This weekend included sausage-making. We are slowly adding to our repertoire in this category which up to this point included bulk breakfast sausage and smoked pepperoni snack sticks. Over the summer we bought a beast of a sausage stuffer at Waltons in Wichita–a wonderland for all things meat. It did save time and will hopefully keep the mixer from burning out, even if it seems like it might be overkill. We ended up with ~10 lbs. in the freezer.

This was also our first attempt to use natural casings. Learned a bit about that process too and probably need to give them a longer soak next time.

We used a recipe for Chorizo and rabbit meat that NB found in the most recent issue of Field & Stream at the library. The spice mix is heavy, but not spicy and includes a good dose of both clove and cinnamon which add a unique warm/sweet flavor. The seasonings calls to mind the flavors of a mole rather than an enchilada-type red sauce. This batch used ~8 lbs of elk and mountain goat grind with ~2 lbs of pork fat. The recipe was for a total of 8 lbs of meat, so I added a bit more of each spice for our higher weight.

CHORIZO SPICE MIX from Field & Stream

• 10 garlic cloves, minced
• 14 T. ancho chile powder
• 6 T. ground cumin
• 8 T. sweet paprika
• 5 T. salt
• 8 t. ground coriander
• 4 t. ground black pepper
• 4 t. dried oregano
• 4 t. dried thyme
• 3 t. ground clove
• 3 t. ground cinnamon
• 2 t. cayenne powde

All the chile and paprika did make our kitchen look like a bit of a crime scene, but we are happy with the result. I cooked up the first batch with eggs and tortillas for migas.