When life gives you lots of ducks or geese (this happens a lot with snow goose hunters), you should make some sausages out of them. Use the shot-up birds you won’t feel bad about cutting up; save the perfect birds for roasting or other uses.
This sausage is “hunter’s style,” which to me means coarse-grained and flavored with traditional European game spices, such as caraway, juniper and sage. This duck sausage has all three, with sage as its main herb.
Duck Sausages, Hunter’s Style
These sausages would be perfect with a cassoulet, with beans, or simply pan-roasted or grilled. The possibilities are unlimited. Note that the only ingredient measured in grams is the salt — it is that important to get the saltiness right. I did include a rougher measurement to get you close, if you don’t have a scale.
Makes about 4 pounds, or 16 sausages.
Prep Time: 90 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
- 3 pounds duck meat or goose meat
- 1 pound pork fat
- 1/2 cup red wine, chilled
- 1 teaspoon Chinese five spice powder
- 2 tablespoons chopped fresh sage
- 2 teaspoons ground juniper berries
- 2 teaspoons caraway seed
- 1 tablespoon ground black pepper
- 34 grams, or 2 level tablespoons, kosher salt
- hog casings
- Chop the meat and fat into about 1-inch chunks, then mix all the spices together and toss with the meat and fat. Chill the meat and fat until it is almost frozen by putting it in the freezer for an hour or so.
- Take out some hog casings and set in a bowl of very warm water.
- Grind the meat and fat through your meat grinder (you can use a food processor in a pinch, but you will not get a fine texture) using the coarse die. If your room is warm, set the bowl for the ground meat into another bowl of ice to keep it cold.
- Add the wine and mix thoroughly either using a Kitchenaid on low for 60-90 seconds or with your (very clean) hands. This is important to get the sausage to bind properly.
- Stuff the sausage into the casings all at once. Twist off links by pinching the sausage down and twisting it, first in one direction, and then with the next link, the other direction. Or you could tie them off with butcher’s string.
- Hang the sausages in a cool place for 1 hour if it is warm out, up to overnight if you have a place that will get no warmer that 45 degrees. The longer you can hang the sausages, the better they will taste. After they have dried a bit, put in the fridge until needed. They will keep for at least a week. If you are freezing the sausages, wait a day before doing so. This will tighten up the sausages and help them keep their shape in the deep-freeze.
Why not write recipe with measures that one can easliy do I.E. Tbsb, tsp, Lb. etc.
Because weighing ingredients is far more accurate than using measures like tablespoon. Normally I’m all for easy, but in sausages seasonings — and salt — need to be precise.
You will taste the difference between 34 grams of salt in this recipe vs. 38 grams — and if I’d used tablespoons, you could be that far off.
Hello Hank,
Do we have to let the sausages rest? I am teaching a class to children and there isn’t enough time.
Thanks,
Stephanie
They are better if you let them rest. They compact in their skins better, which gives you a firmer texture. If you are not casing the sausages, you can eat them right away. If you are casing them, it will be OK, but just know they’ll be tastier the following day. Hope that helps!
Hank,
Thank you very much for your reply.
I also agree with you on measuring by weight.. It is way more exact!
I can’t wait to see these kids try to stuff sausage casings!
Cheers,
Stephanie
Is there an alternate for pork, as some members of my family have an intolerance to it?
Tks
Does it matter if you use the duck breast or legs
what do you do if you wanna add a cheese to it? I’m new at this but wanting to get into it so I’m not wasting excess ducks and geese. Thanks
Sean: Nope, does not matter. Both leg meat and breast meat works.
Ryan: I am not a fan of cheese sausage, so I honestly don’t know. BUT, I’d look up another cheddarwurst recipe and follow its instructions on what to do with the cheese. If I had to guess, you would dice the cheese small and add it in when you mix the sausage in the stand mixer.
can you smoke these and then freeze for eating later on.
Cody: Absolutely.
Hank,
How long do you recommend smoking them?
My husband hunts and processes all the meat himself. So far this is my favorite sausage by a long shot!! I hardly ever leave comments online, so take this as a big compliment!
hank, my friend can’t eat pork and would like to have him try wild meat which he has never tried before and i would like him to try duck could i use a beef fat as from sirloin,primerib? would i have to render it down? looking for ideas
Rob: Yeah, I’d use lamb or beef fat. And no, you don’t need to render it down.
I have a second fridge, if i bump the temp up in that to the high 30′s – low 40′s can I dry the sausage in there or is it better to hang them before they go into the fridge? This is my first attempt at sausage, can’t wait to try this recipe!
Hello Hank,
Tried this recipe at a friend’s house and we both were a bit hesitant because the ducks smelled so darned fishy as I was processing them. (spoonie, 3 pintail, gadwall, and merganzer). I wasn’t sure if she was even going to try the finished sausage, to be honest. We followed the recipe and they turned out wonderful. Even her little 5 year old girl was scarfing it down.
I can’t wait to try the L’Orange recipe.
Thanks so much,
Jennie Alice
Made this with coot (breasts and legs) and non-coot eaters haven’t noticed. It is delicious. Best in tomato sauce over your favorite pasta.
Great Recipe Hank, Thanks…
ed, you shouldn’t feed coot (or any other meat) to people under the guise of another meat. Thats just horrible kitchen/chef etiquette and the minute any of your friends find out you do this will likely be the last they trust you as a cook.
Will this work making patty sausage? I do not have a stuffer yet, and i still want to make a tasty breakfast sausage or Italian sausage. will this recipe still work?
Brent: Absolutely.