# 95 Pounds of Salami!



## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

Two of a cousin's kids decided to hunt for "Uncle Martin" last Saturday. Since both are competitive bow shooters, any deer within range quickly becomes venison. With one already having stuck 10 and 12 point bucks, it was his sister's turn to shoot while he filmed everything. She downed a nice doe with a neck shot. Before they could begin to climb down from the stand, an 8-point buck showed up to investigate. He was also quickly dropped with an arrow in his neck.

Fast forward to now and I've finished cooking 19 sticks of salami at 5# each starting weight. With each stick having 18" of meat, that's 342". If I ate just a trifle less than an inch per day, it would last a year! Luckily, I've got a lot of cousins who will appreciate a stick for Christmas so it won't be dehydrating in the freezers.

One thing that I forgot with this batch is that the salami spice mix from The Sausage Maker tends to make the end results a bit too salty for my taste. (Backwoods brand is more expensive but better in my opinion.) I could have corrected that with maple or corn syrup. A bit late to be reminded of that when the first of 19 sticks is sampled!

Martin


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

Martin, I'll e-mail my address to you, in case you want to share.


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

WooHoo!!
Martin was kind enough to send me some of his homemade salami!!
We ate 1/2 of a stick in one sitting...............this stuff is delicious!!

Thank you Martin!!


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

I know now what it is that causes me to think that it's too salty. It's the Liquid Smoke despite using only about a third of what the recipe calls for. 

Deer have all come in the wrong order this year. The one that I made the salami from should have been ground for hamburger. Next came a 3-year old doe with over an inch of fat on her sides and 2 inches on her rump! Right now I'm taking a break from cutting up a monster 4 or 5-year old buck that a cousin shot Saturday. Meat's so tough that it will dull a knife and not an ounce of fat! Other than a few roasts off the hind quarters, most of this guy is going be coarse-ground into bulk sausage material. (7.5 pounds can be packed into gallon Ziploc bags until needed.) 15 pounds of the cleanest will be fine-ground for the jerky shooter. Life is good!

Martin


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## HeatherDriskill (Jun 28, 2005)

That's wonderful to have home made salami to give as Christmas gifts! My sister and I spent Friday night cutting up her deer. We got a kick out of it because we are probably the only girls in our early 20's that we know who would spend a Friday night cutting up a deer!


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## Guest (Nov 28, 2006)

Martin, where did you get the Backwoods brand at, and have you tried any of Eldon's salami mix? Have you tried making any bologna or weinners? 

Eldon's sausage supply.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

r.h., Lem Products carries Backwoods seasonings. www.lemproducts.com That's where I got a great salami mix several years ago. Local Gander Mountain store carries the Backwoods jerky mixes and some Sausage Maker mixes and equipment. I haven't been in lately to see if they've expanded their selection in the past several years. Went right past the Gander Mountain store yesterday but I just wanted to get that deer home and start cutting in the warm weather. 

Actually, I've been a customer of Lem's and Eldon's almost from the beginning of those companies. The Sausage Maker used to have a monopoly on the mail order supplies until those two came along. Was a big difference in prices at first but both dug deep into Sausage Maker's sales and now they are all fairly close. 

Martin


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## cowgirlone (May 9, 2002)

> We got a kick out of it because we are probably the only girls in our early 20's that we know who would spend a Friday night cutting up a deer!


Heather, that's awesome!  


Martin, thanks for the info, I'm going to see if I can find some seasoning mixes.


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## Paquebot (May 10, 2002)

r.h., sorry that I neglected to answer your question about bologna and wieners. Yes, to both but it was years ago when I was experimenting with any mix that I could get my hands on and could be done in an oven. Now I leave that to a cousin's son who has a big smoker to properly cure such types. We end up swapping a good amount every Christmas. 

Stopped to check out what Gander Mountain had and certainly glad that I did. They are closing out the Backwood's brand of seasonings for Hi-Mountain and another that I hadn't heard of. $13.99 Variety Pack for $4.97. $19.99 Sack O' Seasoning for $5.97. Grabbed up enough for at least 200#! They do have both sheep and hog casings now but their only fibrous ones were 2.5". So, they do have everything available for getting started in sausage making. 

For the industry, sausage seasoning mixes are almost endless now and all can be adapted to venison. It doesn't seem so long ago that the only choices were summer sausage and salami for big sticks. Italian and Polish were the only fresh ones widely available while bratwurst was a regional thing. The "Big 4" are still there on top but joined by Cajun, Mexican, and just about any others which previously were only made from scratch by professional butchers.

Martin


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