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Casings, seasonings cheese and the like
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Originally posted by BBQ Engineer View PostMy favorite snack sticks are put together like this...
Order a snack stick mix (they come with the right amount of cure...Willie's is one of my favorites.) They say you can add ECA if you want an extra tang, but I never have used it. Maybe I'll experiment with that next time.
Grab some high temp cheese if you want that. The last few batches of snack sticks I made were without...I didn't miss it and figured that it only served to up the cost of my sticks, but it is a personal preference.
Grab some casings. I prefer collagen casings...super easy to work with and very uniform. I have used the smoke and the clear...both produce a beautiful red casing after smoking.
Tips - get more casings than you will use. They keep and I have found that I need just a tad bit more than what they spec them out at... And since you are new at this you may waste a bit with blowouts.
The seasoning is for 25 lbs and has the appropriate amount of cure in a separate packet...if you make less than 25 lbs, you will need to accurately divide the cure for the amount of sticks that you make (read this as an accurate gram level scale). When I add the cure, I dissolve it in some liquid and add that as I believe it to more evenly distribute when I'm mixing it.
Here is my typical process and I use my grinder to help mix things up...
Course Grind
Season and cure (cure dissolved in water or beer and then rough mix by hand)
Fine Regrind
Mix in Cheese cubes by hand and add rest of liquid
Stuff
Rest overnight
Smoke slowly to 160°
Eat the hell out of 'em.
My last 25 lb batch...I'll add them here since photobucket effed up my posts (have I mentioned lately that they can kiss my ass?)
I added extra dehydrated jalapenos to the jalapeno mix - do this at the cheese add stage.
This pic has both clear and smoke (mahogany) casings... The lighter red sticks are in the clear casings.
Do you use beef or pork or a mixture of both when making your sticks? Just wondering because pork butts are on sale for .87 cents a pound right now.
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Originally posted by Fishbum View PostDo you use beef or pork or a mixture of both when making your sticks? Just wondering because pork butts are on sale for .87 cents a pound right now.
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BBQ Eng.
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Over 5000 unreadable posts...Photobucket can kiss my ass...they will never get a dime. I will not pay a ransom.
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I also would recommend sticking to a commercial prepared spice mix for your first snack stick smoke. And most do come with cure and some with the casings (usually collagen).
I've been using 100% beef (usually a 80% lean ground chuck from Sam's Club, but I do grind my own from a whole chuck roll occasionally). I am going to try a 50/50 mix with ground pork as from what I have heard, it does not really change the flavor profile and pork butts are way cheaper than beef.
I will throw one more recommendation into the mix....
Get a decent gram scale that will measure with 1/100th of a gram precision. You can find them on Amazon for around $25. Also get the correct calibration weight for the scale you buy. I bought one that weighs up to 500 grams with 1/100th of a gram resolution and it used a 100 gram calibration weight. Check your accuracy with the calibration weight both before weighing spices, cure, etc... and after. It should be spot on both times (this will let you know the weight of the spice, cure, etc... was also right).
Most other scales have a lower range of precision with small weights. My main meat scale has an accuracy 1/2 ounce on the lower end of the scale. Thats about 14 grams. When you are weighing cure, it's 1.13 grams per pound so a scale that could be off by as much as 14 grams is a huge problem.
This is the one I bought.
Dave
I love coming home. My back porch smells just like a BBQ joint.....
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Originally posted by Blinginpse View PostDo all Of you guys go 50/50 on your brats? That's how I did it last year beef pork deer pork and it worked out nicely for a beginner
Hope this helps,~ George Burns
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Originally posted by Richtee View PostHeh..wait till ya run 25 Lbs stix... PHEW!
Umm keep yer stix lean. Use a Newcastle for lube. Enjoy!
Highly recommend Cody's stick mix, comes with cure etc from Curley's sausage kitchen.
http://curleyssausagekitchen.com/Sea...ck-sticks.html
Curley's cotto salami is great summer sausage as well.
I also recommend the natural sheep casings for stix. They just seem to have a better snap than collagen. I use 22 mm and don't fill them too full and when you smoke/cook them turn out really nice if you take to 152-155 degrees internal.
PSE sells ICG brand casings which are the best you can get.
https://www.psseasoning.com/collecti...-sheep-casingsCharbroil SFB
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Originally posted by erain View PostSmall batch eh!
Highly recommend Cody's stick mix, comes with cure etc from Curley's sausage kitchen.
http://curleyssausagekitchen.com/Sea...ck-sticks.html
Curley's cotto salami is great summer sausage as well.
I also recommend the natural sheep casings for stix. They just seem to have a better snap than collagen. I use 22 mm and don't fill them too full and when you smoke/cook them turn out really nice if you take to 152-155 degrees internal.
PSE sells ICG brand casings which are the best you can get.
https://www.psseasoning.com/collecti...-sheep-casings
I will look through this. Thanks for the help. That's what I like is having several places to glance at and look over. Really appreciate the help fellers.
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Bling,
I agree with Erain and prefer natural casings. I've had good luck with Syracuse Casing Company and like the tubed casings, especially for sheep which are tiny little buggars!
http://www.makincasing.com/
Biggest difference between collagen and natural from my experience is if you freeze them. The collagen seem to separate and I end up peeling them to eat them. Natural doesn't do that.
If you can use them up with no need to freeze, then as Dana has posted - collagen are easier and more uniform.
Good luck!
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Originally posted by WALLE View PostBling,
I agree with Erain and prefer natural casings. I've had good luck with Syracuse Casing Company and like the tubed casings, especially for sheep which are tiny little buggars!
http://www.makincasing.com/
Biggest difference between collagen and natural from my experience is if you freeze them. The collagen seem to separate and I end up peeling them to eat them. Natural doesn't do that.
If you can use them up with no need to freeze, then as Dana has posted - collagen are easier and more uniform.
Good luck!
10-4 I wasn't aware of the freezing part. I'll make sure these first don't make it to the freezer.
On the brats I made I'll say I preferred the natural Over the collagen they had more pop it seemed.
On the snack stick natural casings. Is there a prefered type of casing? Like sheep seems to be what is the snack stick go to! But that's just what I've read
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Originally posted by Uncle Sauce View PostBling: A lot of Bratwurst recipes have 100% pork. I believe an authentic recipe called for pork + veal but veal is pretty expensive. I don't think you can go wrong on most formulations just as long as you have a lot of fatty meat. Depends on how lean of a sausage you like to eat. If your going for an American brat (ie: Johnsonville) I would say that is 100% pork (IMO is a bit fatty) I don't have any in the freezer to check though
Hope this helps,
Big saucy after you mentioning johnsonville that tells me I don't want complete pork. I did 50/50 on lean and pork fat last year and was pleased so I will surely stay that rout then.
My amazn smoker tube and 2 2# bags pellets come today.
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