Gamey Pork Sausage

[briand]

I have killed a pig three times and tried to make my own sausage every time. It never works. The bacon works out great. I have pork roasts rather than hams (just not a large enough container/space for proper curing). We love the chops. We have lard for all our baking--pig cookies are so very good. I haven't done too well with jowl bacon and I have not yet tried to keep any of the sweet meats, but we are learning.

The sausage, however, is killing me. It comes out extremely gamey. I have been told it may be the way I'm processing it. One friend swears that you have to refrigerate the shoulder ASAP and keep it that way until you are ready to grind. I may not be keeping the meat at the right temperature.

Any tips to improve the flavor?

[NCPaul]

It's always good practice to keep meat cold (< 40 F).

[NCPaul]

One other idea would be to consider the feed you give the pig in its last month. I don't have any advice, but this may be worth looking into.

[wheels]

It sounds like more of a butchery question than a sausagemaking one. I'd hazard a guess that the problem is before the sausage-making stage. But, without knowing the whole procedure in very fine detail it's very hard to tell. Is there no one in your area that you could ask to mentor you?