Anybody make turkey sausage products (sticks, italian, etc)

[MNHuntress]

I'm wondering if anybody out there makes say turkey bulk Italian sausage, sticks, summer sausage or anything and what has been your experience? Did you add pork and what was the ratio (60/40, 50/50)? Taste etc?

I make alot of venison sausage, but a friend has access to alot of turkey and she wants to try it, but wonder what the pitfalls might be before we give it a go.

[reinhard1]

the only pitfall i can see is the bacteria count. for example they sell fresh turkey sausage in the grocery store. i have found over the years that the shelf life is not very good. poultry products have to be handled carefully and quickly. i have never made anything as far as sausage from chicken or turkey. not that it cant be done and i'm sure i could do it safely, but being in the buisness for a long period of time i just stick with pork and beef. having said that i think if you grind the white and dark meat together you would not need any other meat to add, for it would be a 80/20 lean/fat ratio. try small batches so you can proccess the product in a quick manner and wash your equipment good. the internal temperature has to be over 175 dgrs to be safe. so i would stick to fresh sausage so you can make it and freeze it in my opinion. good luck.

[KEN W]

Reinhart....good points.I thought about using ground turkey to mix with venison for sausage to cut down on cholesterol.But the chance of getting bacteria made me decide not to.