Snack stick questions

[wtrfwl havoc]

Hey all. I have a few quick questions for you. This will be my first time with snack sticks. I have a boat load of deer that I am wanting to make into snack sticks. I bought one of the seasoning kits can't think of the brand right off the top of my head. I am going to try it first with beef before I start grinding up all my deer. The recipe doesn't say to add pork to the beef, deer, or whatever. That doesn't really seem right to me. It seems like the beef will be to lean. Should I add pork with it and how much? Another thing it came with casings that are a little different then summer sausage casings. directions don't say to soak the casings like you do with summer sausage. It seems like it would work better. Should I soak the casings. Also What temps do you all smoke them at and how long. The directions say to put it on 200 for 2 hours that seems a little high and not long enough. Any help is appreciated thanks

[Kingudaroad]

For the fat...If using beef chuck it should have enough fat in it to make a pure beef stick. Adding 30% pork butt would be a bit moister. For the venison you must add some fat. I would recomend 30% pork butt or 15% pork back fat ground up with the venison.

The casings are probably collagen. If so they will be dry and bunched up like an accordion. They do not need to be soaked. Just stuff them dry. They also do not twist very well so you will need to tie off your sticks with string.

For the smoke...I would do 130 for an hour without smoke to dry the casings, then 140 to 150 for a 2 to 3 hours with heavy smoke for flavor. Then finish them off at about 170 to 180 until they are 152 degrees internal.

Good luck. keep us posted.

[curious aardvark]

I would recomend 30% pork butt or 15% pork back fat ground up with the venison.

yep

The casings are probably collagen. If so they will be dry and bunched up like an accordion. They do not need to be soaked. Just stuff them dry. They also do not twist very well so you will need to tie off your sticks with string.

yes and no. They will twist and as long as you cook before cutting they wil stay twisted. But what I do (gunslingers tip from way back) is stuff a long length of casing. And just gently pinch for the individual sausages and maybe one twist.
They cook fine you get individual lengths and no buggering around with string :-)

As far as cooking goes.
whole bunch of choices. If you wanta fairly firm dryish stick - follow king's instructions.

If you want something a bit juicier with some 'snap' to it.
Set the smoker at 250-300 with fairly heavy smoke and give the sticks around an hour - till they hit 170.
Because you're cooking fast they don't lose moisture and because you're cooking hot the muscle proteins bunch up quite tight. The combination gives a firm bouncy sausage with a real 'k-nack'.

In fact best bet is to try both methods with the beef trials and decide what you want to do for the venison.

[lcruzen]

For the fat...If using beef chuck it should have enough fat in it to make a pure beef stick. Adding 30% pork butt would be a bit moister. For the venison you must add some fat. I would recomend 30% pork butt or 15% pork back fat ground up with the venison.

The casings are probably collagen. If so they will be dry and bunched up like an accordion. They do not need to be soaked. Just stuff them dry. They also do not twist very well so you will need to tie off your sticks with string.

For the smoke...I would do 130 for an hour without smoke to dry the casings, then 140 to 150 for a 2 to 3 hours with heavy smoke for flavor. Then finish them off at about 170 to 180 until they are 152 degrees internal.

Good luck. keep us posted.

Good advise fron the King!! I might add one other suggestion. Toss the collagen casings and use sheep casings. A better end product IMO.

[Richtee]

King would you not cure these?

[wutang]

I bought one of the seasoning kits can't think of the brand right off the top of my head.

King would you not cure these?

I would assume that the kit he bought includes cure. All the ones I have seen do. But certainly a point worth clarifying.

[Richtee]

I would assume that the kit he bought includes cure. All the ones I have seen do. But certainly a point worth clarifying.

Ahhh.... having never bought a kit, I'm kinda in the dark here.

[TATONKA3A2]

For the smoke...I would do 130 for an hour without smoke to dry the casings, then 140 to 150 for a 2 to 3 hours with heavy smoke for flavor. Then finish them off at about 170 to 180 until they are 152 degrees internal.

