And BAM... Snack Sticks

[foamheart]

U da'man!

 

[Hawging It]

Awesome! Just Awesome!

 

[jfleming9232]

Awesome job on the snack sticks! Congrats on the new stuffer.

 

[nanuk]

Just a thought Sonny, but could you just coil the one long stick around the pipe, then hand it, and using the palm of your hand, press down on the tops to the links hang more vertical?

many smokers have tri-lobe style sticks/bars so there is little touching. Then you just pull the whole thing, and tip it onto a table.

 

[flatbroke]

So it was hard earned, but worth it...
So yesterday my stuffer finally arrived. To pooped to to switch, I finished my Bacon packaging, took a bit of a break, then jumped in.
I had gotten 5 pounds of my packaged Beef and Pork out to soften up from the deep freezer. It was still frozen as I ground it into a pile of layers in the mixing bowl with the 3/8" slotted plate. My Goodness it made a big pile, almost a bowl full. I worried it might not mix.
For naught. It mixed fine when I took it back out of the fridge to mix in the seasoning and cure. I weighed out the cure and added it to the seasonings mix to assure the cure was well dispersed.
I added 1 cup of ice water as it danced and stirred in the mixing bowl blending the meats and seasonings. It seemed to mix very well.
Then back through the grinder and a 1/8" plate for the final grind and I let it discharge into the LEM Stuffer tank. The tank, filled and stuffed as it could go, went back into the fridge to chill and rest while I got ready to shove the huge pile of goo into a tube through a 3/8" Stuffer tube and 17 mm casings. Fingers crossed, a full tube of 17 mm casing on the horn, I began the cranking and out came the meat mixture. I twisted up the tip of the casing and there came the long rope of snack stick.
I folded it into one of my 1/4 sheet pans, in ~12" folds. Even when the casing ran out, there was more to do. So I grabbed some 19 mm casing I had been fooling with and finished the meat with that, about 2 1/2 feet.
This rested overnight in the 36 degree fridge in prep for today's finishing. I strung it to my bars to hang in the smoker with butchers twine at the folds. (I'm dreaming about using Shower Curtain Hangers to make things easier next time.)
Then pre heated to remove the chill of the fridge and the condensation before lighting up the tray of dust to smoke it. After about an hour, the torch fired off the AMNPS in my "Mailbox Mod" and we were officially Sm00kin my first 5 pound batch of Snack Sticks.

Ready for the Fridge

View attachment 388317

Finished. These made two Quart sized Ziplock bags of 6" stix.

View attachment 388318

Size wise, I really couldn't say there is any size difference between the 17 mm and the 19 mm.
They taste great! Even my dog is full.

that looks pretty good. Did they get better with time ?

 

[smokin peachey]

Sonny, what seasoning mix did you use?