How To Make Homemade Snack Sticks

[JerkyIsMySalad]

Hi, Austin. I have been making Willie’s snack sticks for a few batches and every time I get grease pockets between the casing and the meat. I followed the recipe to the best of my ability, including the smoke/cook schedule, except that I hand mix the meat thoroughly. Would you have any idea why I am getting grease pockets?

[Jonathon]

@kanevak This is what is known as “fatting out” the grease is the fat that has rendered out of the meat. You can use a binder like Sure Gel to help and/or mix a lot more. You need to achieve high levels of protein extraction when mixing, this will keep everything bound all together and will prevent the fat from rendering out of the meat. This is an older video but it covers the topic well https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wStH-RtQUY8

[JerkyIsMySalad]

Jonathon Thanks for the quick reply! Is carrot fiber as good as sure gel? We hand mix for about 15 minutes adding the encapsulated citric acid in the last couple of minutes. I like to do a turn-and-squeeze technique to really mash and mix the meat. Is this a bad technique?

[Jonathon]

@kanevak No, a turn and squeeze isnt a bad technique, it sounds a lot like what I do, so you are good there! As for carrot fiber I do like it a lot and it gives similar results to sure gel just goes about it a different way. Carrot fiber gives you a more moist product by holding water (*up to 26 times its weight) and sure gel helps hold everything together by adding protein and some other ingredients. So, sure gel acutally makes protein extraction easier and carrot fiber holds water.

Unless you are using wild game and adding pork fat I think you will be fine with carrot fiber. In fact, even if you are using wild game and adding pork fat you will be fine but sure gel is better suited for that.

[JerkyIsMySalad]

Jonathon Thanks. I am using wild game and pork fat. I have used sure gel last time and still had “fatting out”. Maybe I need to just mix it longer

[Jonathon]

@kanevak Yeah, my recommendation is to mix until you thin you are good an then go for another 3-4 minutes. While it IS possible to overmix, it’s VERY difficult

[JerkyIsMySalad]

I am going to be making Teriyaki snack sticks for the first time soon. Does anyone recommend smoking Teriyaki sticks or is it better just cooked?

[craigrice]

@kanevak that would be a matter of taste if you like smoke flavor smoke it if it is not important then don’t but I would use the cooking schedule recommended in the video either way

[Jonathon]

@kanevak I’d smoke them, I don’t think snack sticks generally take on a huge smoked flavor anyway, it’s usually just a nice little extra, not a dominating taste unless you are making lil’ smokies or something

[Crawrugger]

For those using an oven to cook your Snack Sticks I just finished up cooking 50 lbs last night. The lowest my oven will go is 170 degrees so I put a kabob stick in the door to keep it propped open and had a total cook time of 4 hours with a great end product. 1 batch I forgot to propped the door and the sticks cooked to fast and I had fat extraction (still taste fine just don’t look as good) so I really think propping the door helped. The other 5 batches turned out great. Everything else was followed step by step here on the site. 170, 4 hours, prop door, 19 mm casings, set it and forget it.

[bigfish98]

Due to poor planning on my part, I don’t have a 1/8 inch (3mm) grinder plate. The smallest plate I have is 3/16 inch (4.5 mm). Can I just grind the meat through the 3/16 plate twice?

[Jonathon]

bigfish98 So, the short is answer is yes but you will spend more time mixing and you might never achieve the EXACT consistency you want. You will end up with a fine product but the reason it is ground through a 1/8 second is to speed up protein extraction and to get the particle size very small. So, just mix a little longer and you will be ok!

[fourgonefishn]

Is cure required for making snack sticks. I think I have some venison left and would be purchasing pork butt. 3 pork to 1 lb venison right?
Rich

[skibumben]

fourgonefishn I am not an expert but I would say Cure #1 (sodium nitrite) is required. Primarily because your snack sticks will be in the danger zone for an extended period of time as you are slowly cooking them. The cure allows you to maintain a safe environment until you hit 160 degrees (point of lethality).

Secondarily, the cure gives the meat a nice color as opposed to looking grayish.

Others may know differently but that is my understanding.

[fourgonefishn]

When I order willies season will it come with cure or separate purchase.

[fourgonefishn]

Oh yeah I will be using my dehydrator and it does go to the required low temp.

[skibumben]

fourgonefishn looks like it does include sure cure based on product description so you should be all set!

[akdave]

Not a expert in making snack sticks by any means, have only made 6 batches, but after doing a lot of reading about the hot water bath to finish snack sticks I am convinced it is the way to go. I got mine to 140-150 degrees in smoker and then finished them in large steam table pan full of 160 degree water and in 10-20 minutes they were up to 160 internal. then put them in cold water bath, had picture perfect results and was certain that they were all evenly up to temp as they are soo long it is hard to get them all at the same temp in my smoker even with two convection fans.

Dave

[fourgonefishn]

Thanks everyone

[PapaSop]

fourgonefishn
When you order the Willies it will come with a cure package…use it. The only time I’ve not used a cure is for a fresh sausage. You must let this sit overnite or 12+ hours for the same reasons skibumben said. Not sure about using a dehydrator to finish this. Never done it that way. I smoke these to around 140 and then to a hot water bath to finish. You can go straight from stuffing to smoking if you use ECA or the smoked meat stabilizer.
Hot water finish is totally the way to go. Check out Parksider on this. Good info.
Good luck!