Snack Sticks (Again)

[Hunter115522]

I been on a snack stick kick lately. I've made them a bunch now, keep changing things to get them right. This last batch was pretty close to perfect. Used my own seasoning blend this time. Salt, pepper, onion & garlic, smoked paprika, crushed red pep, cayenne, fresh diced jalapeños, high temp cheese, etc... The cheese was a great addition. I do 50% pure venison, and 50% store bought ground pork (not straight pork fat, but regular ground pork.) I did a 70% venison 30% pork once before and it was too dry for me. I find the 50-50 mix perfect. 

[rackemup]

They look Great!!👍👍

[jerseyhunter]

I hope your making your own smoked paprika.

[nmc02]

Looks professional 

[Hunter115522]

3 hours ago, jerseyhunter said:

I hope your making your own smoked paprika.

I'm not.. but now I feel like I have to look into that lol 

[LPJR]

They look on point Bryan. Awesome! 

[chenrossi]

I’ve found making breakfast sausage and snack sticks a 50-50 mix comes out much better than other stuff with an off ratio. These look great.

[Hunter115522]

5 minutes ago, chenrossi said:

I’ve found making breakfast sausage and snack sticks a 50-50 mix comes out much better than other stuff with an off ratio. These look great.

Breakfast sausage is on my to do list soon 

[KBfishing]

Would you share your recipe? I am gonna try these soon but I tend to buy the seasoning mix which is getting kind of expensive 

[splitrockoutdoors]

Looks great!  I would also like to know the recipe

[Jcol6268]

Do you add any pink salt? How about cooking them? How long did you go at what temp? I really wanna try making these next. 

[electricstart]

Looks good ,Thanks for sharing 

[Hunter115522]

2 hours ago, KBfishing said:

Would you share your recipe? I am gonna try these soon but I tend to buy the seasoning mix which is getting kind of expensive 

 

1 hour ago, splitrockoutdoors said:

Looks great!  I would also like to know the recipe

 

1 hour ago, Jcol6268 said:

Do you add any pink salt? How about cooking them? How long did you go at what temp? I really wanna try making these next. 

 

Below is something I posted a bit ago explaining my process. Only thing I did different this time was make the seasoning myself. I didn't measure anything, so can't give exact amounts unfortunately, but I used  Salt (kosher), pepper(course), onion & garlic powders, smoked paprika, crushed red pep, cayenne, ancho chili powder, freeze dried jalapeño, fresh diced jalapeño. I aimed for a total of about 9oz of seasoning for this sized batch. I also added 1lb of high temp cheddar cheese. I did use curing pink salt (13 grams) and I also used encapsulated citric acid (42 grams.) I explain more about that below.

 

 

 

I used 5lbs venison, and 5lbs of store bought ground pork (10lbs total.) Mixed in PS Seasoning #484, as far as the amount, use what it calls for, for the amount of meat you're using. IMO a good kitchen scale makes life a million times easier for things like snack sticks, summer sausage, etc.. I used 260 grams of 484 for 10lbs.  Mixed it up good by hand. I then added 13 grams of pink cure to 1.5 cups of water, and stirred it until dissolved. I added this to the meat, and mixed again by hand. The next step is not necessary, but I find it takes the sticks to the next level.. I added encapsulated citric acid (42 grams) and mixed it again. Don't over mix if using ECA, you don't want to rupture the ECA, you want it to melt on its own while smoking. ECA is a cure accelerator, and gives smoked meat that tangy taste. Again, only use if you want that tangy taste. If using ECA, you stuff, and smoke immediately. You don't hold the meat overnight. If not using ECA, let the cure do it's thing over night.

 

I stuffed into 19mm casings, which are my go-to now. I've used 17mm, but I like the 19's better. I pre-heated the smoker to 165 (this is the lowest mine goes) and let them got for 2 hours. I bumped the temp to 185, for another 2 hours. Bumped the last time to 195, for 2 more hours, when internal temp hit 165, I pulled, and put them in a cooler with water and ice. Left them in the ice bath for 12 min, transferred to a wire rack, and let bloom (dry) at room temp for an hour. I put them into the fridge overnight, instead of cutting and packing. This is an important step IMO, the casings turn out real good if you let them sit over night before packing. 

 

I'm no expert at this at all, but I've made several batches.. lots of trial and error. Any questions, I'll do my best to answer.