Fresh sausages are not exactly cured meat, but they are part of a salami-maker’s repertoire; you can’t make salami if you can’t first make fresh sausages. Below are an eclectic list of fresh sausage recipes made with both wild game and domestic meats, mostly lamb and pork in that case.
Why make your own? Control.
You can add or subtract anything you’d like, adjust how coarse or fine the sausage is, make them skinny or fat, long or short, spicy or sweet. A well-made sausage is a symphony in a link, needing nothing more than a simple accompaniment to play harmony.
Note that while I am categorizing these sausages by what meat is in them, understand that you can mix and match. There is no reason you cannot use pork or duck or whatever in what’s listed as a venison sausage recipe.
Basics
If you’ve never made sausage before, I wrote a basic tutorial on how to make sausages at home on my friend Elise’s site Simply Recipes. Start there.
Venison, Beef, Lamb or Goat
Keep in mind that when I say “venison,” I am lumping in deer, elk, moose, antelope, caribou, etc…
Venison Sausages with Sage
One of my go-to venison recipes, this is a perfect recipe for a sausage made in late fall or early winter. You can use any variety of sage, and dried porcini work just as well as fresh.
Homemade British Bangers
My take on a traditional British banger sausage, made like a Gloucester style sausage. I use venison here, but pork is traditional.
Venison Merguez Sausages
This is the classic North African sausage, normally done with all lamb – casings, too. Here I go with all venison, plus sheep casings. This is a spicy sausage great for grilling.
Antelope Longaniza
A longaniza sausage is a Spanish style with lots of paprika and rosemary.
Sage and Juniper Venison Sausage
I designed this recipe after deer hunting on Catalina Island, where there is lots of wild sage and juniper growing all over the place. This makes a pretty classic “hunter’s style” venison link.
Thessaly Greek Sausage
This is a recipe from Greece, normally done with lamb. It’s flavored with cumin, chile, oregano, red wine and allspice.
Andouille Sausage Links, Cajun Style
A Cajun classic, you can use any meat. This one is spicy and smoked. A must for any Creole or Cajun gumbo, jambalaya or etouffee.
Venison Sausages with Basil and Garlic
Make this venison sausage in the summertime. Lots of fresh basil and garlic make it a great recipe for summer grilling.
Venison Sausage with Bay and Garlic
Bay leaves are the main flavor here. I love them, and if you get good ones, they smell floral and sweet. This sausage is good any time of year.
Greek Loukaniko Sausage
The quintessential Greek sausage, it has many variations. Mine is an amalgam of several classic styles.
Wild Boar or Pork
If you have bear meat, these recipes would fit well here.
Sweet Italian Sausage
This is the classic, the basic sweet Italian sausage we all know and love. I normally make this with wild pig, but really any meat will do.
Hot Italian Sausage
This would be the other classic, hot Italian sausage. You kinda need both sweet and hot in a good Italian stew, right?
Polska Kielbasa
Traditional, smoked Polish kielbasa, made with lots of garlic and a little marjoram.
Portuguese Linguica Sausages
The essential Portuguese sausage, it is to Portuguese cooking what Andouille is to Cajun cooking. It’s a spicy link with lots of paprika and garlic. My version is smoked.
Cajun Boudin Sausage
Louisiana style boudin sausage, which is more like a meat stuffing with rice in a casing than a regular sausage. Damn good eaten on crackers with Creole mustard!
South African Boerewors
A traditional South African link made with a mix of pork and beef (or wild game) and flavored aggressively with coriander and other spices. I first learned of this sausage under, well, extreme circumstances.
Herbed Wild Boar Sausages
A regular ole’ sausage link gussied up with lots of fresh herbs — enough to make the links look kinda green.
Morcilla, Sanguinaccio, Boudin Noir
Blood Sausage. Yep, the real deal. My recipe is inspired by Portuguese morcilla, but it is a combination pork meat-pork blood sausage; many blood sausages only have blood, no meat.
Hmong Sausage with Wild Boar
There is a strong sausage-making tradition in Southeast Asia, and unlike the smooth Vietnames sausages, the Hmong sausages are coarse and rustic. I prefer them. These are flavored with ginger, chiles and cilantro.
Mazzafegati — Italian Liver Sausages
An Italian sausage from Umbria that mixes liver and pork meat. This is my favorite thing to do with wild boar liver, which can be strong-tasting otherwise. In this sausage, flavored with oranges, the liver is barely noticable.
Mexican Chorizo
A spicier, softer version of Spanish chorizo, this is my version of the Mexican standard.
Crepinettes with Wild Boar
Crepinettes are a French thing: Loose sausage meat wrapped in caul fat, and then fried or grilled.
Duck, Goose, Turkey and Other Poultry
I mostly make duck and goose sausages, but you’ll find a few turkey sausage recipes here, as well as those using chicken and pheasant.
Homemade Sheboygan Brats
Yep, this is the “white brat” you eat in Wisconsin while watching sports or drinking beer. I made this with wild turkey, but any white meat will work.
German Bockwurst
A traditional German-American sausage meant to be poached in bock beer and eaten with potatoes, kraut, and more beer. You can use pretty much any meat if you don’t have goose.
Duck L’Orange Sausages
Imagine all the flavors of classic duck l’orange – sweet, savory, spicy, orangey – in a sausage link, and that’s what you have here.
Duck Sausages, Hunter’s Style
My go-to sausage for wild ducks, these links are flavored with sage, juniper and a little Chinese Five-Spice powder.
Polish Duck Sausages
A great Eastern European style sausage that begs to be simmered in beer and sauerkraut.
Toulouse Sausage with Duck or Goose
A simple French recipe I do with duck, it’s flavored with garlic, nutmeg and black pepper. Use this recipe when you are planning to make cassoulet.
Smoked Canada Goose Sausage
An oldie but a goody. I designed this sausage back in 2007, and it’s served me well ever since. This is a German-style smoked link.
Duck Mortadella Sausage
Mortadella is what baloney thinks about when it dreams at night. This is not an easy recipe, but if you’ve been making sausages for a while, give this a go. You will not be disappointed.
Duck Hot Dogs
Yep, duck hot dogs. They’re awesome. Trust me.
Pheasant Sausages
A simple sausage for chicken or pheasant, flavored with oregano and garlic.
Provencal Style Chicken Sausages, also good with pheasant or turkey (my recipe hosted on Food & Wine magazine’s site)
Charcuterie
Explore a whole world of cured meats, from smoked meats to jerky to bacon, salami, confit, pates and terrines on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook!
Russell: Sorry! I hate breakfast sausage. You’ll have to look elsewhere. 😉
I have just harvested a nice spring bear – my first bear. I have been eating his chops as i process him, and he is delicious!. I am very experienced with making sausage, but not with bear. Can I use the bear’s own fat in sausage, or should I trim the bear lean (as with deer/elk) and add pork fat? I am very interested in using the bear fat, but it appears to be significantly softer than pork fat and I am assuming that it will melt and run in a sausage.
Paul: Depends. In general, bear fat makes excellent sausage fat. But if it’s nasty smelling, you’d need to trim it out.
Hank- Thanks so much for everything you do to educate everyone on the different options for their wild game, instead of just snack sticks and grind. My question concerns sausage making. It seems a waste to buy natural casings when you have them right there when you gut a deer, elk, pronghorn, etc. Do you have any experience or knowledge using the guts of your harvests for their own casings? Is the juice worth the squeeze? Thanks again for the knowledge and all the info you share!
George: Uff. Making your own casings is literally a shitty job. I leave it to others. You need to flush the intestines repeatedly and most manufacturers turn them inside out to ensure they’re totally clean.