Venison and Port 1

1.3 kg venison
1.0 kg pork belly
35g salt
6g black pepper
4g juniper berries
6g rosemary
125cl Port
hog casings

The meat man came round and dropped off a  haunch of venison. My Lycra-clad cycle-courier left me with a lovely piece of 21 day-old meat to process into sausages. He knows someone that shoots and I had suggested that we try making some venison sausages.

It was a synch to get the meat off the bone. All the meat came away very cleanly and easily. I was left with 2.5kg of venison, a small thigh bone and a table spoon of fat. I processed this into sausages in two batches on different nights.

Because there is no fat on the haunch, the recipe requires some to be added. For this first batch I used pork belly at about 50/50 pork to venison. I minced the venison by hand using my baby little mincer. It flowed through the machine with ease, like mincing liver.

I've never cooked with juniper berries before. When I tasted the freshly made sausage, my initial reaction was that I had used too many. The next day when I tried it again, the balance was just right. This dramatic taste change over time is something I have noticed since I began making sausages. It can be quite a radical transformation and it's not limited to the first 24 hours as some articles suggest. I have read advice to cook and eat some sausage pate before stuffing to check the seasoning. While this sounds like a good idea, the balance of everything changes so much as the sausage matures that it could pick up only extreme cases like forgetting to add the salt.

There is also a similar change in texture as the sausage dries, The freshly made texture of these venison sausages seemed quite burger-like, possibly because it was so moist from the port. But two days later and the sausage is quite firm and dark. I think I would add a greater fat content the next time to make them a bit juicier. I would also reduce the salt content a little.