Father’s Day Feast: Easy Homemade Summer Sausage

Father’s Day Feast: Easy Homemade Summer Sausage

Have you ever tried your hand at making summer sausage? Do you have extra ground meat (venison, beef, etc.) on hand in the freezer? If you have a hunter in the family or just need a creative way to make space for summer freezing, you can’t beat th...

Author

Lehman's

Ingredients

• 2 lb. raw ground goat, venison, lamb, pork or beef, thawed
• 6 tsp. any good sea salt (preserving qualities)
• 5 tsp. Italian herb seasonings in a grinder set at medium grind. Contains rosemary, black pepper, red pepper, garlic, onion, sea salt, tomato and parsley (again, preserving properties)
• 3 T. maple syrup
• Fresh or powdered garlic, to suit your taste, optional
• 1 T. fennel seed, optional, traditionally added to give a hint of sweetness
• 1/2 tsp. hot red pepper seeds to your discretion (seeds are hotter than the flesh of hot peppers), optional to add heat

Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl, blend all the ingredients together and work them thoroughly through the meat with your hands.
2. Place meat mixture in the refrigerator, covered, for 24 -48 hours for the flavors to mix and slightly ferment. (This fermentation does NOT affect the taste at all, if only to make it better).
3. Remove meat from refrigerator and preheat oven to 350°F.
4. While the oven is preheating, form the spiced meat into a log and wrap it first in parchment paper, then aluminum foil (so the meat isn’t in contact with the aluminum foil).
5. Wrap the foil with the folded edges up so the juices don’t run out as it bakes.
6. Place this on a cookie sheet and into the oven for 1 hour.
7. Let the almost completed summer sausage cool thoroughly before slicing. It should have developed a skin, a firmness, and you can slice it very thin to serve with cheese and crackers or make sausage sandwiches, etc.
8. Enjoy! Refrigerate any leftovers.