Hey everyone new to snack sticks and had a question. I have a bunch of venison that when I got processed the butcher added 10‰ beef fat to and now im interested in try my hand at some snack sticks. I have heard of added pork to venison for snack sticks but not beef fat. Can I use this for snack sticks or should I grind up some of my roasts instead?
Thanks in advance,
Vince
Hi there and welcome Vince!
As others are saying you should be fine. I make stick jerky from 100% ground venison and it is perfectly fine. Now that is not exactly the same thing as a Snack Stick, but at the very least you end up with tender jerky and not a half jery half sausage combo that is a snack stick.
Also I have made stick jerky from 88/12 beef I get from Costco and it works fine as well. A little more sweaty than I prefer but it does just fine.
Finally, I would encourage you to tell your meat processor to NOT add any fat to your Venison grind.
I process about 6 deer a year (from an MLD hunting property in Texas, so yep 6 is legal) and I found that there is no need to add fat to Venison grind. I make burgers with it and have no issues with it not having any added fat, but I understand adding some beef fat if you want a better burger patty.
At least in Texas almost all processors "add fat" to your venison because you "need" it according to them. Or they add brisket because the fat is "needed for making sausage". Well it is true you need fat to make sausage but when you pay $4 a pound to have sausage made and they add 10 pounds of brisket, they just charged you $40 for beef that can be purchased at the store for much less. That is one hell of an unnecessary mark up.
If you have the 100% pure Venison grind you can always go buy some trimmed pork back fat from a butcher or have them order you 10 pounds and then you can add pork fat as needed for making sausage, snack sticks, etc. Hell I had my local grocery butcher sell me 2.25 pounds of beef fat the other day for $0.99 a pound so I could make 11 pounds of Venison Pastrami Loaf, so it is maybe easier than you think to add fat as needed.
I make taco meat, meat spaghetti sauce, burgers, hamburger helper, etc. all the time with my 100% pure venison grind. I process my own meat so I take good care to eliminate anything that may be gamey. I guarantee you would never be able to tell I used 100% pure venison instead of beef.
Anyhow, enough of my rant I just wanted to share a little information about 100% pure venison grind because I've done it both ways with/without fat and yet people who have never tried 100% pure venison grind with no fat added swear to me that fat MUST be added, and that is just not accurate.
Best of luck on the snack sticks, I look forward to seeing how they come out :D