Beef sticks

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

made my fist batch of beef sticks, only 1kg to try

fennel was useless, mustard seeds not powder also useless. black pepper underwhelming and not really spicy, thinking of adding cayenne to encourage more beer drinking. anyone has any suggestions on how to improve?

also these were laying down on a rack in the smoker, should i hang them instead?

 

[FFchampMT]

made my fist batch of beef sticks, only 1kg to try

Total salt only approaching 1.5% might be low if you're used to saltiness. Did you let them "bloom" overnight? They usually taste better after a day or 2 resting as the flavors meld.
Other than that I'd say you've just got a basically balanced spice mix (just likely under-seasoned). Go with your gut - double up the pepper and either garlic or onion. I've run black pepper at 1% and enjoyed it, you're at 5x's less than that.
Try and get something to stand out and let the other flavors be the supporting cast.

 

[daveomak]

General guidelines for spice usage.... Tweak as you taste buds tell you...

Also, try fresh cracked black pepper... and gently heat some of the whole spices in a skillet at a low temp to extract some of the oils for a mo-betta flavor...

 

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

i didn't give it time to bloom.
making a new batch today, to smoke on Thursday. changed the receipt to increase the pepper and garlic. also salt like you said. last time i used very lean beef, decided to add some pork fat to make it more juicy. it's a lot of paprika judging by daveomak's chart, but it doesn't taste anything really, just give color.

 

[daveomak]

FWIW, here's "2 guys and a cooler" Stick recipe... This recipe ferments the sticks to get a "tang"... You can add ECA in place of the fermentation...
These folks make good stuff... They also follow good practices for food safety...

Snack Sticks – 2 Guys & A Cooler

twoguysandacooler.com

Snack Sticks



Smoky, tangy, and incredibly delicious



Prep Time2 d
Cook Time6 hrs
Total Time2 d 6 hrs

If you are making sausage adjust the servings to reflect the total weight of your meat and fat


Servings: grams



Ingredients
Metric – US Customary

• 700 g lean beef
• 300 g pork back fat
• 17 g kosher salt
• 2.5 g insta cure #1
• 6 g dextrose
• 1.7 g black pepper
• 1.5 g celery seed
• 2.25 g garlic powder
• 8.85 g paprika
• 21 g mustard powder
• 4 g mace
• 4.5 g cayenne pepper
• 8.85 g chipotle powder
• 20 g nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/4 cup ice cold water
• LHP Dry Starter Culture 1/4 tsp of culture diluted in 2 tbsp of distilled water for every kilo of meat.
• collagen casings 22mm

Instructions

• Clean your meat of any silver skin, sinew, arteries and cut into small strips or cubes. Place the meat and fat in the freezer for an hour or until the temp reaches 32f – 34F.
• Prepare all of your seasonings, clean and rehydrate your casings, and rehydrate your starter culture. The starter culture needs to rehydrate for 30 minutes prior to use.
• Grind your very chilled meat and fat on a course plate then regrind on a medium plate
• Add your seasonings, the ice cold water, and the starter culture to your mince meat and mix till it becomes very tacky. If you grab a small handful it will stick to your hand if you hold your hand upside down.
• Stuff your mince meat into the casings and hang them in an area where the temperature is 85f-95F for 24 hours (you can also place them in your oven with the light on during this fermentation stage)
• After 24 hours of fermenting place the snack sticks in your smoker and begin to apply smoke (we use an external cold smoker for this)

Cooking Schedule

• Start at 125F for 1 1/2 hours, 135F for 1 hour, 155F for 1 hour, 165F till the internal temp reaches 140F (smoke is being applied lightly through the entire cooking process)
• Once finished cooking submerge in ice cold water and hang to bloom for 3-4 hours

 

[Lord Montgomery von Agoho]

thx, i appreciate the help, unfortunately where I'm at (think gilligan's island) i can't get starter culture or ECM (my biggest want right now). i was thinking using Yakult to make the sausage tangy or maybe yoghurt....

daveomak the receipt you gave uses a lot of chipotle powder. I'm a newbie, i thought that was a pepper in adobo sauce used for Mexican cooking , you can get it in dry form? also i assume the dextrose is food for the culture but what is the purpose of the non fat milk powder then?

thanks for all the help

linus

 

[daveomak]

That recipe is from "2 guys and a cooler"... Click on the link....
Anywho, here's what chipotle is.... I think it is added to add a smoke flavor and some heat to the sticks.... I like adding chipotle powder to some dishes....

A chipotle (/ tʃ ɪ ˈ p oʊ t l eɪ /, chi-POHT-lay; Spanish: [tʃiˈpotle]), or chilpotle, is a smoke-dried ripe jalapeño chili pepper used for seasoning. It is a chili used primarily in Mexican and Mexican-inspired cuisines, such as Tex-Mex and Southwestern dishes. It comes in different forms, such as chipotles en adobo (stewed in adobo sauce).. A chipotle's heat is similar to that of the Espelette pepper, jalapeño, Guajillo chili, Hungarian wax pepper, Anaheim pepper and Tabasco sauce.[1]