A couple months ago I made a batch of venison snack sticks that came out very firm, almost like biting and chewing solid meat. It was the first time I had used pork belly for the fat so I was thinking it had some thing to do with that and haven’t used pork belly since. Well, this week I made a batch of sticks using beef (eye of round) and pork shoulder that came out firm also. I usually use a mixture of 50% pork shoulder with 50% lean meat (goose, duck, venison), and follow the standard Walton’s snack stick recipes and process. For these two “problem” batches I used the same overall recipes, mixing procedure and time and smoking temps and time as I do with batches that come out “normal”. What variables could I have messed up on that would cause the overly firm texture in the sticks?

processhead Yeah, they look and taste the same as any other batch, just the texture difference.

cdavis This is one of the things I was thinking also. There are really only two variables in the process that I haven’t very tightly controlled: fat content and mixing time. Would low fat content result in chewy sticks?

twilliams I’m not sure what case hardening is but it doesn’t sound like what happened with these. I do 5 lb batches. I grind the meat course once and fine once. Mix in a kitchenaid mixer for around 8 minutes with ingredients following the Walton’s recipes, adding in ECA and cheese for the last minute. Stuff in 19mm smoked collagen casings. Smoke in a Masterbuilt gravity feed charcoal grill on 150 deg for 3 hours, then 180 until 165 IT. Ice bath for about 10 minutes. rest at room temp for a while and then cut them up. The process is always the same. Just these two random batches that came out chewy. The only real variables that I haven’t controlled very tightly are fat content, which would naturally vary based on the meat I am using and mixing time. In this last batch, it did feel like there might not have been as much fat as usual and I probably ended up mixing a little longer than usual.