I am fairly new to sausage making (2 years in) and just finished my 3rd or 4th batch of snack sticks. I've learned a couple things that I thought may be helpful to other newbies. Of course there is more to these tricks to making good snack sticks, but sometimes it's a few small details that make a big difference. These are what I want to highlight in this post:
Meat: Approximately 60:40 Pork:Beef
Seasonings: Legg's 116 snack stick mix
Casing: Mahogany Collagen
1. Binder: Prior to this batch I had used non-fat dry milk powder as a binder and non at all in one batch. This time I used Butcher & Packer special binder 414 and it made a world of difference! Before this batch my meat batter would not adhere to the casing well so when bit into, the meat would come out of the casing instead of breaking off clean. Problem solved!
2. Mixing duration: Initially I read that you should mix the batter until it sticks to your palm. I don't think this is enough. I actually took a sausage making class recently and he suggested mixing by hand for 10 minutes. This was well past simply sticking to my palm. So for this batch I mixed for a solid 10 minutes (yes, I was exhausted but nothing a few pauses for a sip of cold beer couldn't fix). I truly believe that this, coupled with the binder made a huge difference
3. Extended dry time: I mixed one night, stuffed the next and rested stuffed overnight in the refrigerator. I then did the typical dry cycle in the smoker for an hour at 120F. I think this extended drying in the refrigerator and smoker really helped get me a drier stick which I like.
4. MES heat zones: I used an MES40 and found that the right side of the smoker ran hotter due to the heating element location and I had to rotate racks about every 1-2 hours to get even cooking. Bottom rack cooked faster than top, which brings me to my final technique. I also flipped the sticks from left to right. You can see in one of the photos below how one half is smooth and the other is wrinkled. The wrinkled end was to the right meaning it was cooking hotter.
5. Racks vs Hang: I doubt it makes a difference, but I smoked this batch on racks instead of hanging from a dowel in my previous batches. For me, this worked better. I felt that I could fit more in the smoker (~13 lbs) and got a better product. When I hang them, they sometimes touch giving uneven cooking and I don't like the curved end over the dowel. I like nice uniform straight sticks so the racks allowed me to get this. I simply stuffed into my collagen casings and cut long sticks the width of my smoker racks. Worked great and I didn't even tie the ends.
6: Rest: After smoking, rest in a paper bag in the refrigerator for at least a week to 10 days. I feel the flavor and texture improves over time although I admit I eat about one a day while waiting :) Have to test the product performance!
Question for the experts: My texture is a little "hammy". I estimate this mix was about 60/40 pork butt:chuck. Maybe a little to heavy on the pork?
Here are some pics: Sorry I didn't get more throughout the process. Cut shots below are with knife and after biting.
Meat: Approximately 60:40 Pork:Beef
Seasonings: Legg's 116 snack stick mix
Casing: Mahogany Collagen
1. Binder: Prior to this batch I had used non-fat dry milk powder as a binder and non at all in one batch. This time I used Butcher & Packer special binder 414 and it made a world of difference! Before this batch my meat batter would not adhere to the casing well so when bit into, the meat would come out of the casing instead of breaking off clean. Problem solved!
2. Mixing duration: Initially I read that you should mix the batter until it sticks to your palm. I don't think this is enough. I actually took a sausage making class recently and he suggested mixing by hand for 10 minutes. This was well past simply sticking to my palm. So for this batch I mixed for a solid 10 minutes (yes, I was exhausted but nothing a few pauses for a sip of cold beer couldn't fix). I truly believe that this, coupled with the binder made a huge difference
3. Extended dry time: I mixed one night, stuffed the next and rested stuffed overnight in the refrigerator. I then did the typical dry cycle in the smoker for an hour at 120F. I think this extended drying in the refrigerator and smoker really helped get me a drier stick which I like.
4. MES heat zones: I used an MES40 and found that the right side of the smoker ran hotter due to the heating element location and I had to rotate racks about every 1-2 hours to get even cooking. Bottom rack cooked faster than top, which brings me to my final technique. I also flipped the sticks from left to right. You can see in one of the photos below how one half is smooth and the other is wrinkled. The wrinkled end was to the right meaning it was cooking hotter.
5. Racks vs Hang: I doubt it makes a difference, but I smoked this batch on racks instead of hanging from a dowel in my previous batches. For me, this worked better. I felt that I could fit more in the smoker (~13 lbs) and got a better product. When I hang them, they sometimes touch giving uneven cooking and I don't like the curved end over the dowel. I like nice uniform straight sticks so the racks allowed me to get this. I simply stuffed into my collagen casings and cut long sticks the width of my smoker racks. Worked great and I didn't even tie the ends.
6: Rest: After smoking, rest in a paper bag in the refrigerator for at least a week to 10 days. I feel the flavor and texture improves over time although I admit I eat about one a day while waiting :) Have to test the product performance!
Question for the experts: My texture is a little "hammy". I estimate this mix was about 60/40 pork butt:chuck. Maybe a little to heavy on the pork?
Here are some pics: Sorry I didn't get more throughout the process. Cut shots below are with knife and after biting.
