• Thaw ground venison in a paper towel-lined bowl in the fridge. This helps remove off flavors and excess liquid from the meat.
• Combine all spices in a small bowl.
• Add spices to ground venison. Drizzle red wine vinegar over meat.
• Mix sausage together with your hands until spices are evenly distributed in the meat.
• Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cooking, preferably overnight to let the flavors marry.
• Heat a cast iron pan over medium-high heat. Add lard or bacon fat to pan if your meat doesn't have fat ground in.
• Add sausage to pan and spread out in a thin layer. Cook for 5-6 minutes or until browned and crispy (but not burned) on the bottom.
• Flip the meat and break it up into smaller pieces. Cook for an additional 2-3 minutes.
• Remove from pan and enjoy on its own or as an ingredient for other delicious recipes!

Notes:

• You can make several batches of the seasoning mixture (without the vinegar) and store it in glass jars for future use. The seasoning mixture ends up being around 3 tablespoon per pound of meat. You can label the jars "Italian Sausage Seasoning. 3 tablespoon per lb + 1 tablespoon Red Wine Vinegar."
• This seasoning mixture can be ground into your venison before freezing if you prefer to have several packages of Italian sausage on hand.