There’s a small investment to be made before you can throw your first venison or kangaroo sausage on the BBQ. Try to account for how many sausages you’re likely to make each session when you set your budget. Personally, I prefer to knock out 10-15 kilograms in a day and be done for six months or more, than do multiple smaller batches.
Sausage Making Equipment
Meat Grinder. A meat grinder, or mincer, is absolutely essential. For occasional small batches a grinder attachment for a bench-top mixer, like a Kitchen-Aid, will be perfectly adequate.
If you’re planning on making a lot of sausages, or even just mince and burgers, invest in a standalone grinder. Look for something with an 800 Watt, or even more powerful motor.
No matter which option you choose make sure the blades are sharp. All too often meat grinders come with pretty dull blades straight out of the box. If this is the case a professional knife sharpener can take care of blades and the plates for you.
Sausage Stuffer. Most grinders come with a sausage stuffing attachment. I’ve never had any great success with these. It is difficult to get a consistent fill, especially when doing large batches. A dedicated sausage stuffer, either a small horizontal model, or a larger vertical stuffer is an essential tool in my mind.
Digital Kitchen Scales. A scale that can measure up to 4.5-5 kilograms in 1 gram increments will be perfectly fine for fresh sausage making.
For making cured sausages and other small goods a scale capable of measuring 100ths of gram (0.01g) will also be required.
Tubs. Two large tubs each capable of holding a full batch of sausage mix will be required. They should be food-safe plastic or metal, and ideally you will want to buy something that fits into your fridge.
Vacuum Sealer. Unless you’re planning on eating the entire batch of sausages within a week you will want a a vacuum sealer. A chamber sealer would be ideal, but they’re large and expensive. Personally, I’ve managed to just fine with a Sunbeam FoodSaver, but at the rate I use it I end up needing to replace mine every few years.
Sausage Making Ratios
Sausage is an emulsification of protein, fat and liquid. Getting the ratio of lean meat, fat and liquid correct is the first step in ensuring the finished sausage is firm and juicy.
Emulsification: to combine two or more ingredients that don’t normally mix easily
After years of reading and experimentation I have settled on the following ratios for venison and kangaroo sausages, with excellent results:
- Lean meat to fat ratio: 70% lean meat to 30% fat.
- Liquid: 3-5% liquid, per weight of meat & fat.
- Salt: 1.5-2% salt, per weight of meat & fat.
For example for 2kg of venison sausages:
| Venison | 1.4kg of lean venison |
| Beef fat | 0.6kg beef fat |
| Liquid | 60-100g |
| Salt | 30-40g |
Grinding and Mixing
The ‘chefy’ term for when the protein, fat and liquid are combined, prior to being cased or formed into sausages, is farce. The thorough emulsification of fat throughout the farce is essential to making sausages with proper texture. If the fat is not properly emulsified, it will simply render out of the sausage as it cooks, leaving you with a thoroughly unappetising dry and crumbly snag.
Keep everything cold! The first consideration to making a proper farce is to keep the meat, fat and liquid very, very cold. To do this cube the meat and fat into 1-inch cubes (or whatever will fit best through your grinder) spread it all in a single layer on a large tray and place it in the freezer until almost frozen.
Detach the feed tube, auger, blades and plate from your grinder and also put that in the freezer.
Grind, mix, grind again. Remove the meat and fat from the freezer once the surface is firm to touch, and the inside is very cold, but before it is frozen.
Assemble the grinder with a coarse plate and run all of the meat and fat through the grinder for a first-pass.
Roughly mix the salt and any herbs and spices into the ground meat by hand, and run the whole lot through the grinder for a second pass.
Tip: If at any point the fat begins to melt, return the whole mix to the freezer until the temperature drops and drop a handful of ice cubes into the grinder feed tube.
Once all of the meat/fat mixture has been ground a second time, set the grinder aside. Place the mix back in the freezer to chill down again if need be.
Knead to emulsify. The emulsification of the fat into the farce is the singular most important aspect of sausage making. Add the liquid-making sure it is also ice cold, and get ready to form the mix into farce by hand.
Get your hands in there and mix, squeeze and knead the mixture together. Mix it more than you think is necessary, once you think the mixture is fully emulsified: mix, squeeze and knead for the same length of time again.
The mixture should be that cold that your hands ache (gloves help).
Tip: Start with 3% liquid and incorporate the rest gradually if the mix is not coming together. If using wine or stock, you can give it a good shake in a cocktail shaker full of ice to make it ice-cold.
You have created farce when the everything is uniformly combined into a paste. The farce should stick to the tub, and to your hands.
Take out a small handful of farce and set it aside. Cover the surface of the farce with plastic wrap and put the tray in the fridge.
Test and adjust. Form a small patty of farce for each taste-tester. Place the patties in frypan over medium heat and cook through.
Taste test the cooked farce. If you need to add more herbs and spices, now is the time. But incorporating more seasonings uniformly through the farce now is a challenge.
To rest, or not? I rest the farce in the fridge for 24 hours before casing the sausages. Partly because I usually want a rest myself at this point, and partly because I think I get a better end-product although I don’t fully understand why.
Get Stuffed!
Prepare the sausage casings according to the directions, this usually means giving them a thorough rinse and two hour soak.
Now is the time to enlist the gang of taste-testers to earn their keep through a little manual labour.
Moisten the sausage filler attachment, and the work surface with a spray of water.
Fill the sausage stuffer with farce, making sure there are no air pockets. Carefully slide the casing onto the filler nozzle, and have your helpers turn that handle.
I prefer to spin the links as they fill, but you can coil the entire sausage onto the bench and spin links at the end.
Sausage Casings: I’ve only ever used natural casings. You can find them online or with bit of luck your local butcher might be happy to sell you some.
Sheep casings (24-26mm): Best for thin sausages, hot-dogs, cabana, etc.
Hog casings (28-38mm): Best for thick sausages, pepperoni, etc.
Hog casings (38-42mm): Best for thick sausages, salami, etc.
Beef casings (40mm +): Best for cacciatore, salami and similar small goods.
Getting the fill rate correct takes some trial and error. Too full and the casing will split, not full enough and you’ll make ugly shrivelled looking sausages. Take your time and work at whatever speed and tempo is best for your team.
To make the links, spin the first sausage forwards, second backwards, third forwards, and so on.
Once all of farce is cased, inspect the sausages for air pockets. Give any airpockets a prick with a sharp sterile instrument. I’d rather use the point of filleting knife than risk incorporating whatever bacteria might be found on a wooden toothpick or bamboo skewer.
A final rest. Put all of the sausages back into a tub uncovered and place it back in the fridge overnight to dry. If you have the space it is even better to hang them in the fridge.
Drying like this allows the skins to firm up, and the meat to stick better to the skins.
Into the vacuum. I prefer to make big batches of sausages two-three times a year, and to have a fully stocked freezer.
Portion the snags out into meal sized portions, vacuum seal and freeze.
I’m sure they will keep for two years in a good deep-freezer, but I’ve never had any last that long.
The end result of a having the correct ratio of lean meat, fat and liquid, thoroughly combined and properly emulsified, is a firm juicy sausage.