How To Make Homemade Snack Sticks

[processhead]

beefstickgirl said in How To Make Homemade Snack Sticks:

keoni02
I have a pellet smoker and the lowest temp it will go is 160/ how do I go about smoking low and slow so my casings don’t pop

Your options are limited since this type of smoker is not really designed to process sausage.

One thing you can is try is to crack the door so all the heat is not contained inside.
The problem is, If your smoker has temperature controls, it may just try and compensate for the temperature drop by feeding more pellets and air to the fire pot.

[Randyman]

I don’t have a pellet smoker and not sure if this will work but what if you don’t put any pellets in the hopper and crack open the lid? A remote thermometer would let you know what your temp is inside the cooker. After an hour at 125 and then an hour at 145 you’d be able to add pellets and set the temp for 160 for 2 hours. Then set the temp for 175 till the snack sticks reach 155 internal. Hope you can find a way to make it work. Randy.

[johnsbrewhouse]

Randyman No pellets, no heat source. They create the smoke and the heat, cracking the door will drop the temperature but will also increase the amount of pellets being used since the thermostat will try to keep the temps up.

[Randyman]

Yeah-I talked to my son today who has a pellet smoker and he told me the same thing. Sounds like someone needs a new smoker that will start low and slow! R!

[YooperDog]

Randyman Another option would be to start them in the oven and transfer to the smoker/grill or add hickory smoke powder and leave in the oven to finish or bring to temp and finish SV.

[YooperDog]

Randyman but then again who could say no to a newer smoker

[RJ Adventures]

I’d love to have about 10 smokers, all going at once in a circle with my lawn chair in the middle and a cooler full of ice cold beer haha

[Chef]

RJ Adventures That’s called Heaven

[RJ Adventures]

Chef Absolutely! Guess you could throw that beautiful woman in there too, just for company

[caryfr5]

Randyman look at the bradleys. seperate heating element…meat can only take so much smoke. save $ on pellets after 2 or 3 hrs!

[rjsenk]

I use a cold smoke generator and a few inexpensive electric burners to get the lower temperatures with smoke. There are a bunch of cold smoke generators out there, but I use one called the Big Kahuna from smokedaddyinc. Oftentimes, I don’t even bother with the pellets and just vacuum seal the snack sticks and throw them in a sous vide bath at 155 degrees for about 60 minutes to finish them off.

[twilliams]

keoni02 like McCormick artificail bacon flavored bits or real bacon cut up into bits pieces?

[keoni02]

twilliams said in How To Make Homemade Snack Sticks:

keoni02 like McCormick artificail bacon flavored bits or real bacon cut up into bits pieces?

Two pounds of bacon fried up then put through the food processor to make my own bacon bits.

Not a fan of prepackaged bacon bits. And, I buy the “irregular slices” so it’s cheaper too

[keoni02]

I have a question as far as curing and shelf life. Aside from sure cure, what else can be used aside from the encapsulated citric acid to help with the curing and having the snack sticks last longer? I honestly don’t like the tang that the citric acid produces.

[processhead]

This post is deleted!

[processhead]

keoni02 said in How To Make Homemade Snack Sticks:

I have a question as far as curing and shelf life. Aside from sure cure, what else can be used aside from the encapsulated citric acid to help with the curing and having the snack sticks last longer? I honestly don’t like the tang that the citric acid produces.

We see a lot of questions about ingredients that will extend shelf life and probably not enough discussion about general cleanliness of equipment, work surfaces, hands, and ingredients. This, and proper thermal processing is where you need to start.

If you start with clean ingredients that have been properly stored at cold temperatures, then the goal is to keep them that way through thermal processing.
This will take you a long way towards extending the shelf life. Commercial processors live and breath sanitation at their facilities for this exact reason.

[keoni02]

Never thought about that. I mean I wash my equipment before use and lay parchment paper down on my counter top as well for an extra barrier while stuffing. But didn’t really think about it in helping with shelf life

[twilliams]

keoni02 that would be sodium erythorbate or smoked meat stabilizer. The sodium erythorbate will not impart any flavor change but you must have a very accurate measuring device as the recommended amount is 7/8ths of an ounce for 100 lbs of product. The smoked meat stabilizer will give a slight tang but not as much as ECA. However, without the equipment to measure water activity and ph levels you still should not treat it as a shelf stable product. I’d still freeze til ready to consume then thaw and refrigerate for no longer than a week

[Midwest_kc]

Making my first snack sticks soon, going to be ordering a couple things I need, so want to make sure I have it all. I am making pork sticks, with the maple bacon seasoning. I will also be using bacon booster, and sure gel…but trying to decide if I want the tang from ECA. Would smoked meat stabilizer work as well in this set up, so that we can have maple-y, bacon-y goodness?

[Jonathon]

Midwest_kc Yes, smoked meat stabilizer is something you could use instead of the Encapsulated Citric Acid for sure. It will still impart somewhat of a tang but not as much as the ECA would. Another option is sodium erythorbate but you need a very accurate scale for that that can read fractions of grams. I love that you are using the booster, have you tried it before? We used to tell people not to use it even if they were making imitation bacon…now I tell people to feel free to toss it into anything bacony!