We do our sticks the same and have had great results all the time. The amount of smoke is a preference thing so that is something you will have to adjust to your liking. We usually go about 2 hours of smoking time for ours.

[mulepackin]

I have had good luck with collagen casings, as well as sheep. They are different and need to be handled differently. Since you have collagen, you may as well use them. As stated don't soak them, but do apply a little kitchen spray to your stuffing horn. I usually stuff an entire hank, tied with twine at each end, then hang in about twenty inch loops over my rods in the smoker. I've tried two different smoke schedules. Ryteks book calls for a long smoke at about 110 deg. This makes for a pretty dry product almost like jerky. I prefer a schedule comparable to what I do with summer sausage. Pretty close to what King describes. Be sure to give them a good cold shower or ice water soak when done. They will shrivel some anyway, but this will minimize it. The pics give you some idea what I'm talking about.

[Kingudaroad]

King would you not cure these?

I did assume the kit included cure.

I actually prefer collagen cases for snack sticks. Sheep casings for hot dogs.

[wtrfwl havoc]

Hey thanks all for the replies. I stuffed them up last night and plan on smoking tonight. I stuffed the casings with the grinder stuffing attachments. It was kind of a pain in the a$$. I am kind of worried what the texture is going to be like. I'm thinking the meat may be overworked , but I guess I'll be finding out soon enough haha. Just curious if you all use stuffers or if you guys just use a grinder. If you use stuffers which one would you recommend. I have stuffed quite a bit of summer sausage with the grinder and it works great (I just have to figure out how to cook it LOL) but it didn't work so hot with snack sticks. Thanks again

[Kingudaroad]

Hey thanks all for the replies. I stuffed them up last night and plan on smoking tonight. I stuffed the casings with the grinder stuffing attachments. It was kind of a pain in the a$$. I am kind of worried what the texture is going to be like. I'm thinking the meat may be overworked , but I guess I'll be finding out soon enough haha. Just curious if you all use stuffers or if you guys just use a grinder. If you use stuffers which one would you recommend. I have stuffed quite a bit of summer sausage with the grinder and it works great (I just have to figure out how to cook it LOL) but it didn't work so hot with snack sticks. Thanks again

A lot of us have something like this.

http://www.northerntool.com/shop/too...Product%20Page

[mulepackin]

You picked just about the worst style of sausage to stuff with your grinder, and as you discovered, it's a pain. You will have almost certainly overworked the meat in the screw of your grinder, and yes your texture will suffer, but should not affect flavor too much. Short of going to a dedicated stuffer (I also recommend a piston style like King shows) you can be sure you use a kidney or stuffing plate in your grinder. Larger, salami or summer sausage casings can be more readily stuffed with the grinder, but even then, a stuffer is the way to go.

[wtrfwl havoc]

Oh hey, I got another stupid question. I just ground up chuck roast I bought at the store to make these sticks. I have read in other threads on here about food born illnesses, but i think that had to do with grinding aged meat. I will be alright just grinding up a roast to make this won't I?

[Big Guy]

For the fat...If using beef chuck it should have enough fat in it to make a pure beef stick. Adding 30% pork butt would be a bit moister. For the venison you must add some fat. I would recomend 30% pork butt or 15% pork back fat ground up with the venison.

The casings are probably collagen. If so they will be dry and bunched up like an accordion. They do not need to be soaked. Just stuff them dry. They also do not twist very well so you will need to tie off your sticks with string.

For the smoke...I would do 130 for an hour without smoke to dry the casings, then 140 to 150 for a 2 to 3 hours with heavy smoke for flavor. Then finish them off at about 170 to 180 until they are 152 degrees internal.

Good luck. keep us posted.

Thats exactly what I would do, the whole process will take 8-12 hrs. If you try to rush it and get your smoker temp too high (190) you will render out the fat from your links and they will be as dry as sawdust.