Ive screwed around making sausage for several years now, and this year I have finally got it down pretty good.
I put about 2 lbs of pork for every 3 lbs of deer I use in it.Mix the meat well in a large plastic bowl.Add whatever spices you are using,I smoke mine so I need cure added if its not already in the mix, follow the directions on the cure exactly and dont add or subtract any from it so you dont get people sick. I been using the Smokehouse sausage kits this year with great success.Mix it well again, cover tightly and refrigerate.After about 6-8 hours ill take it out and mix it again thoroughly, cover and refrigerate.Give it at least 12 hours and more doesnt hurt.
If Im adding cheese this is when Ill put it in, I started using the High temp cheeses this year and was pretty impressed with them.A pound of cheese will do about 10 lbs of meat just right.
Stuff your casings fairly tight and tie both ends for mahagony casing and hang in your preheated smoker/oven, I found out the fiberous casings I have better luck leaving one end open so the liquid can escape or they wind up looking like water balloons, these i just lay on the racks..
Now to cook em I go low and slow, I use the cure though so if your not using it you have to bring them to a higher temp.I go about 145 F for the first couple hours, then crank it up to about 160 for a couple hours, and finally finish them at about 175 F untill they reach an internal temp of 155-160.This can take 10-12 hours on a 15 lb batch of sausage.You only need to smoke them for about 3 or 4 hours, after that just let em cook using heat and quit adding woodchips.Without cure I believe you have to hit about 175 F.I prefer the cure and lower temps as it doesnt cook the fat out of them and dry them out.
After theyre cooked I take them out and put them in a sinkfull of cold water to get them to stop cooking and start cooling rapidly, after about 15 minutes in the bath I wipe them off with paper towels, hang them on a stick in the kitchen and leave them overnight since by this point youve been screwing with this sausage all day and its now the middle of the night LOL.
Next morning package em in a vac sealer and put what your not gonna eat right away in the freezer.