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We are never short of tips that's for sure. LEM brings you the best of the best tips on grinding, jerky & sausage making, using our burger press, collagen, and more.Grinder tips Use LEM's Ground Meat Packaging Systems in conjunction with your LEM Grinder for efficient freezer storage of your game.LEM Grinders are commercial-grade. They can grind between 160 lbs/hr (#5 Unit) and 360 lbs/hr (#12 Unit) but meant for home-use.A word about Wattage: Wattage is relatively meaningless when comparing …

Smoked sausage has been made and enjoyed around the world for centuries. Originally, smoking sausage was to preserve meat for a longer period of time, but with the invention of freezers and refrigerators, smoked sausage has become a delicacy purely for its smoky flavor and these days is often served as a snack by itself, or as an ingredient of stews, soups, and other meals. Though smoked sausage is widely available in stores, many hunters and chefs prefer learning how to smoke sausage themselves …

The Big Thaw - Safe Defrosting MethodsUh, oh! You’re home and forgot to thaw something for dinner. You grab a package of meat or chicken and use hot water to thaw it fast. But is this safe? What if you remembered to take food out of the freezer, but forgot and left the package on the counter all day while you were at work?Neither of these situations is considered safe, and these methods of thawing may lead to foodborne illness. Raw or cooked meat, poultry or egg products, as any perishable foods …

What exactly are Fresh and Cured Sausages? How do they differ?Fresh sausage is simply meat with your choice of sausage seasoning. It is mixed together and then used right away or frozen for a later date – it is not shelf stable or preserved. Great examples of Fresh Sausage include Breakfast Sausage (links or patties), Italian Sausage, Chorizo and Polish Sausage. Typically, fresh sausage is fried in a skillet or grilled and can be made with or without casings. On the other hand, Cured Sausage is …

Using a Local Processor vs At Home Meat ProcessingHunting offers a certain kind of joy, something most hunters know they won’t find anywhere else. It’s that cup of coffee before dawn. The silence of an early morning. The surge of adrenaline when you catch movement out of the corner of your eye. Thing is, there’s a satisfaction to processing your own game that ties the whole experience together into a mouthwatering package. If you’re dropping your meat off at a local processor, you’re missing out …

How To Make Homemade Jerky that Puts Store-Bought Jerky to ShameFor outdoor snacks, nothing beats homemade jerky. And truth be told, it’s pretty tasty indoors, too. Packed with lean protein and flavored however you like it, it’s the perfect go-anywhere, do-anything food.One look at the price of store-bought jerky should answer any question about why you might want to make your own. One taste of our Backwoods Jerky Seasonings should seal that deal forever. When you make your own jerky, you contro …

I generally stuff approximately 40 to 50 lb of sausage per season. I use LEM products to streamline my sausage making process. The only time I have said that I wish I had bought something different is my upright stuffer. I bought the 5 lb stuffer. I wish I had bought the 15 lb stuffer. It’s a small thing, but stopping to reload the stuffer takes more time. Once I have everything the way I like it I just want to roll with it. Sausage Stuffers vary widely. Don’t jump on the first one you see. Take …

Nothing goes with a cold beer on a hot day quite like summer sausage and a hunk of cheese. Some people (including quite a few here at LEM) even add cheese to their summer sausage. But whether you like cheese on the side or cheese in your sausage, stuffing sausage is a great way to use venison. For the curious among you, we’ll touch on the history of summer sausage before stepping through a how-to on sausage making and finally, we’ll include a few of our favorite recipes.Why is it called Summer S …

We gathered our LEM staff and asked that everybody submit their top Tips & Hints for when they make sausage at home. Here’s the top 11 Tips & Hints from inside LEM to make your job easier: You need to test the internal temperature of your sausage to make sure it has cooked all the way through, just as you would with other meats. When making sausage, make a shorter sausage of the same width, to use for testing the internal temperature of the meat instead of puncturing a larger one.Put a p …

There’s nothing like serving up a plate of sausages or burgers and knowing absolutely everything in that meat is something you wanted in the mix. That’s what we all aspire to, sure. There are, however, some finer points or questions where you might need some answers.That’s where we come in. Our company was founded on a simple goal, help simplify game processing for the average hunter, so let’s answer the most commonly debated questions around meat processing. When we’re finished you can cross th …