Deer Snack Sticks

Just smoked up some venison snack sticks, they turned out great.....now all we need is beer, oh ya I got plenty of that in the kegerator--A nice dark winter bach 10% alcohol.

 

Hopefully the Seahawks can win, time for some teams that have never won it to get in the books. I plan to have some of them with me for the game, 10 lbs of meat made 117 sticks, not to bad. I might have to poach a damn deer, I'm runnin low on venison.

 

well this time I used the snack stick kit from askthemeatman.com here is the link http://www.askthemeatman.com/snack_stick_kits.htm

I always add a little of my own things in too, like mustard seed, garlic powder, a bit of fresh ground black peppercorns and some really fine ground ceyanne peppers if I am making hot sticks. But the above site sells all kinds of different flavored kits and they come with the casings and cure so you don't need to buy the crap seperatly. I have read about using encapsulated citric acid, it is what gives the sticks the tang like the store bought ones have. As far as the linking goes, I cut the casings all the same length first then fill them, it takes more time, but when there done I pack 10 in a vacpack bag and freeze the ones I aint going to chow down on right away. The smoker goes on auto pilot, I set the temp with the thermostat and start the smoke generator and I can go off to do other things while one of the smoking phases is going. If you have any other questions just let me know.

 

Here are the instructions for the Encapsulated Citric Acid, I think I will try this with my next batch...

This citric acid is coated with hydrogenated vegetable oil which will melt and release into the meat product at 135 degrees F.

Used to give certain products such as summer sausage and snack sticks their distinctive tang without going through a lengthy fermentation cycle.

Suggested usage for this purpose is 3 oz. for 25 lb. of meat. Encapsulated citric acid should be added near the end of the processing cycle as not to rupture the capsules during the mixing cycle. During processing the encapsulated citric acid is inactive until the temperature reaches 135 degrees F. and then the capsule is melted releasing the citric acid into the product.

 

If you go to this link you can order a good amount for cheap. Remember don't run it through the meat grinder,

http://www.butcher-packer.com/pg_sausage_citric.htm

 

You might still break the caps as the auger turns the meat. Plus any grinder Iv'e seen, need a plate to hold the shaft of the auger.