Sous vide snack sticks

[John Belvedere]

When the snack sticks are sous vide directly in water do the casings loosen up around the meat or does it stay tight? I like the snap that the casing provide and I don’t want to skin the snack sticks prior to eating. Thanks.

[Jonathon]

John Belvedere I have done it with snack sticks once or twice (I don’t do it all that often since the diameter is so small) and I have never noticed the casings separating. The most important thing for casing adherence is proper protein extraction, use of a binder and (most importantly) get it into an ICE bath once it has reached target internal temperature. Don’t use cold water, it should be 50/50 ice and water. Or, if you use a shower method make sure that their is a fan blowing on those sticks

[cdavis]

John Belvedere I’ve been finishing my snack sticks in a turkey roaster and the casings stay tight. I get a great finished product and it saves me 3 to 4 hours of smoker time.

[smokinbubba]

Just did trail bologna in the SV. Man what a difference! Before, I stayed away from 2.5”x24 casings because of the loooong cook. My last batch was smoked to 130 then finished in SV until 160deg. Only took an hour!! I will never do sausage again with smokehouse only. Oh, I didn’t bag. Straight into the bath. Perfect.

[kyle]

smokinbubba do you lose any flavor in the water? For some reason in my mind, I think how you boil other things to make stock

[Jonathon]

kyle I fought back against this for a long time because of that but you’re going to keep your water temp at 177 or around there so I don’t know if that makes a difference or what but it REALLY doesn’t reduce either the smoke or seasoning flavor as long as you let it smoke to 130 or so.

[kyle]

Jonathon thanks. So the one you have on sale for $75, would that be a good place to start, or would I be better off with the more expensive one? I hate to spend a lot on something I don’t understand. I did go back and watch your videos on this again. I know PapaSop started doing this. what one does he have?

[glen]

kyle I’m not PapaSop but I will weigh in that I have used a unit very similar to the Weston on sale and for home use it has worked great for 2 yrs
Also I highly recommend adapting an insulated cooler for your processing vessel
I cut a snug fitting hole in the lid of a Coleman 20 can party stacker and am very happy with it

[kyle]

glen thank you for your response. Do you put your meat in bags when finishing in water? I have been making sausage for many years, but this sous vide thing is all new to me. just want to learn a bit before investing in another “tool”

[johnsbrewhouse]

glen The Weston unit is really a good unit, it has a slight learning curve with the digital controls, but they are fairly easy to learn. The unit likes to default to certain things is what I found. You can’t go wrong with the price and quality of the Weston unit.

[glen]

kyle I vacuum bag but many here swear by "naked " Which I haven’t tried
I generally remove the product after short a heavy smoke then use the graduated step up heat method in the sous vide.
Also remember the direct heat conductivity of souse vide heats the internals relatively quickly and in my humble opinion at temps higher than 160 you can quickly over heat the product if not careful.
Monitor internals with your thermometer.
Don’t be intimidated, it’s much easier to learn than smoking

There are souse vide diameter/heat/time/pasteurization charts on line that are very helpful.
Kind of hard to find and it just occurred to me to print them out next time I need them LOL

[lkrfletcher]

No bags are necessary

[cdavis]

glen I’d like to see a picture of that if it’s not too much trouble. Thanks

[cdavis]

glen I was asking for a picture of the cooler setup you use.

[kyle]

thanks to all for your input.

[glen]

I used a PVC slip connector to make the hole solid and glued it in with expanding foam
The black marks are from the drawing used to saw the hole, learned later they were permanent!
If you are lucky you may find a hole saw the right size for yours

[lkrfletcher]

glen
That is perfect. I got to do it now too.

[Jonathon]

glen that thing is awesome! kyle you don’t need an expensive unit unless you want to do large amounts of water. Honestly you could buy 2 of the weston ones and do the same/more water and still get out cheaper!

[glen]

Inside is 11"x8.5"x 13.5" deep
It holds the heat so well I could have gone bigger but it is just the right size for my needs

[cdavis]

glen Thanks for the pictures. I see this in near future. Awesome