Venison snack sticks and trail bologna

[Nick-IA]

Smoked up some venison snack sticks and bologna this weekend. Went with Hi Mountain Hunters Blend for the sticks, and Trail bologna seasoning for the bologna.

Mixed my venison with pork fat to obtain a 75/25 ratio. Ended up with 15 lbs of sticks with hot pepper cheese, 5 lbs of plain sticks, and 5 lbs of bologna. Smoked with apple pellets in my cedar smoker. 120 to dry, then to 130 for 1 hr, 150 for 1 hr and 170 to finish until IT 152-155.

Very pleased the with results, anxious to see how they taste in the morning. Good consistency and casing has a snap to it, which is what I like.

Hung them in the smoker overnight to cure

Finished product

Finished bologna

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice work bud. Looks great.

 

[JckDanls 07]

PERFECT.. nice job.. what size casings did you use ??

 

[Nick-IA]

PERFECT.. nice job.. what size casings did you use ??

I’m glad you brought that up, I forgot about that. I used LEM 19MM collagen casings. The clear ones. They say do not soak prior to use. I had one hell of a time trying to stuff them without getting them wet - blowout after blowout. So I soaked them in warm water. Huge improvement after that. Not a single blowout. And much easier to work with.

Have others had similar issues with those casings? Or just me?

The bologna were natural hog casings. I had them stored left over from a prior run.

 

[indaswamp]

Very nice. Great color. Great texture. Looks good from here.....

 

[bauchjw]

Those look awesome! Nice work!

 

[olecrosseyes]

Excellence young man!! You get 2 yums up for those!

 

[JckDanls 07]

LEM 19MM collagen casings

I like The Sausage Makers 19 mm Clear (they don't offer Mahogany in 19mm, which sucks) ... Comparing with others... I find TSM the best value for collagen ...
For natural casings I like Syracuse Casing , pre-tubed, sheep .... (value not considered) .... which reminds me, I'm out of small ones ...

 

[crazymoon]

N-IA, Wow, nice batch of goodies, they look delicious! I never soaked any collagen casings and the best ones IMHO come from PS seasoning.