For several years I have made my own chorizo—a Mexican-style sausage that’s a bit spicier than that which you buy at the store. Because I put it up in bulk and don’t have to smoke the chorizo, it’s pretty easy to do. Last year I got the bug to start making my own summer sausage.
There is a plethora of info on the Internet, and I sort of dove into it blindly. My first attempt was something less than fully satisfactory. It turned out a bit dry, and while the flavor was OK, it wasn’t quite what I expected.
This year I tried a couple of kits from Hi Mountain Seasonings out of Riverton, WY. Hi Mountain’s Home Sausage Making Kit provides everything you need to put up about 30 pounds of meat into sausage, including the casings, seasoning, cure and instructions. I shot a couple of pronghorns last month and made one into cracked pepper and garlic summer sausage and the other into jalapeno summer sausage. The results are much better than my initial effort.
For more info go to www.himtnjerky.com.
