Hello- new here and new to making snack sticks. This forum has been great and the Meatgistic videos are very helpful.

As a rookie snack stick maker I have a couple questions.

When making snack sticks everything I’ve read is to hold overnight if just using SureCure but I can go straight to the smoker if I use SureCure w/ ECA.

My first question. What if I add ECA but not at the ratio on the package. I wanted some tang but not as much as it had at full ratio (basically cut it in half, 1oz for 12lbs) - do I need to hold it overnight still?

Second question. In the few batches I’ve made, if I taste them right after coming out of the ice bath before vac sealing I get some of that cure taste (tastes like the pink salt smells). I vac seal and try them the next day and that cure taste is gone. Is that normal? After a day in the fridge the sticks taste fantastic, just seems odd that it’d still have that faint taste initially but gone later on.

I’ve made 3 batches trying different things and they’ve all been really, really good. I just want to make sure I’m doing it correctly, ultimately making a safe product.

Any advice or feedback would be great.

Salty said in Snack Stick - Cure time w/ or w/o ECA and Cure taste:

sneaky87
Out of curiosity, why are you ice bathing snack sticks?
ECA is a preference according to your taste.
The acid also adds to shelf life/stability.

The recipe on Waltons here (pheasant sticks) says to do the ice bath.

I understand the ECA is added to taste, my question is if 2oz for 12lbs meat allows me to go straight to the smoker. What if I add 1oz or so - can I theoretically still go straight to the smoker? Or because I have less ECA added, it would be slower to accelerate the cure time?

I’m probably overthinking it but figured I’d ask.

glen said in Snack Stick - Cure time w/ or w/o ECA and Cure taste:

ECA melts at 135F. I myself would not worry about using 1/2 the stated amount.
Just be shure to keep your lower temps on schedule
The only concern I see would be storage after smoking, Refrigerated or Vac Pack no problem.

Got it - Yep, dried off, vac packed, and into the freezer.

Followed the goose pepperoni sticks recipe and it called for 3/4 gal of water. https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/1911/meatgistics-university-wild-game-goose-pepperoni-sticks

It seemed a bit extreme but I stuck w/ it and I now have pepperoni hot dogs… Doh!

Is this right and I messed something up? Or was 3/4gal for a larger amount than 12.5lbs??

Anyway, they’re in the dehydrator now to see what we can make out of them but just curious what’s wrong.

Pete