Bear Pepperoni - Homemade

[billythekidrock]

Here is a post I made in January on another site. Thought I would share.

We did a little meat grinding this weekend. My father made 30 lbs of burger and 30 lbs of Polish Sausage. I did 50 lbs of breakfast sausage (two types and some as patties and links) and since I had a fairly successful season I decided to try my hand at making homemade pepperoni. I chose Eastman Outdoors snack stick kit.

This kit comes with the spices, cure and casings. There are two types of spices (Hickory and Spicey) and it does 15 lbs of meat (or so it says). There were not enough casings in my kit and we had over 3 lbs of meat that we could not stuff. I used two thirds bear meat and one third pork shoulder butt roast.

I forgot to take pictures while grinding and stuffing, but I did manage to take some near the end of the smoking phase.

Normally when smoking I use a double burner hot plate but as we have had high temps below freezing I am using my propane burner. I smoked the meat for a couple hours and then just heat for 6 more hours for a total of about 8 hrs at 160 degrees. I just took it out for the evening and may have to cook a small batch of the thicker pieces for an additional couple of hours.

Overall, right now, I think that I would use this kit again, if I found additional sheep casings. In the next few days I will know for sure...depends on the taste...LOL

In the first pic you can see the hot plate underneath the burner. I put the shelf in about halfway through the proccess to disperse the heat better.




This is how it hung for most of the time. I did rotate the batches up and down as well as from front to back to help it cook evenly.




For the last hour and a half the meat laid on racks to help cook the meat where it hung over the sticks. Again I rotated the batches.



The pep turned out great and we even shared with some folks at work who loved it.

I did not put any back in to smoke the next day. Easily lost one third of the weight to drying, so I ended up with about 7 lbs when it was all done. I am sure that I will use this kit again, probably in a few months.

[ICEMAN]

Here is a pic of 300lbs of venison sausage we made this winter. 

[billythekidrock]

What type? Was it pure venison or did you add pork or beef? Spices?

[ICEMAN]

We add pork shoulder or butt, 50%, or it is way way too dry. A bit of garlic and pepper. Real pork intestine casing, double ground, coarse then fine, old fashioned press. We smoke half of them...  I pressure can about half of my take. Coil two links fills a quart jar to the top. 90 minutes at 15lbs. Absolutely fantastic later, even cold, no kidding.

Hey, you gotta pressure can some razor clams, a table spoon of vegetable oil, a few drips of smoke seasoning, pinch of salt, very excellent around camp with crackers before dinner!

I wouldn't sell a jar of my canned meat to anyone, you know what I mean?

[billythekidrock]

Same here on the pork butt. Usually about 30 percent. Can be spendy, but it is worth it. Never thought about canning the sausage.

I have canned some razors. Usually about 3 or 4 in a pint jar. They make great homemade clam dip that way. I will have to try the smoke.

I would not sell or give away any of the canned meat or clams, but I will open and share it.

[ICEMAN]

Yeah, I will share too, that is part of the fun around our hunt camps, everybody sharing their bounty from the year...