Traditionally, summer sausages are made through a fermentation process that lowers the pH of the meat considerably and lends it an identifiable tangy zest. The process also slows the growth of bad bacteria. You can easily make your own summer sausages at home. Here are 5 summer sausage recipes to try out and 5 recipes for dishes to use them in.
Table of contents:
- Venison cheddar summer sausage
- Bologna summer sausage
- Beef summer sausage
- Picnic sausage
- Turkey summer sausage
- Venison and beef suet sausage
- Honey Dijon summer sausage
- Summer sausage s’mores
- Summer sausage balls
- Grilled summer sausage sliders
1. Venison cheddar summer sausage
Add curing mixture to a cup of cold water together with mustard, garlic, pepper, and liquid smoke. Add in cheddar cheese, jalapeno, and minced venison. Roll into a sausage-like shape, wrap in foil and refrigerate for a day. Take it out the next day, bake at 300° F for two hours and serve.
2. Bologna summer sausage
Mix ground beef together with a little water, curing mixture, garlic, mustard, and liquid smoke. It’s usually best to use your hands to achieve an even mix. Roll the meat up, pack in aluminum foil and refrigerate for a day. Take the foil off the next day and bake for an hour.
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3. Beef summer sausage
Mix ground beef in a bowl together with cayenne pepper, garlic, sugar, mustard, black pepper, peppercorns, liquid smoke, and meat tenderizer. Chill the mixture in the refrigerator for a full day. Roll into a sausage-shaped log, bake at 150° F for 4 hours, and cool.
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4. Picnic sausage
Break up a pork sausage and blend with ground beef, garlic, pepper, sage, liquid smoke, and onion flakes. Thoroughly fold in the curing mixture, roll the mixture into logs and pack into a sausage net. Bake for 6 hours at 160°F, remove the netting, and pack in aluminum foil to store.
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5. Turkey summer sausage
Mix ground turkey with curing mixture, garlic salt, mustard seed, liquid smoke, sugar, black pepper, and ground-up peppercorns. Roll the mixture into sausage-shaped logs and bake for 2 hours at 275°F.
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6. Venison and beef suet sausage
Combine ground venison together with beef suet and water. Mix thoroughly and then add in the spices such as black pepper, mustard seed, ground mustard, onion and garlic powder, liquid smoke, and curing mixture. Make sure that you blend the mixture thoroughly so that the curing compound spreads evenly. Pack into fibrous sausage casings and cure in the refrigerator overnight. Bake at 200°F for 7 hours. Cool and serve. Once you have a few homemade sausages, you’ll need ideas for what to do with them. Try these recipes.
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7. Honey Dijon summer sausage
Use a sharp knife to make 12 deep, lateral cuts in summer sausage. Prepare a glazing mixture by blending Dijon mustard, sugar, and honey in a bowl. Spoon the mixture into the cuts and bake the sausage at 325°F for 45 minutes.
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8. Summer sausage s’mores
Cut 12 slices out of summer sausage and cook each piece on the grill, 3 minutes to aside. Once each piece is well-browned, place a slice of cheddar cheese on it, cover, and cook for another 2 minutes.
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9. Summer sausage balls
Crumble a hot-ground Italian summer sausage on a skillet and brown over medium heat. Throw in baking mix, onion, mushrooms, milk, and cheese. Using the cheese as a binding agent, roll the mixture into small balls, the size of walnuts. Bake for 20 minutes at 350° F and serve with barbecue sauce.
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10. Grilled summer sausage sliders
Grill 5 slices of summer sausage on a grill pan until they are crispy. Stack them on the grill, place 2 pieces of cheese on them and leave on the grill until they melt. Spread butter on slider buns and toast on the grill. Put the stack of cheesy sausage slices on the bun, add sriracha sauce and mayonnaise.
Homemade sausages taste much better than anything that most mass-production methods manage. Once you try these recipes, you probably won’t go back to store-bought sausages.
