Monthly Archives: February 2011

We have been making sausage at our deer lease now for about 20 years and people are always asking us how we do it and what the process is sooooooo here ya go……………..

We start out by calling each other and finding a weekend in February when everyone can be there. Then we get a count of how much deer meat everyone has. We do this so Randy Smith or someone up in Livingston can buy enough pork fat to mix it with. Then we take out our deer meat on the wednesday before the weekend. It needs to be defrosted so it can mix with pork and sausage seasoning. One of us will go get the casing and our own personal seasoning. I usually go to Zach’s here in Deer Park. I will buy some Bohemian Garlic or Old Tyme Rope. We then all head to the lease sometime on friday with all our stuff. We will also bring some ribs or chicken to cook while we complete the process.
Saturday morning we get up about 7:30 and go to the barn. We will take someone’s meat out and start cutting it up and cutting up the pork. We dont mix all of ours together each guy will bring their own flavor and when it is his turn everyone helps him get his done and then the next guy and so on and so on. Anyway, the meat is cut up and the pork is cut up. You then take a big bucket and fill it with deer meat to weigh. The seasoning comes in packages that make 50 pounds so we put 30 pounds of deer and 20 pounds of pork and that makes one batch of 50 pounds. After you weigh the deer you dump it in an ice chest for mixing. Then you put pork in the weigh bucket and get 20 pounds and dump it in ice chest. Take your seasoning at this time and pour it in the ice chest. We have added all kinda different stuff to the mix like sage or crushed red pepper, jalepenos and garlic. Then a guy will reach down with both hands and start mixing all the pork and deer together. Do that until it is all mixed nicely. Once it is mixed then you must start the grinding process. Put the mixer from the ice chest in big plastic tubs and put it on the grind table. We have an old grinder that has a spot for the meat tub and an empty tub to fill while it is being ground. Someone will feed the meat into the grinder while other guys might continue more mixing or open a beer (haha). While the sausage is being ground you take the package of casings and put them in some hot water to moisten them up. After the sausage is ground and the casings are soft you then move to the stuffing table. Take the sausage and put it in the stuffer. A key is to squeeze a little out to get some fat on the end so the casings can easily be slid on until the end. once a casing is loaded then one guy cranks and another guy feeds the sausage out on the table. This part is a pretty time consuming task and your back usually starts hurting. You can’t really crank real fast and sometimes the casings break and you have to tie a knot in it and slide another one on.

Once we have done a couple of guys and the stuffing and grinding is in mid process someone will light up the propane cooker and get a skillet and we will fry some up and taste it to see how it taste and how it is going. Then a few guys will go get the smoke house organized. There are a bunch of poles we hang the meat on in the smokehouse. They have been sitting up all year so we will wipe them down and get them ready to go. Someone will also cut up some wood. We have used oak and pecan and hickory. Usually have found a tree around Dave’s house and he has either cut it down or we do and cut it up for smoke wood. While that is going on the guys are finishing grinding and stuffing. Sometimes someone will make some summer sausage or just put some sausage in baggies for pan sausage . By the time everyone is done it is about 2:30 or 3 and we all move to the smokehouse area which is over by the camphouse and campfire. The links of sausage are in coolers and we begin to hang them on the poles and slide them into the smokehouse. We take some tags with string attached and write down guys names on them so when we take them off we will know who’s is who’s and also so we can seperate sausage if someone makes different flavors. Once all the sausage is put up we will make a fire in two metal buckets. They both have a piece of tin with a whole cut in the middle we put on top so the smoke comes out. The buckets are put in the middle of the smoke house and the door is closed and sausage begins to get smoked. Once that is started we will go back to barn and clean all the equipment and spray everything down. The grinder is taken apart and cleaned and put in a box and put away. All the ice chest are cleaned and ready to put sausage in when we are done smoking, and all the tubs are are cleaned so we can cut up smoked sausgae in it ready for packing.

It is about 4 in the afternoon and someone has started grilling ribs or chicken by now. We all sit around the campfire and relax and talk and someone will decide to make a ride through the lease. We may go skeet shooting or check traps or just sit around. Some guys take a nap some just piddle around. Once it is dark and everyone is back up and ready we usually take some food off the pit and eat and maybe take a few links out of the smokehouse and cook them. At that point the cards and dice will come out. We play poker the rest of the night and have a great time with each other. Randy will begin challenging people to a dice game and someone will lose more money than they need to very quick. In years past we have stayed up and drank and played cards and ate all night and have taken the sausgae out the next day. This year Randy and Stephen had read or saw somewhere that we really only need 6-10 hours of smoke. Plus we are getting older and all that smoke gives us indegestion. So this year we decided to take it out later that night about 10:30.
Once we decide to take it out we open the door and pull out the fire buckets. The first pole is taken out and we read the tag to see who’s it is. That guy will go get his bags and cooler. Some people bag them up then and some just lay them in a cooler and bag later. The links are taken off the poles and put in the tubs. Everyone gets their knife and starts cutting them up into bread size pieces. Then some guys begin stuffing them in baggies usaully about 6 per bag. The guy whose sausage it is has his ice chest ready and he stacks it in there. Sometimes a guy will just put it in his ice chest in no bags and vaccuum pack it later when he gets home. This year I took my foodsaver up there and when it was my turn we sealed all mine up that night. I had two different flavors so I labeled all my bags so I would know what I had. Once that is done you put them in the ice chest and cover them with ice. Then sunday morning once everyone is up we make sure all the trash and whatever else was left out that night is put away. We sit and talk for awhile and everyone begins packing up and cleaning the house and leaving to go home and put up all their sausage.

