Snack Stick issue, white meat
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I have made a lot of jerky and summer sausage with no issues over the years. When trying snack sticks I really struggled with my stuffer on doing it by my self. So in the last podcast I asked about using my grinder to stuff. I have a #22 grinder. So I just gave it a try. Things seemed to work pretty well, consistent run of casing fill and seemed to go well other than really slow. When I went to finish the first run of casing I noticed the meat coming from the grinder was white and not brown/grey as I would have expected. Is this white meat ok to eat? After reading other areas I realized the encapsulated citric acid must have broke open. Never had this issue as I used a stuffer and not the grinder in the past. Do I continue to stuff or just throw this batch out? I have the first bunch on the smoker but still another 17 lbs to stuff. Thanks for any advise.
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Thomas Sweeney What is the protein? What is the fat content of the meat and what additives other than cure and Encapsulated Citric Acid was used? The only thing I can think of that would do this is that the meat was in the freezer for a long time and was freezer burned? Somehow the myoglobin degraded to a point that it is no longer showing, I am assuming it didn’t look like this while grinding? Can you include a picture? If your phone won’t let you post please email podcast@waltonsinc.com and I will see it.
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It is ground pork and ground beef, mixed 2/3 pork, 1/3 beef. 20% fat content. Honey Granules, Salt, Dextrose, Onion powder, black pepper, Mustard, Garlic Powder, Sodium Erythorbate (0.5%). It is all fresh meat from a pig we just butchered, and beef that was packaged but looked good when I ground it. I reground the ground beef with the pork. It looked the normal tacky grey when I was done mixing, just like all the summer sausage I would normally due. I did put it in the freezer for 20 minutes or so to make it easier for the grinder to suck in. I was also using a gel pack on the grinder throat.
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YOU JUST AS WELL THROW OUT THE FIRST BATCH. YOU
CANNOT GRIND THE ENCAPSULATED CITRIC ACID. YOU HAVE RUPTURED THE CAPSULES AND RELEASED THE ACID INTO THE MEAT MIXTURE AND IT RUINED THE PROTEIN
COAGULATION. jUST MIX THE ACID IN AFTER YOUR FINAL GRIND. -
SAME REPLY FOR MR. SWEENEY. ALSO, YOU DID NOT LIST ADDING PINK CURE (SODIUM NITRITE). LOOKS LIKE YOU GROUND THIS MEAT
ONE OR TWO TOO MANY TIMES. MADE MUSH OUT OF IT -
I did add maple cure in with the mix. It was ground to start with on a 3/8" grind and I ground it a second time at the 1/8" grind. Only ground twice. The third step was mixing in a 10 gallon mixer adding the spices and the maple cure. Then using the grinder to stuff with. So it wasn’t ground again but just run through the main grinding house and then the stuffing tube. Let me know if that makes sense and your comments still apply. The first batch came off the smoker at 155 deg, then a water bath, I then dried and set out to get to room temperature. Once there I tried one and it is good, still a tang to them, a little limp but still had good flavor. Any thoughts would be great.
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I did add maple cure in with the mix. It was ground to start with on a 3/8" grind and I ground it a second time at the 1/8" grind. Only ground twice. The third step was mixing in a 10 gallon mixer adding the spices and the maple cure. Then using the grinder to stuff with. So it wasn’t ground again but just run through the main grinding house and then the stuffing tube. Let me know if that makes sense and your comments still apply. The first batch came off the smoker at 155 deg, then a water bath, I then dried and set out to get to room temperature. Once there I tried one and it is good, still a tang to them, a little limp but still had good flavor. Any thoughts would be great.
Thomas Sweeney My point about overgrinding stems
from the fact you said you used GROUND PORK AND GROUND BEEF. for raw material. The pork has been ground
once and the beef probably ground twice even before you
start. Just use beef and pork, no added fat, probably why
stick was limp when you were finished. If you want a
darker meat color even though you are using 2/3 pork, add
some paprika for some color in your finished product. -
Thomas Sweeney I’d say that the Encapuslated Citric Acid being ground is your main issue. Beyond that sorry, my only advice would be to use a pre-packaged seasonings. Trouble shooting anything with a homemade recipe isn’t something I can do.
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Thank you all for the comments and really impressed Jonathon took the time to respond. I really do appreciate the help. I did use a pre-packaged seasoning just a flavor that Walton’s doesn’t offer. After the smoke it turned out with good flavor still but a bit soft. Overall a great learning lesson for me as the encapsulated citric acid was new to me and I didn’t even know it was in the kit. One more reason to buy kits from Waltons to get a quality product. Thanks Everyone!
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