Smoking & Grilling

@Jonathon Thanks for the info.I plan on doing this on memorial day so we will see how it turns out.

@Joe-Hell Thanks for your input. I appreciate your reply.

@wayne1952t Guess I’m not sure why you want to insulate it. I’m guessing St. Louis can’t be much colder than my locale. Have been using the same smoker for the last 1 1/2 years. Are you looking for a lower temp? I can get mine as low as 125 deg and will hold that temp +/- 2 deg the entire time. I have also used this through out the winter months in Wi with no issues(except for that -14 period, that sucked). I also quit the chip tray and went with the A-Maze-N pellet tube. Smoking does seem to take a little longer in the cold but that’s just more time for cold beverages…

Those look like they tasted WONDERFUL!!! Good job. After you wrap your meat, you can run the temp of your cooker up to 300 F to expedite the cook. But what you did was just great. That is what I love about Bar-B-Que; if what you do works, its great. The smoke ring is just phenomenal, and they just look moist and tender as all get out. I could just eat my monitor! LOL.

@steven-hegge A pork butt or shoulder will work if you cannot get your hands on straight pork fat but if you use that then I would make your mix 50% pork shoulder and 50% venison. If you are using beef fat just know that it will not be as creamy as the pork fat will be but it will work. The suet is a very hard fat from the loin area so I would say if you are going to go with beef that it would be a good choice. I like pork fat more though. For smoke schedule and more information check out https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/763/cured-sausage-106-basics-of-making-snack-sticks 125F for 1 hour With No smoke and Dampers Open (this is a drying stage) 140F for 1 hour With Smoke and Damper Closed 155F for 2 hours With Smoke and Damper Closed 175F until internal meat temp of 160F With Smoke and Damper Closed When they have reached 160° internal temperature remove from the smoker and put them in an ice bath to bring the heat down and help set the casing.

@Jonathon pheasant, dove, quail, duck…this is great on all of them. Dove even does better with a bacon wrap and a chunk of jalapeno thrown in between.

OK thanks for the input guys, some guys I work with were talking about they have done that so I thought this would be a good site to ask everybody I have not yet tried it but I do agree there’s plenty of seasonings to probably match the flavor!

@markgolding Jonathan did mention Protein extraction, Protein extraction, Protein extraction!!! Make sure you watch Jonaton’s video on that. I learned it here. If you don’t achieve protein extraction your sticks will turn out like shit. That being said, the meatgistics university really helps and you will make stuff that everyone will tell you should be in a store!

@Parksider I played around with the idea but in my mind the extra sugar in the mixture would make the injection difficult so I did not purse it any further, I might need to try it though! Also, I flipped https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CkUDYgyGVM live today and here is the meatgistics post. @Joe-Hell Free is usually the best price point!

@cayenneman That is more like smoking pork butts or brisket. I did a whole wild turkey at 225F and since there is so little fat on them to start with I used it to make a turkey noodle soup and that little bit of extra smoke on the turkey is a game changer! I used the bones to make the stock and it also had a little smokeyness to it, delicious. Don’t be afraid to run the smoker up 225-250F. Just make sure get it warm and dry before putting the smoke to it so it will stick better.

@huntducks The binder, depending on the one you choose can either increase the water holding capacity of the meat (Carrot Fiber/Super Bind) increase the amount of protein available for extraction and help keep more water int he meat (Sure Gel, Soy Protein) or all Super Bind does both of those but also forms into a gel around the same temp that meat expells its water. They will also increase your final yield which is one reason you will find them in almost all commercial products. Yes, the commercial processors are using them tomake them have a better Palate Appeal (Thank you @Joe-Hell ) but they also increase the amount of water that they retain, and water is a heck of a lot cheaper than meat!

@Buckscent That makes sense as long as it is able to hold that temp accurately. Can we see some pics of your curing cabinet with the heat source?

Cold smokers rule. Use them on old dead Masterbuilt smokers you can get in an online auction for pennies!

@DeerSlayer Thanks for the response - I’ll try it!!

Great! I was thinking they were pre stuck. My memory is good but short.lol Also thanks Roadster.

@BradJ What you seem to have experienced is called “Fatting Out”. This happens when the fat is not properly bound with the protein so as you cook it the fat renders out of the meat and is pushed towards the outside. It then either gets trapped between the casing and the meat or it drips down. What did you use to mix this, how long did you mix and did you use a binder? He just referenced it in another post but you might want to check out @gadahl’s post titled Summer Sausage Nightmare, it has a lot of great information on the same problem that you experienced.

@sstory ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY!

@Kinger no, it shouldnt make a difference, I was responding to this first thing in the morning before running to a class that I am taking at Iowa state so I think I was thinking at the beginning of the response that you cooked to an internal of 178 and then I realized my mistake but never fixed the response! Sorry, once Im back in Wichita, on Friday things will hopefully go back to normal!

So I’m a newbie to snack sticks but have learned to not start off at a high temp. My issue isn’t rendered fat it’s actually that the casing is slightly overdone and the inside is just greasy. As in the meat is greasy. So is it that they were just overcooked? 5 lbs straight beef Snack sticks mix from fleet farm Bradley smoker Started at 120 temp increased in 10 degree intervals smoked 6 hours.

@hinoon Sorry for the late reply, job gets in the way of my hobbies sometimes… That correct, just crack the door on low setting to help let the moisture out. If the casings aren’t dry they won’t take the smoke and you’ll end up with very ugly sticks. The water will wash the smoke off. We live in Rochester NY and it’s cold here…so if the sticks come out of the cooler they will sweat. Just dry them out an you’ll be good to put the smoke to them.