Smoking Javelina Sausage

 

Javelina are 50-60 pound hooved animals that have a pigs nose. They are from the Tayassuidae family, or New World pigs. They are also known as Collared Peccary. Its stomach has three chambers. They eat prickly pear cacti (stickers, roots and all), tuberous roots, nuts, berries, and grains. They sport long sharp top and bottom canines that they use for protection. They will kill a big dog if attacked. They have poor eyesight like a bear, but have excellent hearing and smell.

They live in herds of 6 to 60. They will fight to the death to protect their young. They usually won’t attack unless provoked. People feeding wild Javelina often lead to fatal outcomes for the pigs.

As you can see in the picture they have no fat and are all tough muscle. Thus, save the chops and loins, and grind the rest.

!!!!!! Use nitrile gloves to sock skin the pig first. !!!!!! Then remove the gloves and gut the pig. !!!!!! Do not get the musk from the skin onto the meat. I do this on rutting elk and deer also.

My Recipe for Smoked Sausage Javelina

18 ¾ lbs. Meat - 2 Javelina ground using the 4.5mm plate (3/16^th)

½ cup Lard softened to liquid warm - Not Hot – drizzled over meat

1 ½ cups Evaporated Canned Milk (whole can) Bonding Agent

4 Tbs. Ground Sea Salt (non-iodized) Same Sodium as Boars Head

6 Tbs. Black Pepper Coarse Ground

5 Tbs. Granulated Onion

5 Tbs. Granulated Garlic

3 Tbs. Granulated Cayenne Pepper

3 Tbs. Coriander Seed Ground

1 Tbs. Mustard Dried Ground

1 Tbs. Fennel Seed Ground

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Mix spices and salt together. Sprinkle over fine ground meat in wide topped bowl. Pour canned milk evenly over top of meat. Drizzle warmed liquid, not hot, lard over top.

Mix thoroughly – may take 20 minutes – make sure that center bottom of bowl is mixed in also.

Cover with plastic wrap and put in refrigerator overnight.

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Next day presoak casings. Mix meat some more. Stuff into Collagen Casings 65mm (2 ½ inch) or form 40mm (1.5 inch) logs with the stuffer tube if you don’t have casings. Of course we did not have any casings, so we are making logs. It took 12 minutes using the Cabela’s Pro Series 500 watt Grinder model IK-523860. Put in ear plugs because this thing is loud.

Hang casings from top rack or lay logs on smoker racks. Remember to leave air space.

Open Vent and add NO water to pan. Fill smoker with meat. Turn on Masterbuilt Electric Smoker 30” Black at 140*F. Add Mesquite Chips at start and at 1 hour. I just set the time at 12 hours even though I know it will be nowhere near that long.

I am trying a No-Pre-Heat since I am doing Sausage. The first stage in sausage smoking is a warm up and dry. This might be good for salmon also.

At 2 hours raise smoker temperature to 200*F, close vent ¾ way and add last Mesquite Chips. Meat is at 140*F at this time. Mesquite is has strong smoke so don’t add too much. Insert temperature probe in top of casing and set at 170*F for done.

I pulled meat after 45 minutes of smoker set at 200*F. Internal temperature of the sausage is 170*F. Total smoke time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.