First I should probably talk about the things we learned.  Double grinding your meat with an 1/8″ plate makes it the consistency of liver.  I tried, but really couldn’t get over the texture of the last batch.  You really don’t want to bite into a snack stick and have it be soft and squishy.  This time we went with a 1/4″ plate and the texture was much better.  The other thing we learned was that mixing all of your seasonings in water really helps provide a better distribution of flavor.

So, you probably want some details on how we actually made this tasty looking tubed shaped meat.

Day 1 – Grinding the meat

• Mix all of the seasonings in with the water and stir it all up until the salt in incorporated into the water.
• Grind up your meat, both pork and venison and add the water with the seasonings in it.  Mix everything together really well until your hands are extremely cold and tired.
• Pack the meat down in a plastic bowl and cover it with plastic wrap.  Place it in the fridge.

Day 2 – Letting the meat cure

• Stir the meat up in the morning and cover it back up.
• Stir the meat up again in the evening and cover it back up.

Day 3 – Stuffing the meat

• Cube the cheese and put it in the freezer for at least a half an hour before you start.
• Start soaking your fibrous casings in hot water, because they take at least a half an hour to get loose enough.
• Get a big tub, cooler or sink full of ice ready.
• Get the meat out of the fridge and add the jalapeno and cubed cheese to it.  Mix everything together until you get a nice distribution of cheese.
• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees at this point, so it’s ready when you are done stuffing.
• Stuff the meat into the casings.  Make sure you put your hands all over that meat and stuff it really really hard!
• Put the summer sausage into the oven and cook until the internal temperature reaches at least a 170 degrees.
• Take the sausages out of the oven and put them straight into the tub of cold water.  Leave them there until the internal temp. reaches 60 degrees.  This step helps prevent any wrinkles from forming on the casing of the sausages.
• Divide up the sausage between you and your buddies.  Eat some right away and put the rest in the freezer so it doesn’t go bad.

You can check out the some pics below of me and Just the Tip Jason handling each others meat and stuffing real hard!