My family has been making homemade venison/pork summer sausage for years. However, we have problems with the hi-temp cheese turning to a liquid-like state. We smoke to 155 degrees, water bath, let hang to dry, and then vaccuum pack to freeze. When we thaw out a stick with cheese it turns to that liquid mush inside. Flavor is good, but the look and texture are nasty.

Any ideas why the cheese doesn’t hold its cheesy texture?

We get the cheese from a local butcher shop. I’m not sure what brand it is. It’s in my dad’s freezer right now, so I can’t check it. I’m pretty sure it’s not Walton’s cheese though.

Would the texture have a tendency to change when we thaw the sausage out after freezing it? Also, when making the sausage, we take the cheese from the freezer and mix it in. Maybe mixing in frozen cheese has something to do with it?

So I’m sensing that I might need to try the Walton’s brand cheese…

When I buy snack sticks from a butcher shop, the first flavor I reach for is sweet and hot or a sweet and spicy. I have three butcher shops/meat markets around me that I frequent to get my fix. I’m in a quest to make my own, but I have yet to find a seasoning blend that gets my the sweetness up front with a little back end heat. I’ve tried a sweet and spicy jerky kit that I made snack sticks from (that’s been the closest, but it was lacking in flavor), and I’ve tried a Thai BBQ blend (not even close).

Anybody have any suggestions for a sweet and spicy seasoning blend to purchase or an original recipe that would get me close to those butcher shop sweet and hot flavored snack sticks? Or maybe a way to modify a seasoning blend?