BushTukka is our own game-processing range: everything you need to take a beast from the larder to the freezer as something worth eating. Seasonings, binders, casings and the kit to stuff and press it.
Getting venison right
Venison is very lean, and that is the whole problem. On its own it makes a dry, crumbly sausage and a burger that falls apart on the grill. Work to roughly 20% added fat - pork back fat or belly is the usual answer - and the texture comes right.
Rusk is not a filler in the way people assume. Lucas yeastless rusk holds moisture through cooking, which is what stops a lean sausage drying out. Hydrate it before it goes in the mix rather than adding it dry.
Keep everything cold. Meat, fat, bowl, mincer plate. Warm fat smears instead of chopping and you get a greasy, pasty mix that will never firm up.
Casings and stuffing
Devro collagen casings need no soaking and load straight onto the horn, which is why they suit anyone doing a run of sausages once or twice a season. Natural casings want a soak and a rinse first. Fill firmly but not tight - a casing packed hard will split when you twist the links.
The 3L upright stuffer does the job in a fraction of the time of a mincer attachment, and it does not warm the mix while it works.
Burgers
Press to a consistent thickness and the batch cooks evenly. The greaseproof separator discs matter more than they look: stacked patties weld together in the freezer, and you will be prising them apart with a knife otherwise. The 4in and 5in discs match the two common press sizes.
Related
Knives and boards for breaking down a carcass are in Food Preparation & Knives. Larder kit, gambrels and hooks are in Larder, and extraction gear in Deer Extraction. Our own-brand range across the site is under BushWear.
