Sambar Venison Cabana (Sambana)

There’s nothing quite like homemade smallgoods, especially when crafted with wild-harvested venison.

This Cabana recipe is a great way to turn your Venison into a rich, smoky, and flavour-packed snack. Whether you’re out in the bush or enjoying a cold beer at home, these sticks of goodness will always hit the spot.

Thank you to Alfie Sawyer for sending in this recipe:

Ingredients (Per 1kg of Meat):

• 500g Sambar Backstrap (or other cut)
• 500g Fatty Pork Shoulder
• 18g Salt
• 2g Pepper
• 1g Sugar
• 1g Nutmeg
• 1g Paprika
• 2g Garlic (powdered)
• 1g Caraway
• 100ml Cold Water

Method:

Grind lean sambar on a fine plate and pork on a medium plate.

Mix the ground meat with all ingredients thoroughly until the mass feels sticky.

Stuff the mixture into 22mm natural casings.

Link sausages into 60-70cm links, so when hung on a smoking stick, each individual link (half of the meat stick) is about one foot long.

Do not cut into short links—leave it as one long rope.

Hang sausages on smoke sticks in a cool place (2-6°C) for 12 hours.

(For a drier texture, let them sit at room temperature for 30-60 minutes before smoking.)

Smoking Process:

Stage 1 – Hot Smoking: Smoke at 40-50°C for 50-60 minutes.

Stage 2 – Baking: Bake for about 20 minutes at 60-90°C until the internal temperature reaches 68-71°C.

The casings should turn dark brown when done.

Final Steps:

Once cooked, shower with cold water, separate into links, and refrigerate.

Hang them outside on a clothesline and use a fine spray of water (such as a garden hose) before patting dry.

For best results, hang in a coolroom for a week before eating.

Enjoy your homemade Sambar Cabana—perfect for the bush, the esky, or as an anytime snack!