The old saying claims that hunting is all fun and games until you pull the trigger. That's when the work begins.
I take pride in being a Jack-of-no-trades, do-it-yourselfer for many things, and I literally get up to my elbows in deer after the shot.
This year I didn't finish the job until late in February. I was lucky to take a little buck at the end of archery season in mid-January, so after I waited a couple of weeks for a negative chronic-wasting disease test, I could finally break out the tools of the butcher’s trade.
I turned my fall harvests into about 50-pounds of bratwurst and burger, and I am pretty proud of my work. I did get helpful advice from Tom Kolisch at John’s Butcher Shoppe in Festus. You may think that a guy who specializes in selling a hundred different flavors of his famous cylindrical sausages would be reluctant to support amateur competition, but he couldn't have been nicer about it.
That’s the story of my meat making career. I have relied on family and friends to lead me to the trial and error successes I have today. My earliest influences came from butchering hogs and cattle at my grandparents’ farm near High Ridge. My dad and mom, uncles, aunts and cousins made those events as fun as they were educational.
I also was a big fan of the summer sausage my Uncle Cletus stuffed and smoked every winter in Hermann, a place where people know best about wurst. I regret that I never learned his process or at least asked more questions about the meat curing in the rafters of his basement. I was satisfied with enjoying the smells and slices of his homemade sausage with a piece of bread slathered in butter.
My hunting companions, Lucky Jim and Big Brother Tom, carry on their family tradition of making deer sausage using the recipe their dad and grandfather perfected throughout the 20th century. I am fortunate to have a copy of that recipe, but my attempts at recreation have never been close to as good as the original.
I have to thank my first deer hunting mentor Steve Ebert of Arnold who took me into the woods under his wing, and then introduced me to his master craftsman butcher and dad, Big Ken. I have seen guys who could handle a knife with a deft touch, but that shiny stainless steel was a magic wand in Ken’s big hands.
For years my cousin, Leon Brouk of Hillsboro, stacked, sliced and wrapped hundreds of deer for Jefferson County hunters. When he closed his shop a couple of years ago, I was back to relying on myself to convert venison into packages and products that make the most of the healthy natural resource.
This year that last step in the deer hunting process took me almost eight hours from start to clean-up, including a second trip to John’s on Mill Street for more casings and additional helpful hints. The mix of spices and seasonings I use is a creation of my own, based on research and ideas stolen from other places.
To make my bratwursts, I don’t really consider it a recipe, but more of a collection of ingredients that I combine with equal amounts of deer and ground pork. I use kosher salt, dry milk, garlic water, black, white and red pepper, marjoram, garlic salt, onion powder, mustard seed, nutmeg, ginger, all spice and some sage.
As I said before, I think the end product is pretty good, and I hope it continues to get better as I work on it. I’m already anxious for the fun to begin again in the fall.
John Winkelman has been writing about outdoors news and issues in Jefferson County for more than 30 years and was the Associate Editor for Outdoor Guide Magazine. If you have story ideas for the Leader outdoor news page, e-mail ogmjohnw@aol.com, and you can find more outdoor news and updates at johnjwink.com.