Once you get home and get ready to put your sausage in the freezer it is good to take a towel and kinda dry the water off of the bags as you place them in the freezer. This will keep them from freezing together and ripping if you try and pull them apart. As you are putting them away make sure you seperate them if you have different kind. Once you are finished close the freezer and you are set for the year with sausage.

The process is very cool and it makes you feel good about making something yourself. It is a great time at the lease and through the years we have had many friends and family come help. It is a time that I cherish and hope to share with my kids.

Ya’ll be safe out there!!

Well Lizzie had her puppies! Last firday the 28th we went to Chili’s with Mady and a few of her friends. I left to get Brad from Tressa’s mom and Mady called me and said she had her puppies. Lizzie was on couch and a puppy was in one of my slippers. They put her in her pool and she had 4 more. Her litter was only 5 puppies. 3 girls and 2 boys. We are gonna keep one of the blonde girls. the kids have named her Daisy. Three of them are blonde. They look pretty cool. The kids have been great help and they are really excited. We took them to the vet and she said everything was fine. We will not breed Lizzie again. The vet said it would be a risk. So later this year we will have her spade and she can relax for the rest of her life. The puppies are very cute the only bad part is that Tres seems to think that the one we are keeping is the one that whines the most.
Brad has been playing basketball and he is doing pretty good. His team is not that good but he seems like he is doing good and enjoying the games. He is so competitive and hates to lose so he gets down we the team is not successful. The first game was the toughest. We lost in overtime and he really took it hard. I am coaching hime just like I did Mady so i can get them as ready as I can for 7th grade tryouts. I would feel guilty if they tried out for basketball and I didn’t help them get prepared.
I went to the TCEA conference in Austin for a week. I stopped at Grayson’s and spent the night. We talked about football and and where his son Gavin is going to college and then the next morning we drove around a fed cow’s and he showed me his new tractor. It has a sun roof in it and he says he likes it cause now he doesn’s have to bend his head to see the high bails. He can just look the the roof. Had a good time driving around like the old days. When I got to Austin I hear Leighanne Touhy speak. She is the mother from the movie “The Blind Side” about Michael Oher. She did a super job and I bought her book and had her sign it. The conference was ok, I saw alot of cool tecnology stuff but not alot of people to hang out with.
Baseball is about to start. that is probably Brad’s least favorite sport. I need to do a better job of backing off and not getting onto him so much about baseball and his skill. He has been pitching for about 2 months now with Donnie Elliot. To me he seems to be doing pretty good. We will see if he continues to want to put in the effort to become a good pitcher. I don’t think it is for everyone. They also want to make him a catcher. He really liked playing catcher last summer for the Rockhounds.
Mady has been really enjoying basketball and is playing on the A team. She has a good shot but is pretty slow so it is tough for her to stay on the court when they go man to man or play a fast team. She has a good little crossover move and can go with her left hand. She was the FJH representative at the high school game for the free throw contest. She made 2 out of 5 but didn’t win. She recently hurt her wrist and had to sit out a game. It was funny because when it first happened she had her hand in a sling and her wrist killed her and she could barely move it. When she had to sit on the bench the whole game she hated it. After the game she said she was ready to practice and get back on the court. She is in the middle of club volleyball. It is very busy and I hope she doesnt get too burned out on it. I am hoping she will hit a growth spurt and grow. She has the skills but she is small for her grade. She is having fun though in both sports and really enjoying 7th grade. I am very proud of both of them and look forward to watching alot more of their activities.
We`have started watching the bachelor every monday night. I know it is a chick flick but I am addicted to it. I have also been watching hawaii 5-0. Work is going ok and the job and Wolter’s has opened. I did not apply and I went and talked to Mr. Adair about where I fit in the district. It was a good visit and I jave a better idea of what he is looking for. I like south campus and hope I stay there though.
Well that is enough for now, I am going to play cards in a Texas Hold em tournament tonight. Wish me luck.
Ya’ll be safe out there!!