Dwayne ‘Cramer’ Peel is not a butcher or a chef. By day he works with disabled people, on weekends and holidays he hunts, fishes and occasionally scavenges mussels and other wild food that he can find.

When he’s not working, hunting, fishing or scavenging, Cramer and his wife Da can be found in the kitchen cooking or in the shed making sausages and salamis.

Cramer’s heritage is a mix of Italian and Scottish, his wife Da originates from Thailand. It makes for a delicious and eclectic mix of wild game dishes to share with friends — so far all have been spared the haggis, but who knows what the future brings.

When we were looking for someone to do the sausage demonstrations at the Wild Deer Expo earlier this year, Cramer was the logical choice — who better to teach ordinary hunters how to make sausages than an ordinary hunter.

RECIPE

INGREDIENTS

• 10 kg venison, trimmed of fat and sinew
• 3 kg pork fat
• 260 g salt
• 90 g cracked pepper
• 300 g or ½ jar Marco Polo Paprika Relish
• 1 glass of wine
• 1 clove of garlic
• Natural casings (available from the Artisans Bottega, My Slice of Life or from a good local butcher)

METHOD

Infuse the clove of garlic in the red wine overnight, then strain out the garlic.

Cut the sausage casings into 2 m lengths and run cold water through them to clean the salt out, then place them in a bowl of cold water.

Mince the venison and pork together using a coarse disc (approx. 8 mm).

Mix all of the ingredients together and work it with your hands until it’s very tacky — make a meatball and slap it under the palm of your hand, when it sticks it’s ready.

Fill the casings with the mixture so that they are firm but not tight (YouTube is your friend both with method of filling and linking).

Hang the sausages overnight to let them set.

Cramer’s advice is to keep it simple — don’t add too many flavours, enjoy the process and don’t be afraid to make mistakes — it’s just sausages after all!