Specialty Meats With Hi Mountain Seasonings
By Todd Helms
It’s that time of year again. Time to turn your mule deer grind and trimmings into delicious sausage, snackin’ sticks and jerky with the help of Hi Mountain Seasoning’s kits and let your slow cooker or smoker, along with Hi Mountain’s rubs, do the work on a cold winter day of making mouthwatering meals for the whole family to enjoy.
I personally enjoy the process of making my own sausage, snackin’ sticks and jerky from the fall’s harvest. I normally wait until after the holidays to perform these tasks as I find I have more time to devote to doing it right. I also learned years ago that attempting to assemble all the ingredients for this process myself was more work than it needed to be once I discovered Hi Mountain Seasoning’s kits and I couldn’t do it any better, so why make it harder than it needed to be? The following kits are my top picks for each category along with some notes on my personal experiences and ideas for using the finished products.
Prairie Sage Breakfast Sausage Kit
This sausage kit is my family’s favorite, a close second is the Mountain Man Sausage Kit but this one wins. We like the added heat and “sagey” flavor. I prefer a 70/30 blend of ground meat and bacon for my breakfast sausage. You can use beef or pork fat instead of bacon but trust me, the bacon puts this sausage over the top! I look for bulk packs of the cheapest, fattiest bacon I can find. Grind your mule deer coarse, grind the bacon coarse, mix them by hand and then grind again with a fine plate after mixing in the appropriate amount of seasoning from the kit.
Recipe Idea: This sausage makes the best sausage gravy I’ve ever had and when ladled over fresh from scratch baking soda biscuits, you’ll have a hard time pushing away a second plate full.
Sweet Italian Sausage Kit
Another winner from Hi Mountain! I do not use bacon for my fat mixture with this one as the flavor seems at odds with the Italian seasoning. Instead, I prefer pork fat in a 70/30 ratio. I do not stuff this sausage into casings but you can and Hi Mountain offers a kit for that too. The same process for grinding the Prairie Sage sausage works for this one as well, just follow the directions provided in the kit.
Recipe Ideas: Put this in any Italian dish calling for sausage: Lasagna, spaghetti, cheese ravioli w/meat sauce, you get the idea. Another solid option is to make patties and fry them crispy, melt mozzarella or provolone over the patty and serve on a bun with marinara sauce for an Italian sausage sandwich that is to die for.
Original, Hunter’s, and Sweet & Spicy Snackin’ Stick Kits
I’ve tried them all and these are my favorites from Hi Mountain. I have used bacon as my fat mix but didn’t care for the added salt. I prefer either beef or pork fat for these. Simply follow the directions in the kit and you won’t be disappointed. These go fast in my house and anywhere I take them.
Next Level Tip: I often add hi-temp cheeses to these kits to take the sticks to the next level. My favorites are cheddar and pepper jack.
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Original Jerky Kit
This is the best DIY jerky kit I’ve used. It is simple and the results are amazing! Hi Mountain offers a plethora of flavors in their jerky kits and they are all very good but the Original Jerky Kit never fails to turn heads and make hands reach for more. Follow the directions in the kit and dry the jerky in a dehydrator, oven or my favorite, a smoker.
Recipe Idea: Shred finished jerky in a food processor, combine with cream cheese, sour cream, mayo, mustard, liquid smoke, Worchestershire, green onion, salt and pepper for a dip that will be the first to go at any gathering.
Hi Mountain Seasonings Rubs
I don’t know how many bottles of Hi Mountain Venison and Garlic Pepper Rub I go through in a year but it’s enough to keep them making it. These rubs are the best I’ve found for seasoning venison steaks, backstraps and roasts. Use like you would any other rub for red meat and you’ll be wondering why you didn’t find them sooner. My family particularly enjoys venison backstraps rubbed liberally with the Garlic Pepper Rub and coarse ground salt then smoked on a wood pellet grill and reverse seared to 125 degrees.
Recipe Idea: For a killer pot roast take a whole shank, shoulder or portion of either (bone in), rub thoroughly with either Hi Mountain Rub and sear the outside. Submerse meat in a slow cooker with beef broth, onions and red wine. Cook on high for 6 to 8 hours or until the meat falls apart off the bone. Add potatoes and carrots and cook for another hour until potatoes and carrots are tender. I never cared for pot roast until I found this recipe.
