wild hog sausage

[Mad Dog]

Going back to S. Texas next Feb. on another hog/javelina safari.  The meat hogs, I'm bringing home to grind into 1 lb. pkgs. of sausage.  My question is should I strip off all the hog fat[even sows], and add domestic pork fat, or grinder up whole hog, then add a little domestic hog fat if it is too lean?  On deer I add domestic beef suet[10-20%] to the burger, and get rid of all the deer fat.  Just wondered if this applied to wild hogs.  I'm not talking about old trophy boars, just 80-130 lb. meat hogs.  Also, do ya have any leads on a good place to order different flavored  sausage seasonings?  Thanks.

Mad Dog

[Dusty Miller]

I've been told you have to have a cast iron stomach to eat javelina.  Never tried it myself.

[oso45-70]

Mad Dog

On a young pig i don't think you need to do any thing but grind it up and if you are going to make sausage and you have a special sauce you like to use thats all you need. On a older hog i trim it pretty good making sure i keep it clean and usually wash it with cold water, This gets rid of some of the musty taste. The main thing with any wild pig is keeping it as clean as passable and draining the meat as much as passable. I hope you do well on your hunt.........Joe.......

[howie1968]

make sure you take the glands out by the arpits  most people forget to take them out, believe me most people forget this one important step

[oso45-70]

Howie

Sorry about that, I guess i think every one knows about them things. And
Don't forget the anil glands also..........Joe..........

[PEPAW]

Honestly, I can't remember much fat on my S. Tx hogs.  This year is shaping up to be terrible with no rain so far.
But if I was going to make sausage, I would grind it all and add fat.  I would also avoid all boars.    We like the tenderloins whole.  We also have the hams cut into steaks and tenderized.  The ribs are usually saved whole.   That doesn't leave much for sausage, but sure saves the prime cuts.    And avoid all boars for prime eating.  
Good luck on your hunt.    Where are you going?  


pepaw

[Borealis Bob]

My buddy and I spent a few winter weekends experimenting with making sausage from our large boar and sow (about 250# each) which we harvested last fall.

I'm certainly no expert, but am happy to share our limited experience.

We didn't use any hog fat that we could trim off, adding domestic pork fat instead. After several sausage-making sessions ( increasing the percentage of fat with each attempt ) we settled on a one-to-one mixture of meat and fat. A smaller "meat hog" might not need as much, but we found that any lesser percentage of fat resulted in too-dry a sausage. E.G., our first batch ( 3# hog to 1# fat) resulted in sausages that had the consistency of sawdust. The wild hog meat really "absorbs" the fat.

No need to order special spice packages: we used herbs and spices for domestic pork sausage recipes and the results were absolutely delicious....once the got the meat/fat proportions down.

Good luck and have fun...it really makes for a good "bull session" when done with a friend.