Almost 2 weeks ago I reached out for some advice on how to make my Turkey Snack Sticks. The overall opinion was that I was hot smoking at temps which were too hot. Due to schedule conflicts I was unable to attempt any snack sticks last week. So last night I stuffed some collagen casings with 85/15 ground turkey. Flavored it with some seasoning and added a bit of cure. Rested them overnight and some change. Started smoking them about 2:30 this afternoon. Started off around 120 and then increased slowly to about 165. (My electric smoker has a huge 40 degree swing in temps according to my Thermoworks Smoke thermometer.) So I didn't want to push it higher, because I was afraid it would spike to often above 180. After 8 hours, I have a finished product. I will let them bloom overnight, but they already taste delicious. The meat is firm and I didn't render all my fat out of the sticks. I was able to stick the meat with my probe after 4 hours and it didn't squirt me with all the juices. :) This was the first sign something was different with this process. I let them cook for an additional 4 hours. Took them to 150 degrees before pulling them. They sat in the 150 degree range for a few minutes before they were pulled. Thank you all for you assistance. Pics coming soon!
