Unstuffed Smoked Beef Pepperoni Sticks with Qview

[alien]

What Is TQ ? I live in Ontario, Canada and Have Never heard of it
 

Unstuffed Smoked Beef Pepperoni Sticks

Here they are. I made them skinless (not stuffed in casings), because I find most stuffing skins annoying, and I wanted to see if I could make them without casings. They ended up ugly (looks like dog shit), but they are by far the best tasting Beef Sticks I ever ate! Nobody seems to care what they look like.

I had them rolled pretty nice and round, but I guess when some of the fat cooks out, that causes them to get lumpy----meat stays---some fat leaves.

Everybody who tasted them said they were the best they ever ate, but my kid says they could be hotter. I told him next time I'll make part of the batch extra hot for him.

Ingredients:

5 lbs Beef (ground--80/20)

7 1/2 level tsp (2 1/2 TBS) of TQ

3 tsp Black Pepper

1 1/2 tsp of Mustard Seed

2 tsp of Fennel Seed (slightly crushed)

1 1/2 tsp of Crushed Red Pepper

1 tsp of Anise Seed

1 tsp of Garlic Powder

1 tsp of Italian Seasoning

6 ounces of ice water

Mix dry stuff in the water. Mix this all real real good with the 5 pounds of ground Beef, and cover & put in fridge for 24 hours.

Next Day:

Roll out cured ground Beef about 3/4" thick with a rolling pin. Make cuts every 3/4" in this rolled out Beef. Drop one of these 3/4" X 3/4" bars into a piece of plastic wrap about 8" or 10" long by a little wider than the bars are long, and give each one a little back & forth roll, causing the bars to become cylinders wrapped in plastic wrap. Do this with all of the bars (mine were 28 pieces). Put them on a tray and put in fridge over night.

Next Day:

I unwrapped them and put them in my MES for 1 1/2 hours at 100˚ without smoke.

Then I lit both ends of a Hickory filled A-MAZE-N-SMOKER (6" X 6"), and put it in the bottom of my MES30.

After another hour, I bumped the heat up to 110˚.

Then 120˚ for one hour.

Then 130˚ for another hour.

After 3 1/2 hours my A-MAZE-N-SMOKER burned out, so I bumped it up to 150˚, and threw some dust & some Apple chips in my MES chip drawer.

After another hour, I bumped to 160˚.

After one more hour, I bumped it up to 180˚.

Then an hour later, I bumped it up to 190˚.

When they were all up to 165˚ internal, I pulled them out. They ranged from 164˚ to 175˚.

Then I threw them in ice water to cool off. This made grease form on the outside of each piece, so I rinsed them off in warm water & dried them all off.

Then I put them all on a dish (except for a few snackers for that evening), covered them with plastic wrap, and stuck them in the fridge for the night.

Packed & marked them the next day, and into my bloated freezer.

BTW: Started with 4 lb. 14 oz of beef

---

Finished with 3 lb. 4 oz of sticks. Lost exactly 1/3 of original weight.

I will be doing bigger batches exactly like these real soon, because they are awesome!!!

All mixed with cure & seasoning:

A-MAZE-N-SMOKER lit at both ends & ready to go:

All rolled and started in smoker:

Close-up:

All smoked (started packing & realized I need more Qview):

All packed up, except for some early snacking:

Thanks for lookin',

Bearcarver

 

[Bearcarver]

"Tender Quick" cure.

Made by Morton Salt.

Bearcarver

 

[boatnut]

that's some of the best looking "dog chit" that i've seen in a while!   nice job!

 

[DanMcG]

Wow I never even saw this till today.

Thanks for sharing the recipe Bear, they look and sound excellent. I never tried a skinless one before, but why not. It's on my to do list!

 

[Bearcarver]

that's some of the best looking "dog chit" that i've seen in a while!   nice job!

Thanks Boatnut !


 

Wow I never even saw this till today.

Thanks for sharing the recipe Bear, they look and sound excellent. I never tried a skinless one before, but why not. It's on my to do list!

Thanks Dan,

Let me know how you like it.

And make sure I don't miss it. I seem to miss more than I used to! 

Bear
 

 

[DanMcG]

And make sure I don't miss it. I seem to miss more than I used to! 

Bear
 

LOL. I'm not sure if it's me getting old or the new layout, But I miss a ton of stuff.

 

[Bearcarver]

LOL. I'm not sure if it's me getting old or the new layout, But I miss a ton of stuff.

That's what I mean. I know I'm on here much longer than I was with the old platform, but it seems I miss more than I used to.

Then it really gets me mad when somebody uses one of my "Step by Steps", and they're nice enough to thank me on their post. 

Then I don't even see it, and I don't even get to make a nice comment on their post!

 

[nwdave]

I've got my favorites button for SMF set to default to the "New Posts" section.  It seems to work pretty good at catching most.  It's not 100% effective but at least it helps to keep up with you and forluvofsmoke and ...........  well, you know.  Oh, and I REALLY appreciate the "Step by Steps" you two put up.

That's what I mean. I know I'm on here much longer than I was with the old platform, but it seems I miss more than I used to.

Then it really gets me mad when somebody uses one of my "Step by Steps", and they're nice enough to thank me on their post. 

Then I don't even see it, and I don't even get to make a nice comment on their post!

