3 1/2 lbs ground venison and 1 1/2 lbs regular breakfast sausage, 19mm collagen casings, spice and cure. I add coarse black pepper, crushed red pepper, and fennel seed to the mix.
All stuffed up and into the project fridge for the night.
Into the MES 30 the next day.
120° for 1 hour with no smoke
150° for 3 hour with smoke
170° with smoke until the sticks were 150° internal temp
Pulled and rested on cooling racks
Cut into 4" pieces and a bag of 1" pieces and end pieces to share with the guys at work tomorrow. I will portion and vac seal the 4" pieces tomorrow since it is getting late.
I normally add the water pan when I bump the smoker to 150°, but didn't (it's hell getting old). The LEM mix that I used is a tad salty for me (I normally use Hi-Mountain), but the wife liked it. Overall the flavor was very good, just a little salty. I have made a lot of these over the last couple of years and have never had the casings wrinkle up like this batch.. There was not any fat rendered out that I could see and the casings had more snap than usual. Is this because I forgot to add the water pan?
