One of the most fun things about poking around on the Weston Brands Blog is seeing the cool recipes and neat things that come out of the Weston test kitchen.
One of the latest things you might want to try is homemade smoked garlic powder, which is used pretty frequently in venison recipes. Whether you need a good dry rub or want a little kick to deer chili at camp, adding garlic powder can do the job. And this recipe is so doggone easy to make that anyone can do it with some fresh garlic, a smoker and a grinder.
Here’s the recipe on the Weston blog, and be sure to look around on there for other great recipes for deer meat, game and fish. Use the search feature to type in venison or elk or fish and then have fun with the recipes.
If you have some leftover deer meat from last season that you want to use before going this season, give this Venison Sausage a try. Combine it with the smoked apples, pickled onions and other goodies to make some tasty meals.
Venison Sausage Rolls with Smoked Apples, Red Pickled Onions and Spicy Honey Mustard
Smoked venison sausage bursting with flavor, smothered in homemade spicy honey mustard, served atop a pretzel bun, with smoked apples and pickled red onions… need we say more? This guy’s a winner! Make the pickled onions at least a couple of weeks before. The apples, mustard, and sausage can all be made together.
Makes (8) 6″ sausages
– Ingredients –
Venison Sausage
3 star anise
2 tablespoons black peppercorns
1 tablespoon juniper berries
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
½ teaspoon whole cloves
1/8 cup diced red onions
1 head garlic, minced
12 fresh sage leaves, minced
1 cinnamon stick
1 tablespoon kosher salt
3 lbs lean venison, cubed (as cold as possible without being frozen)
¾ lbs fat, cubed (keep frozen until ready to use)
natural hog casings
Pickled Red Onions – make a couple of weeks prior
Smoked Apples – can be smoked with the sausage
Spicy Honey Mustard – just takes a couple of minutes, make it while the apples & sausage are in the smoker
– Tools –
Weston Meat Grinder
Weston Sausage Stuffer (or use your Grinder to stuff, like we did)
Weston Smoker
1. Toast the anise, peppercorns, juniper, caraway, fennel, and cloves in a medium saucepan with a teaspoon of olive oil, for about 3 minutes, or until they start to brown. Let cool.
2. Combine the herbs and spices, leaving out the cinnamon (all ingredients except the meat & fat), then divide the mixture in half.
3. Using the coarse plate, use your Meat Grinder to grind together the venison and fat. Hand mix one half of the spice mix, along with the cinnamon pieces, into the ground meat.
4. Change the plate to a medium grind. Grind the meat, now mixed with spices, through the medium plate. Hand mix the rest of the spices.
5. Use your Meat Grinder or a Sausage Stuffer to stuff the mixture into Casings. You can either tie the sausages, or leave it as one long link (We left ours as long links and then cut them to bun size later, after we smoked them).
6. Let the sausages sit overnight in the fridge to marinate. It’s not a bad idea to vacuum seal them to keep them the freshest they can be, while also drawing the seasoning flavors deeper into the meat.
7. Use your Smoker to smoke them at 200°F for 3 hours, or until the internal temperature is 165°.
8. Serve on pretzel sausage buns with Smoked Apples, Pickled Red Onions, and Homemade Honey Mustard.
Do You Love Slow-Cooked Venison? If so, you don’t want to miss out on fantastic meals by using all of your deer meat. Don’t toss the shoulders and necks! Check out how you can convert those into super meals your family will love with Scott Leysath’s Better Venison Cookbook. Click for more information.