 

[rrsteve]

Hi Bear, I did a 3# batch of sticks using your recipe and they turned out great, my next batch will be bigger. I have a question for you, there was a recipe from Mortons that was similar to yours but yours sounded better. they used the same amount of TQ as you but they say to keep refrigerated and to freeze after five days old. I thought I would be able to keep the sticks at room temp. or take hiking, trips etc. not refrigerated because the sticks were cured. I didn't have to worry about this batch it wasn't around long enough but a larger batch may be a different story. Am interested in your reply.

Bob

 

[Bearcarver]

Hi Bear, I did a 3# batch of sticks using your recipe and they turned out great, my next batch will be bigger. I have a question for you, there was a recipe from Mortons that was similar to yours but yours sounded better. they used the same amount of TQ as you but they say to keep refrigerated and to freeze after five days old. I thought I would be able to keep the sticks at room temp. or take hiking, trips etc. not refrigerated because the sticks were cured. I didn't have to worry about this batch it wasn't around long enough but a larger batch may be a different story. Am interested in your reply.

Bob

Hi Steve,

I'm real glad you liked it. That's why I put it there.

I feel great every time somebody uses one of my step by steps, and gives me a good report.

So far nobody has used one of them, without liking it, unless they were too kind to tell me about it.

I got the basics of that recipe from Morton's. I just adjusted it a little.

You do have to keep it in the fridge, and should freeze after 5 days.

I have had it in the fridge a little longer, but I wouldn't keep it out of the fridge for too many hours.

Just because it is cured, doesn't mean you can keep it out of a fridge like a Slim Jim. They use all kinds of preservatives in those things.

Think of it more like Bacon, which is cured using more cure than this stuff.

I really don't know how long you could keep them out of the fridge---like in your shirt pocket---Probably a few hours----Just don't take too long a hike!

Some kind of insulated sleeve for a few of them would probably help. LOL--I'd have no problem with the kind of hikes I take!

Thanks,

Bear

 

[chuckie53]

I am new to the website and always looking for items to smoke on my Mastebuilt Smoker Model 20070210, and read about your skinless Unstuffed beef sticks. So I wanted to pass along to you what I saw on the Food Network last night. The show was a restaurant where they used corn husks to wrap their beef stick into then smoked them. they claimed it help keep the shape and allowed the smoke the penetrate the sticks. i was going to try your recipe and use the corn husk also. What do you think of the idea?

Thx,  Chuckie53

 

[Bearcarver]

I am new to the website and always looking for items to smoke on my Mastebuilt Smoker Model 20070210, and read about your skinless Unstuffed beef sticks. So I wanted to pass along to you what I saw on the Food Network last night. The show was a restaurant where they used corn husks to wrap their beef stick into then smoked them. they claimed it help keep the shape and allowed the smoke the penetrate the sticks. i was going to try your recipe and use the corn husk also. What do you think of the idea?

Thx,  Chuckie53

Definitely sounds interesting. If you do that, please keep us posted.

Thanks,

Bear

BTW: Chuckie, you should stop in at "Roll Call", so a whole mess of great people can give you a good welcome to this forum.

 

[two much smoke]

These sound awesome can you tell me what TQ is.

 

[Bearcarver]

These sound awesome can you tell me what TQ is.

"Tender Quick" is a home-curing meat cure. It is used to cure Bacon, dried beef, Canadian Bacon, and many other things, so they can safely be low temp, slowly smoked to get the full benefit of smoking meat.

TQ is made & sold by Mortons Salt. I buy mine at a grocery store near my home. If you have trouble finding it, there is a sealer search somewhere around here. If you want to get some, let me know and I'll help you find it.

There are other cures that can be used, but TQ is my favorite. I think there is less chance to screw up with TQ.

Bear

 

[cdub198321]

I am going to try this tonight.  Do you have to have it in the fridge for 2 nights or can you do smoke it the next day?

 

[Bearcarver]

I am going to try this tonight.  Do you have to have it in the fridge for 2 nights or can you do smoke it the next day?

I did that because of making them without skin (casings). I put it in fridge to get it to harden up some, before rolling. Then I put them in the fridge again after rolling to firm them up again. I would imagine you could shorten that up some---maybe a few hours for the first part, but most of the night for the second part. I would think it should be about 24 hours total, because of needing time to cure, so it's safe to smoke low & slow for longer than 4 hours.

Bear

 

[upsman]

Hey Bearcarver Love the pepperoni sticks recipe with Qviews. I have a Jerky shooter with different tips and was wondering if this recipe would work in a dehydrator after an hour of smoke in the smoker? still can't find a  simple really tasty pepperoni stick recipe for lean grnd beef for the dehydrator.

 

[Bearcarver]

Hey Bearcarver Love the pepperoni sticks recipe with Qviews. I have a Jerky shooter with different tips and was wondering if this recipe would work in a dehydrator after an hour of smoke in the smoker? still can't find a  simple really tasty pepperoni stick recipe for lean grnd beef for the dehydrator.

I don't know anything about dehydrators. I would worry about it being safe. I take these up to about 165˚.

Bear

 

[t-bone44]

Hey Bear....If I am using venison instead of beef what would the ratio between deer and pork/beef be? Would you use beef or pork?

Thanks for the advice....

 

[Bearcarver]

Hey Bear....If I am using venison instead of beef what would the ratio between deer and pork/beef be? Would you use beef or pork?

Thanks for the advice....

Sorry, I just saw this.

It's really a matter of taste:

If I was using Venison, I would probably add Pork like "Pork Butt", and make it about 60% Deer, and 40% Pork.

Bear