jalapano and cheese venison sticks

[dannylang]

i have some left over deer meat that is already ground up, can someone help me to make these sticks, and i want to put them into casing. i do not know what size casing or even know how to make the seasonings or cures for. please help

thanks

dannylang

 

[boykjo]

hey danny.. do you have the equipment to do sticks.

 

[dannylang]

i have a jerky cannon to stuff the casings, and i have a grinder from bass pro, can you help me if i need something else.

 

[dannylang]

i know nothing about this, so some steps here is much needed. thanks

 

[boykjo]

I would start by getting a snack stick kit from bass pro, gander mountain or cabelas or use a recipe from SMF. You will need to get some 19 mm cologen casings....

 

[dannylang]

i ordered a kit from the sausage maker.

 

[boykjo]

Sure.. there will be plenty of help available from our sausage guru's

 

[dannylang]

can i make these sticks out of homemade seasons, rather than ordering a kit. just only getting castings?

 

[boykjo]

Good... did it come with cologen casings

 

[boykjo]

yes.. I would try nepas's  sticks. look through his stuff

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/ne...&order=descending&Search=SEARCH&Search=SEARCH

 

[dannylang]

yes the kit was for 25 pounds of sticks and 19mm cologen casings and curing mix, what ever that is.

 

[driedstick]

Yes, if smoking you will need the cure, so maybe I can help also, are you going to do the whole 25lbs or part?? 

Next question, is it pure deer meat or is there some mixed in pork butt or some other fat content. 

I did a batch for a fellow employee, and it was straight white tail deer and I thought the sticks came out too dry?? But if you add Non fat dry milk (NFDM) to it you may get away with it. At the time I did not know about the NFDM and I know use it in all my  recipes. If using NFDM 1 cup per 5lbs of meat. 

Here are my steps, 

Mix the correct amount of Meat with the correct amount of seasonings and cure as per the package instructions. 

Mix a good 5-6 min. till it becomes tacky and sticky - my way to know it is mixed is you should be able to grab about a softball size of meat in you hand and turn your hand upside down and it should not fall - then you know the cure is working. 

Then is what I do is stuff it into casings & when done stuffing,,,,put in the fridge overnight, (you can mix, stuff and smoke all is one day if you would like) 

Next morning, take sticks out and let sit at room temp for about 1hr on racks or hanging racks what ever you are using, while you get the smoker going. 

Start your smoker at about 130*. 

smoker is at 130 put in sticks for 1-2hrs NO SMOKE and Dampers full open

then add smoke and bump smoker temp up 10* each hour till smoker temp is at 170* (I smoke the entire time) 

keep sticks in smoker till the Internal temp (IT) of the snack sticks gets to 152*

Pull sticks and set on counter (no water bath on small sticks) for approx 2hrs to let them bloom, 

after 2hrs or so put sticks in Brown paper bag and back in fridge overnight.  

Next day pull from fridge and cut you desired sizes and vac pac 

And it's that simple 

Good luck and let us know if we can help anymore 

Hope this helps you get started 

A full smoker is a happy smoker

DS
 

 

[crazymoon]

DL, As others have said you need to know what your venison to fat ratio is, too lean will be too dry and too fatty will make a greasy stick. Stuff slowly as your casings will be small and you will get the hang of it after a few blowouts.You need to fill the casing completely but too much will give you the dreaded blowout.

 

[dannylang]

thanks fellows, the deer meat is very lean now, whats the best way to go? add a boston butt, or the dried milk?

 

[boykjo]

Its a matter of preference i dont use binders. If you like the deer flavor add 20% pork fat. You can cut dowm on the game flavor by using a small amount of msg or by adding a pork shoulder but you will have to seperate the fat from lean and weigh them out seperately to know how much more fat will be needed.

 

[DanMcG]

If you use the kit you ordered it will have milk powder or some other binder in the mix, but it's not required if you mix your own blend of spice.

 

[dannylang]

can i smoke these in a stick burner? it will be pretty hard to keep temps at 130. but i will do it with a small fire, even a small charcoal fire.

 

[chopsaw]

Just want to ask ,,, did you grind the venison , or did you have it down ? Might all ready have fat added in . 

Chop

 

[dannylang]

i ground the meat myself, it has no fat added, can i buy some pork ground with fat already added or add some 73/27 beef to this?

 

[kovaku]

Danny, 

When I make my sticks I used 80% deer and 20% fat.  For my fat I just used Jimmie Dean original ground sausage.  I know that Jimmie Dean is not pure fat so the ratio ends up being a little higher than 80% meat and 20% fat but I have had good results.  The flavor is also improved by adding the Jimmie Dean to me.  This is my preference to my taste and everyone that has tried my sticks likes them. The texture is good and they are not dry. Of course you could just add the beef like you asked but I would get the fattiest meat I could find, hence the reason I prefer to use the Jimmie Dean. I smoked my first 25lbs in my stick burner pit.  I actually used charcoal in my fire box to start the fire and added pecan on top for smoke.  Depending on how your stick burner runs keep it at the lowest temp possible.  I pull my sticks at the IT of 158F and put them straight into cold water.  You want to monitor your IT closely as if you get them to hot the fat will run inside the casing.  There again it all depends on what you like.  I wanted my sticks to keep a nice round shape so that is the reason I cooled them straight off the pit.  If you let them cool slowly they will shrivel a bit.  Its all your preference.  I then let them bloom for a few hours on a table before I vac pack. One thing you really want The only problem I had was my pit was not big enough to hold 25lbs of sticks on the rack.  I had to make 3 smokes to get them all done. If you don't have 25lbs of product you will need to measure your cure to get the right weight. There are a load of threads on here about snack sticks.  I have learned a lot here.