Been making sausage for 30 +yrs, my opinion is hand mixing over machine anytime. U can’t make a machine grab squeeze and twist. It doesn’t take that long to get the protein extraction your looking for by hand, maybe 5 minutes. When u run the meat the second time through the grinder you will achieve more protein extraction then mix a little more by hand you will notice how sticky the meat is. As far as helping with cold hands, use a tight fitting non powder nitrile gloves, and put u a bowl,of warm,water near u to dip hands in as needed. It will help, and won’t hurt if a little xtra water is mixed,in.

HoustonSmoker bringing you snack sticks and summer sausage to 160 is key for a long shelf life. My first time making snack sticks I did not make sure they got to the proper temp and had mold problems within a week. After that I went to the 160 mark and have had no issues with spoilage. I have had them in the fridge over a month with no,problems.

Rusty my dehydrator won’t go over 160 so after I follow the first part of thermal processing in low temps, I move my snacks sticks, summer,sausage etc, into the oven at 175 for hr Check temp,if still not 155 raise it to 200for 15 min, check temp. Keep checking,every 15min or so til it reaches 155.

davhi8. After you take the hams out of the brine, rinse them of and put back in the fridge for at least 1 or 2 days to dry. Then they are ready to smoke.

I have been making jerky for years with no problems with spoilage. I just recently started making snack sticks, they are delicious but I can’t get the shelf life to last more than a week to 10 days refrigerated. Waltons has a great tutorial on how to make snack sticks, just make sure you follow the steps in order.