ECA questions

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smokin pop-pop

Meat Mopper
Original poster
Dec 30, 2014
213
69
Allentown Pa.
I’ve been making snack sticks for awhile now and just got my hands on some ECA.
After reading the directions does anyone know if you need to refrigerate the sticks
when finished or can I just put them in a plastic container and set them on the bar?
In addition I make large batches 25#at a time so I use a meat mixer attached to my
grinder to mix the cure , spice and water with the meat , can I also do this with the
ECA or should I “FOLD “ this into the meat by hand. I know you can’t get the ECA to hot and I’m not sure if the mixer will generate to much heat. Thanks in advance for
any advice .
Joe
 
I’ve been making snack sticks for awhile now and just got my hands on some ECA.
After reading the directions does anyone know if you need to refrigerate the sticks
when finished or can I just put them in a plastic container and set them on the bar?
In addition I make large batches 25#at a time so I use a meat mixer attached to my
grinder to mix the cure , spice and water with the meat , can I also do this with the
ECA or should I “FOLD “ this into the meat by hand. I know you can’t get the ECA to hot and I’m not sure if the mixer will generate to much heat. Thanks in advance for
any advice .
Joe

smokin pop-pop, It’s my understanding that you should only mix ECA right before you stuff your sausage into casings and put the sausage into the smoker. I don’t think you can mix and stuff the sausage with ECA and let it rest in the refrigerator for any length of time as the capsules will break and release the ECA into the mix causing a grey product and an unpleasant mouth feel. Also the ECA should only be added into the mix at the very end of mixing so the capsules are not broken during the mixing. Hopefully someone with a little more experience then me will chime in. Let us know how your sausage comes out.
 
Mix the ECA in by hand. Mixers can rupture the outer shell of the Acid. Meat IT temp will let the ECA work.
ECA made sticks will only be shelf stable for a short time. ECA slightly lowers the pH. Dont plastic bag your sticks in the fridge, the bag creates moisture which will degrade the meat faster. I store in a brown paper bag or parchment. Keep in mind that the longer your sticks/chubs are in the paper bag or parchment they will start to dry.

GL

Your results may vary
 
Mix the ECA in by hand. Mixers can rupture the outer shell of the Acid. Meat IT temp will let the ECA work.
ECA made sticks will only be shelf stable for a short time. ECA slightly lowers the pH. Dont plastic bag your sticks in the fridge, the bag creates moisture which will degrade the meat faster. I store in a brown paper bag or parchment. Keep in mind that the longer your sticks/chubs are in the paper bag or parchment they will start to dry.

GL

Your results may vary

Is it alright to freeze the sticks (with ECA) then just thaw as needed?
 
I also vacuum bag the bulk of mine and freeze for later use. I keep the "eating" stock in a clear plastic container (it was a whole cashew container from Sam's Club that I took the labels off with some citrus based remover). I then drilled some 1/4" holes in the screw top and I put a section of paper towel under the top (the paper towel is slightly bigger than the screw top so it is held in place by the threads).

I generally keep the personal "eating" stock in the fridge and they will keep for a very long time this way. The holes and paper towel let them breath but no so much that they dry out. I've actually got one container like this that has the last of my October run in it and they are still fine, but they are starting to get a little firmer. That's about 4 months stored like that in the fridge. Should be gone by the weekend. I kept them as a sort of test to see how long they would go. I did not use any special mold inhibitor, just cure #1 & ECA.

I also will take a container like this, full of these to the office, and they sit on my desk at room temp. They never last more than about 3 days once word gets out I've got sticks and I have them go in 1 day on several occasions. Should be fine on the bar.

And yes, X3 on the above about ECA. I mix the spice, cure & meat and let it sit in the fridge overnight. Then right before stuffing blend in the ECA by hand. I add water in the initial mix and ice cold water with the ECA to loosen up the mix. Then into the stuffer and stuff to smoke right away. Never had an issue.
 
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