Snack sticks ?
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Hi new to this site but like the topic for sure. I make a lot of venison jerky, mostly use store bought seasoning. I use the oven, Cabela’s dehydrator and Traeger wood pellet grill for smoking and cooking sausage and jerky. I use a jerky shooter for making snack sticks from venison burger and looking for recipes for snack sticks.
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So i use 8oz water per 10lbs of meat. Seems perfect to me. I would NOT use eca your first time. If something goes south and you cant smoke right away your meat is ruined and i dont like the taste. I never put eca in for my customers. You can always stuff the casings and hold the meat for a few days before smoking. But yes stuff the casings if your going to let your meat sit or it will bond with itself and be very hard to stuff without adding additional water.
I dint use binders but i also have a mechanical mixer. If your going by hand i would use the sure gel. Also the water pan is very important or you could dry out your casings too much. Sounds like you did good reasearch! -
Ok. So I got the meat ground , mixed and stuffed into the casings earlier this evening. I will be trying my luck at smoking them tomorrow morning. Am I correct that I want to have the vent open for the first hour of the cooking cycle? After the first hour bump the temp up to 140 add smoke , a water pan and close the vent ? Does all this sound correct?
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No. Dont add water pan until smoke is done and leave damper about 1/4 open. You need the smoke to pass through so it stays fresh. After the 140 degree 1hour has passed with smoke. Then take smoke out, close damper, add water and increase temp.
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I generally do between 75 and 200lbs of snacks sticks at a time. Maybe couple times a month.
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No. Dont add water pan until smoke is done and leave damper about 1/4 open. You need the smoke to pass through so it stays fresh. After the 140 degree 1hour has passed with smoke. Then take smoke out, close damper, add water and increase temp.
lamurscrappy said in Snack sticks ?:
No. Dont add water pan until smoke is done and leave damper about 1/4 open. You need the smoke to pass through so it stays fresh. After the 140 degree 1hour has passed with smoke. Then take smoke out, close damper, add water and increase temp.
Ok . So at the 140* degree mark I will close damper to 1/4 open and add smoke. After that hour is up I will close damper and add the water ?
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lamurscrappy said in Snack sticks ?:
No. Dont add water pan until smoke is done and leave damper about 1/4 open. You need the smoke to pass through so it stays fresh. After the 140 degree 1hour has passed with smoke. Then take smoke out, close damper, add water and increase temp.
Ok . So at the 140* degree mark I will close damper to 1/4 open and add smoke. After that hour is up I will close damper and add the water ?
JohninPa perfect!
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JohninPa perfect!
lamurscrappy said in Snack sticks ?:
JohninPa perfect!
Thanks. I hope they taste as good as the ones I can buy locally.
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Lets us know!
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JohninPa perfect!
lamurscrappy look at the pic recipe i ppsted above. What do you think of that? That is from my smoker manufacturer Pro Smoker 100SS.
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Lets us know!
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Lets us know!
lamurscrappy 5 hours of smoke seems excessive to me
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lamurscrappy 5 hours of smoke seems excessive to me
twilliams i will say it depends on the smoke produced. If its a very small amount of smoke then maybe 5 hours but you cant do that with a high humidity cook cycle. I would just do 1 hour with heavy smoke. Dont moisten your wood, it dont create more smoke it just adds moisture in the smoker and smokes longer that i personally dont believe you need.
So to answer your question hell no i wouldnt smoke snack sticks for 5 hours! -
blackbetty61 said in Snack sticks ?:
JohninPa I guess I would split your batch and do some with and some without…if you were unsure about eca
Thanks. I think I am going to try without the ECA for my first batch. Any suggestions on whether to use the sure gel meat binder or just use the cure and seasoning?
JohninPa I always use a binder
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JohninPa I always use a binder
blackbetty61 have you used with and without to verify the difference? There is so many different additives that i have no idea what they do. I prefer to keep everything as natural as possible
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blackbetty61 have you used with and without to verify the difference? There is so many different additives that i have no idea what they do. I prefer to keep everything as natural as possible
twilliams yes I have… for me the texture is better when I use a binder it binds the fat with the meat better IMO but that’s just me, also I’ve only used carrot fiber haven’t used sure gel or any other one yet… everyone has their own preferences
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Well I cooked the sticks that I mixed up yesterday and they didn’t turn out too bad. Taste was ok but they don’t have the snap to them like the ones I buy locally. They just bend and then at a certain point break. I like them to have that snap to them. Anyone have an idea why that may be ? I used 50% venison and 50% pork butts. Some of them got a little dry on me also . Any ideas on why they don’t have the snap to them?
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Try sticking them in your fridge for a few days to dry out a bit more. Uncovered.
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Try sticking them in your fridge for a few days to dry out a bit more. Uncovered.
lamurscrappy said in Snack sticks ?:
Try sticking them in your fridge for a few days to dry out a bit more. Uncovered.
Ok. That’s what it seems like they just aren’t dry enough.
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Just wondering if having too many in the smoker would cause this issue of them not dry enough. Only other thing that I can think of is when I loaded the smoker the temperature dropped on me. Next time I think I will try to load the rack out of the smoker and then slide it in.
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