Snack Sticks From Ground Beef

Very nice looking sticks you got there. One question why do you add powered milk?

johnnyb54 said:

Very nice looking sticks you got there. One question why do you add powered milk?

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This helps retain moisture I use 1 cup per 5lbs of meat. in my Summer sausages and Snack sticks. 

Hope this helps 

Non fat dry milk  powder can bind water and is often used in making sausages, including fermented types. Dry milk powder contains 50% lactose (sugar) and is used in fermented sausages as a source of food for lactic acid producing bacteria. It also contains around 35% of protein, about 0.6 - 1% fat and may be considered a healthy high energy product. Dry milk powder greatly improves the taste of low fat sausages. Non fat dry milk powder is a good natural product and it does not affect the flavor of the product. It is added at about 3% and effectively binds water and emulsifies fats. Its action is very similar to that of soy protein concentrate.

A full smoker is a happy smoker 

DS

 

If a Wolf corners you at camp throw him a stick and turn him into a Lab. That's what happens in the U.P. at least. Those look great!!!

driedstick said:

This helps retain moisture I use 1 cup per 5lbs of meat. in my Summer sausages and Snack sticks. 

Hope this helps 

Non fat dry milk powder can bind water and is often used in making sausages, including fermented types. Dry milk powder contains 50% lactose (sugar) and is used in fermented sausages as a source of food for lactic acid producing bacteria. It also contains around 35% of protein, about 0.6 - 1% fat and may be considered a healthy high energy product. Dry milk powder greatly improves the taste of low fat sausages. Non fat dry milk powder is a good natural product and it does not affect the flavor of the product. It is added at about 3% and effectively binds water and emulsifies fats. Its action is very similar to that of soy protein concentrate.

 

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Thanks for the info!

Twisted Minds said:

You could save yourself some time and hassle by eliminating the tying, once stuffed and rested, the meat will hold shape without the tie especially if you lay the sticks on racks to smoke. I hang my snack stick sausages from rods and don't bother tying as the meat will not "fall out" the open ends. Only need to tie larger sausages that will be hung from the strings like summer sausages or ring bologna. This also frees you up to have more time to concentrate on that beer glass!

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I'll try that method,  not tying.

Itried it this past weekend and it worked fine. Thanks for the heads up on it !

What do u mean by cold water bath after u take beef sticks out of smoker. An I have a treager smoker. How long should I smoke them. I can't turn off smoke. How many hours for 5 or 10 lbs of beef sticks. Your recipies looks good going to try this weekend. Thank you Steve

looks good think Ill save this for later

jake 1978 said:

What do u mean by cold water bath after u take beef sticks out of smoker. An I have a treager smoker. How long should I smoke them. I can't turn off smoke. How many hours for 5 or 10 lbs of beef sticks. Your recipies looks good going to try this weekend. Thank you Steve

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you may end up a little over smokey, but give it a whirl, I am sure that others with pellet grills will chime in on the cooker aspect.

as far as how long... doneness is determined by product temp. now product temp is a matter of #1 and most important is food saftey and killing bugs (lower temps for longer periods of time, vs higher temps for shorter periods of time) but #2 is texture preference, some want a moister product, some want a drier product. A rule of thumb for finished sausage is 152 to 165 for most folks. The other thing to consider is smoker temps, you dont want to try and smoke sausage at over 175 to 180 or your fat will liquefy and pool/run out. your best bet before you start is to get a good instant thermometer, as well as a good remote thermometer to monitor your cooker temps. start lower like 130-140 with room temp sauasage, and bring the temps up about 10 degrees per hour until you hit that 152 to 165. The ice bath is to stop the cooking process, but it also seems to help the casings as well. good luck.