Sausage & Jerky

We spent the first weekend of 2010 making caribou sausage and tried something new: salmon sausage and caribou jerky. Turns out, sausage is a great way to turn our freezer-burnt 2008 salmon into something edible! We even found a healthier substitute for crisco/lard: organic shortening made by Spectrum. No hydrogenated fats! Even found it at the grocery store!

The salmon sausage prep is a bit of a pain. Have to de-bone and skin the fillets first. The grinding was relatively easy.
The stuffing went without hitch. But then we had to boil it in water to cook it and half of them exploded out of the casings! Still tastes yummy.
Next we made some caribou sausage, then tried our hand at making jerky. Borrowed Lincoln & Julie's 'jerky blaster' - looks like a giant caulking gun:
Grind up the meat and blast it into strips. Cook in oven for ~ 2 hours and tada! jerky!
tastes pretty good. I went through 3 lbs (wet weight) this week. will have to make more soon.