Butcher rec. for fancy processing?

[slowpoke]

Does anyone know of a good butcher between Santa Rosa and Sacramento who will make dinner sausages out of wild pork? I’ve read many posts talking about Italian sausages, chorizo, jalapeño and cheddar sausages, pepperoni and other fancy things being made from the wild pigs. The butchers I’ve tried will make country sausage (in bulk) and regular cuts only. These other cuts may make it easier for my wife to get over the mental block of eating a wild animal. Right now the amount of pig hunting I get to do is limited by the amount of wild pork I can eat by myself.

I know there is a list of butchers on this web site, but I would prefer to have someone’s recommendation to a butcher being good.

Thanks for the help

 

[SDHNTR]

For the price of getting a couple hogs butchered, you could buy yourself a small grinder and then make any flavor you wanted. Cabelas has everything you will need. www.eldonsausage.com is even better.

 

[wildlifedesigner]

Try "Kountry Meats", Located off of Bradshaw Road,

 

[boarhunter67]

Here in Bakersfield both Hammond's meats and Michelle's Meat Processing make fancy sausage. The garlic and cheddar is my favorite.

 

[inchr48]

Got a Sportsman's Guide catalog yesterday that had a band saw/grinder combo machine for $200. I paid that for a used one that may be a little heavier, but I'm sure for personal use the smaller one would provide years of service.

 

[rtbx15]

Corralitos Market (between Santa Cruz and Watsonville) makes very good sausage and a large variety too. My favorite is the Cheesey Bavarian. They do a very professional shrink wrap and label.

 

[jjhack]

Do yourself a big favor and buy a good Meat grinder. It will cost you about 350 bucks or maybe a bit more. This one time purchase will last you a lifetime of meat processing.

The most important thning about getting a good grinder is that its fast and not at all finicky about what you drop into it. A cheap grinder with under 500 watts or 1/2 HP will frustrate you with jams and binding tendons wrapped around the screw or the blades. You will eventually be put off using it and that 200 bucks becomes a waste of money.

I bought a good commercial 1 HP grinder and it will grind and pack the casings of a live weight 175 pound boar in an hour. This will give you 50-60 pounds of free and clear finished meat all done perfectly to your taste.

I have tinkered with this for a while now and found that I start getting inventive with this as well. The last hog I shot was seasoned with Itialian seasoning from the Sausage Source in NH. I added diced pepperchini's and about 1 pound of Provolone cheese right in with the meat when I stuffed the casings. My wife and I made up all this sausage in about an hour. Lets say 2 hours with prep and clean up of all the equipment.

Imagine what you will pay to have a hog done once per year and then how much you will save in 20 years use with a grinder. Not to mention the personal satisfaction of doing it. One other note on this, There is a place here called Big Als smoke house. I frequently give him some sausage for his own personal use and have him smoke a bunch of my sausage in his huge commercial smoker. Just another idea to utilize another source for getting some of your meat smoked professionally. When he is done with my sausage it's like candy. I just cannot stop eating it!

 

[nofear25]

Dittmers meat in moutain view is a great place... They will make anything you want and i garantee it will be good... I have dinner sausages from there and they are really good... They are pretty reasonable priced too. Email if you have any questions at nofear25@yahoo.com Gl nofear

 

[Ted_Bell]

Processing the meat is as much fun as the hunting if you have a few like-minded buddies. We usually fire-up the bbq, beers, and grinders and have a blast telling lies. Make a little sausage, throw it on the bbq, and then have a taste test. Adjust recipe if needed then proceed into production. It's a lot of fun.

TB

 

[jjhack]

Ted much agreed, my time working on the meat with my wife and son is a huge part of the whole hunting process and completes the value of the experience.

 

[slowpoke]

Thank you for the help everyone.

I ended up taking the pig to Kountry Meats and will see how it turns out. Unfortunately time is very limited with work, landscaping a new yard and a first baby on the way. For right now, paying someone to process meat is leaving me ahead of the game. Hopefully things will slow down a little in the future (but I don't see it happening). Thanks again