Snack sticks
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How do I stop the casing from becoming wrinkled I have water in at all times but the casing still wrinkles up on me
Arnie Hofer slower ramp up on the heat, finish in water bath once IT of 130-135f is reached, and ice water bath when IT is reached for 20 minutes.
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Arnie Hofer slower ramp up on the heat, finish in water bath once IT of 130-135f is reached, and ice water bath when IT is reached for 20 minutes.
mrobisr 1 do 125 for 1 hour 140 for 1 hour 155 for 2 hours them 175 do u think that’s still 2 fast
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Arnie Hofer slower ramp up on the heat, finish in water bath once IT of 130-135f is reached, and ice water bath when IT is reached for 20 minutes.
mrobisr wat do u mean finish in water bath 130-135
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mrobisr wat do u mean finish in water bath 130-135
Arnie Hofer what mrobisr is referring to is finishing the cook by placing the snack sticks on a heated water bath. Once the internal temp of the sticks are around 135 to 140, move them from The smoker to a water bath that has a constant temp of 170. You can use a sous vide machine in a large cooler or if you dont have one, a roasting pan that you can monitor the water temp. Once the sticks reach 160-165 for a few minutes, they are done. Move them to an ice bath to stop the cooking about 20 minutes then alow them to dry before packing. And
Yes I believe you are upping the temp to fast. If you heat to fast you dry out the casings before the water in the sticks can evaporate. Once the casing dries (called case hardening), the meat cant get the extra water out.
Try 1 hour at 110 or 2 hours at 120 if you cant get that low. The add smoke and go 2 hours at 130 then 1 at 140 and 1 at 150. Internal temp (IT) should be at or near 135 to 140. Hope that helps -
Can’t I achieve it in the smoker without the water cooker
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Can’t I achieve it in the smoker without the water cooker
Arnie Hofer your not trying to keep snack sticks moist. Your drying them out slowly. With sticks I think you only add the water pan if you need increased humidity. To get through the stall. Since you avoid the stall with the sous vide or roasting pan hot water bath, there is no need for water. That’s my undedstanding.
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Arnie Hofer your not trying to keep snack sticks moist. Your drying them out slowly. With sticks I think you only add the water pan if you need increased humidity. To get through the stall. Since you avoid the stall with the sous vide or roasting pan hot water bath, there is no need for water. That’s my undedstanding.
Arnie Hofer yes, you will go through the stall where the sticks sweat water. And, like a person sweats to cool down, the sticks do the same. By using water after 140 cooking temp, you increase the humidity inside the smoker. Like on a hot humid day the sweat cant evaporate and cool you, you do the same to the sticks. Since they cant cool off the IT goes up. It’s just slower and you have to be patient to get through that stall. And it happens on almost all slow cooks.
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Chefs, has anyone tried to pipe in a power humidifier mod like adding a smoke pistol? Just a curious mind here chefs.
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mrobisr wat do u mean finish in water bath 130-135
Arnie Hofer samspade is spot on with the explanations.
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Arnie Hofer yes, you will go through the stall where the sticks sweat water. And, like a person sweats to cool down, the sticks do the same. By using water after 140 cooking temp, you increase the humidity inside the smoker. Like on a hot humid day the sweat cant evaporate and cool you, you do the same to the sticks. Since they cant cool off the IT goes up. It’s just slower and you have to be patient to get through that stall. And it happens on almost all slow cooks.
samspade do are u saying leave The water out till 140 IT
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Most snack sticks are wrinkled because of drying, but if you don’t want that then cook/smoke until 135f IT give or take and then finish in a water bath set at 170f until you reach your desired IT, than shock in ice water for 20 minutes.
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Most snack sticks are wrinkled because of drying, but if you don’t want that then cook/smoke until 135f IT give or take and then finish in a water bath set at 170f until you reach your desired IT, than shock in ice water for 20 minutes.
mrobisr said in Snack sticks:
Most snack sticks are wrinkled because of drying, but if you don’t want that then cook/smoke until 135f IT give or take and then finish in a water bath set at 170f until you reach your desired IT, than shock in ice water for 20 minutes.
Is Waltons doing that in the videos I see their casings are perfect
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mrobisr said in Snack sticks:
Most snack sticks are wrinkled because of drying, but if you don’t want that then cook/smoke until 135f IT give or take and then finish in a water bath set at 170f until you reach your desired IT, than shock in ice water for 20 minutes.
Is Waltons doing that in the videos I see their casings are perfect
Arnie Hofer it is personal preference, it is what you want your product to look like.
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Arnie Hofer it is personal preference, it is what you want your product to look like.
mrobisr I want them to be smooth is there any way to achieve that just in the smoker
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Yes very slow and low temps.
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mrobisr I want them to be smooth is there any way to achieve that just in the smoker
Arnie Hofer there is a chart floating around here some where that show microbe lethality as a function of time and temp. Most want to be safe a take products to 160. However there lower temps that kill everything but the holding at temp time is greater. Example (not accurate) it is instantly lethal at 160. But at 150 lethality may take 5 minutes. At 140 it would be even longer. I think it’s an USDA chart.
Also less fat, binder and firm stuffing may help. The ice bath at the end sets the casings so dont skip that step. -
Arnie Hofer there is a chart floating around here some where that show microbe lethality as a function of time and temp. Most want to be safe a take products to 160. However there lower temps that kill everything but the holding at temp time is greater. Example (not accurate) it is instantly lethal at 160. But at 150 lethality may take 5 minutes. At 140 it would be even longer. I think it’s an USDA chart.
Also less fat, binder and firm stuffing may help. The ice bath at the end sets the casings so dont skip that step.samspade Arnie Hofer here is the chart.
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samspade Arnie Hofer here is the chart.
YooperDog TY. I knew I wasn’t right on the times.
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mrobisr I want them to be smooth is there any way to achieve that just in the smoker
Arnie Hofer I was the exact same way as you when I started making sticks. I just cringed at the sight of wrinkled sticks. My conclusion and opinion, don’t sweat the small stuff. Us as home processors will most likely not get a perfect looking stick unless you push the time and do the hot water cooking method like others are suggesting, and then with that you are sacrificing texture. Big full time processors have much better equipment and processes than we do, but I see some full time big processors that have wrinkled casings as well. Not to sound big on myself just confident, I would put my sticks up for comparison to any big processor any day. So what I suggest is get your meat block ingredient amounts and texture how you like it first then work on appearance after that if you wish.
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Agree, that wrinkles are just aesthetics and have no bearing on flavor or texture of the finished product. I prefer drier stick which almost guarantees some shrinkage and wrinkles. Few of us have the setup in our homes to get perfect looking commercial sticks but we can certainly match commercial in flavor and quality ingredients.
Focus on the the quality ingredients in the correct quantities, getting a good smoke on sticks, and avoiding cook-out from overtemperature in the smoker and you will have some great sticks.
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