Roll Call

@Jonathon You’re a gorilla?!

@jonathon ,thank you sir I used pork for the fat and just ordered willies seasoning, casings and hot cheese high temp …let you all know how they turn out…thanks to all of you who replied …

@mac21st Welcome to the community. I’m always learning so look forward to gaining from your experience.

Welcome, I’m new here also have fun exploring and learning.

Hi Wendy! I’m an addict too! This hobby is a PURE addiction! Of course fishing is not! ;<) ya right!

“10lbs roasted red pepper with bearded butcher original seasonings” Ain’t that gonna be a bit spicy? ;<) Which of the Bearded Butchers seasonings did you use, U have 5 of theirs.

@dave-in-az welcome aboard

@austin beat me to this but yeah, safe to eat, just treat them like fresh meat.

I agree that you want full immersion in ice bath over hanging to dry in the cold

I made my own sure gel A few years ago with A 3 parts powered milk to 1 part cold phosphate. It works great, I prefer soy protein with pork but use my homemade sure gel for chicken.

@rmb823 said in MAKING HOMEMADE BEEF STICKS: DO you let the temp. get to 160 before you take them out? Don’t they get to dry. Because they still keep cooking after you take them out don’t they. With sticks and other sausages, you should be cooling them rapidly when they reach 160. That way they don’t keep cooking and it sets the ingredients in the casing. You can cool them the fastest in a tub of cold water. Because sticks are so small, they can be cooled fairly quickly in a refrigerator or outside if air temperatures are cold. The faster they cool, typically the less they wrinkle.

@kyle I understand. It feels really weird. Even here we usually have something a bit earlier, but it is really running late this year. It seems like it has all been doing a lot of weird stuff & I would swear it used to get colder when we were at one particular location in Texas, even though we were a little further south there.

glad to see you here

@mfrievalt I don’t know if the others I mentioned are any more sensitive or not, probably not. I do know that you can adjust the sensitivity on mine & it is pretty sensitive, but I have never thought of using it for this sort of thing as I am still doing it the old fashioned way. On the other hand, my only worry is that it will only tell you that steel pellets are there, but not exactly where they are, so you still need to use the old fashioned method to find them.

@mrobisr thanks for the update.

@chrispbrown27 Welcome aboard & welcome to the neighborhood.

Usually 3 PM central time I believe. You can always send a chat message to Jonathan, he usually will answer.

Thanks gents. I bought both books. Sometimes my common sense is lacking. Clamato Juice tomato powder Lemon Powder Lime Powder Horseradish powder Worcestershire Powder Hot Sauce – Franks Garlic Powder Celery Salt Smoked Paprika Cayenne Pepper Black Pepper 1 tsp Prague powder 4Tbs pickling salt Let the spice mixing commence 5# batch

@nolannn said in how does cure with ECA protect meat before its released: @jonathon If ECA controls bacteria by drawing out moisture and making the meat unfavorable, then how dry do my snack sticks have to be. At 165 they aren’t super dry. How much ECM is needed. Waltons ECA called foe 4 oc per 25 lbs. PS Seasoning is 2-10 oz per 100 lbs. If im using ECA so the meat can go in the smoker soon after mixing the cure and spices. what is the minimum. I know one thing. 4 oz per 25 lbs is too strong for me. I tried it on sticks before and it seems to compete with the seasoning. 3 oz per 25 lbs tasted better. You may be confusing the way ECA and salt control bacteria growth. Salt is the ingredient that draws moisture from the meat and from from the cell walls of harmful bacteria. ECA on the other hand can help control bacteria growth by lowering the pH of the meat, which acts to slow the growth of bacteria. I have noticed a lack of consistency in the amount of ECA required for sausage depending on where you get it. Different suppliers will recommend using different amounts. Another thing to be aware of with ECA is because you are using such a small amount relative to the amount of meat, you need to make sure it gets evenly dispersed through out the meat. One little clump of ECA that is unevenly mixed in your meat can mean some of your sausage will be very sour and some not at all.