[Growster...]

Our local butcher asked me to try his new line in these, and so, as we like him, I tried some this evening!

Without saying what I thought, for the time being, has anyone else tried these of late please?

[Mrs Bee]

We have the most wonderful master butcher near us who specialises in sausages. He does about 20 of them and they are without doubt the best in England.

He does venison and port and they are gorgeous. Mr Bee's favourite way of eating them is in a red wine casserole with baby shallots and mushrooms.

The butcher also does wild boar and cranberry. And 21 day aged beef rib.

And he loves my bread pud and cake and mincepies. So we have a bit of a barter system going on. 

[devonbarmygardener]

The local food fairs at Saltram and Cotehle will be on the next couple of weekends and we will buy vension saussies, wild boar saussies and local ostrich saussies - all amazing.

[Madame Cholet]

OH has hadthese from our local butcher he likedthem too.

[arugula]

has anyone else tried these of late please?

Not of late, but of old and for a long time. I love them.

Beware slightly though, I bought some venison related items a few months back in one of what has become an extremely mainstream supermarket and there was so much pork in the product, that although i love pork too it was not only disappointing, it wasn't nice. 

[madcat]

I love them properly made (venison from Wychwood Forest in my case via a local butcher and the farmers market)  - but they are very lean so you cant just fry them off like you would a std pork sausage (might that be why the supermarket adulterates them so much?).  You need to roast gently or I do much as Mrs B, casserole/slo cook them with red wine, juniper, mushrooms ....  that sort of thing, or they do a brilliant lentil and sausage casserole, or with apples and cider....... 

D*mn, I'm dribbling now!   

[surbie100]

I love them, they are a fantastic treat, though I agree with madcat that they are incredibly lean.

When I go north for C h r i s t m a s I'll also be having elk and/or reindeer sausages, which are VenisonPlus.

[devonbarmygardener]

I love them, they are a fantastic treat, though I agree with madcat that they are incredibly lean.

When I go north for C h r i s t m a s I'll also be having elk and/or reindeer sausages, which are VenisonPlus.

Wow! They sound delicious Surbie

[Lardman]

Supermarket venison is pathetic 

When I was in the area I used to pick some real ones up from a butcher in lyndhurst many many moons ago, they were and still are the best sausages I'd ever bought. 

[surbie100]

The W***rose ones are 16% pork to 65% venison, and aren't bad, but they aren't as nice as proper butchers' ones. I live nearish Richmond Park, but have only just found out that the meat from the cull isn't sold so it could be identified - I would have thought that this would be a plus point, being local and all...

[Growster...]

Thanks for these replies, Folks! I was interested in hearing everyone else's views before I posted, and then went off and reported to my butcher!

Ours were definitely very lean, meaty and crumbly. The herbs were nearly the same as they put into their traditional sausages, but because the meat has a stronger flavour, they were of course 'different', but pretty good. The colour was much darker than the pork snags they make (and they do Hop flavoured ones as well, which are OK, but not as good as the trad ones)!

Like a few old folk, I was going to be suspicious of trying 'something new' (NEW for God's sake, Growster, where have you been for the last hundred years)!, but as we've never had rabbit or goat either, old habits die hard, and this is a different experience, which hasn't been disappointing at all!

We're looking forward to having some cold as well, as that seems to be the norm over week-ends, when the log fire beckons, and so does a full plate and a big glass of wine...

I'm sure I can post Steve's website here...

http://www.woodandsonsbutchers.co.uk/

(We used to live behind his shop, and know him pretty well, and his mum and dad, and his sisters...;0)

[Trillium]

My next door neighbour regularly hunts deer with some buddies and they all meet next door afterwards to make venison sausages with bits that are too small for roasts or whatever. I'm still waiting for a sample   

Venison jerky is also very popular around here, seasoned to your own taste.

[sunshineband]

Glad you have 'discovered' venison sausages Growster. Ones made by decent butchers are really great. Sadly supermarket versions often have a proportion of pork in them, including pork skins I have found and so are 'off our menu' of course.

So much so we are considering making our own.

All help in this direction is appreciated

[Growster...]

Glad you have 'discovered' venison sausages Growster. Ones made by decent butchers are really great. Sadly supermarket versions often have a proportion of pork in them, including pork skins I have found and so are 'off our menu' of course.

So much so we are considering making our own.

All help in this direction is appreciated

For no other reason than curiosity, Sunny, I asked Mrs Growster if she ever had skinless snags when she was a kid. I'd forgotten all about them, as we're pretty lucky with our butcher, Korkers (made locally), and Speldhurst (not quite as good as they used to be, but OK still).

Of course, a quick Gurgle found the ones in Twongos etc, but to get to your post (eventually, Growster, you do bang on a bit...), I think my mum used to make her own, which were roughly like pork burgers actually, and skinless, but they liked the crispy bits on snags, and always cut theirs open to grill them anyway!

So you could probably do the same except I wouldn't have a clue about the recipe!

[sunshineband]

They  end up a bit like long meatballs, Growster 

I have found that you can buy cellulose skins (or sheep actually too) so will look into this more