content will make the sausage juicey but not a greasy mess. Beef suet like what you feed the birds comes from the cattle's kidney fat. It is unlike the fat found on the rest of the beef. It would not be as good for sausage( but the store will certianly sell you some)as the mix listed above. This suet makes excellant candles,soap or bird feed ! Many people use straight fat and if cost is a consideration,by all means use it , but use some of each both beef and pork and not over 15% of the total boneless deer weight. Sorry about the wordiness hope it helps. Ps. I was a butcher/meatcutter for 20 years. the last year that I owned my own slaughterhouse we processed over 500 deer and made over 7000# of deer "slim jims" alone ! Happy eating1 Ralph

-- Ralph Rice (Roadapple@suite224.net), October 17, 2001.

you should be able to find it from some butcher somewher few people render the lard any more , mabey buy a hog and butcer it out too and save the good cuts and mix the fatty cuts with the venison or even look for cheep grades of bulk bacon and use that .pork realy adda a better taste than beef fat and when making sausages season and mix the variouse meats prior prior to grinding the grinder willl mix it better than anything else iv seen some attempts at mixing after grinding by small comercial butchers .... it didnt work....

-- george darby (windwillow@fuse.net), October 17, 2001.

One source of fat for making venison sausage has been overlooked thus far and that is the deer itself. If you are dealing with a smelly old buck shot right in the middle of the rut, you'd best be looking for a sale on pork butts in late winter or early spring when hog prices are down. But if you happen to shoot a prime doe, you would have all of the fat that you'd need for making sausage. Use only external fat and be careful around the front legs and brisket as there are several large glands plus a few smaller ones. If a small one is missed, it is no big deal but watch out for the large ones about the size of a marble. The thick fat on the rear legs and rump are excellent sources of sausage fat. Last year, we had 2 old doe and 2 equally old bucks and made over 100 pounds of sausage, mostly bratwurst. With the sausage seasoning, only my family knew exactly what was used for fat. In fact, one friend was so impressed that he wanted to make his own brats from my recipe but felt that he didn't want to spend so much money having to buy pork to mix with it! As an aside comment, I once had a great aunt who was half-Mohawk and she would save every bit of deer fat and render it down for use in baking. Pie crusts that would melt in your mouth and biscuits as light as a feather! One last reminder is to use external fat only as a previous entry has already explained.

-- Martin Longseth (tmofmadison@aol.com), October 30, 2001.