Beef Sticks.....HELP.

[fire in the hole]

If you were to make some beef sticks today............would you try for 10% or 20% fat content????

My 1st (and only) beef sticks were made with 80/20 ground beef.........and I felt they had a mealy texture when eating them, but I figure that was from being thru a fine grind plate.  

I'm grinding my own this time but a little concerned about beef fat content.

 

[smoking b]

I would shoot for around 15% fat content 

 

[sudzy]

The lower the fat content the longer they will last without going rancid, they dry easier and will have a better chew to them. With jerky you want no fat so go low. Are you compressing them? Extruding them?

 

[fire in the hole]

It's a done deal now. I added 20% fat to the mix. I never thought about the rancid part. But........4#'s shouldn't last that long anyway.

I'm not sure what you mean by extruded and compressed. I will be using a stuffer and loading into callogen casings............then into the smoker tomorrow.

Thanks ..........with your input...........I shouldn't be far off and can adjust on the next batch.