What have I done wrong?

[39Buick]

I cooked a 5 pound batch of snack sticks yesterday and they look and taste good but there is no snap to casing and they are very chewy and rubbery. I followed the recipe listed on the jar and also added some ECA prior to stuffing and smoking. I weighed the seasoning to 4 ounces and then changed the scale to grams and weighed the ECA to 16.9 grams.
During the cook i ramped up the temps from 100 to 170 over the course of 7 hours until they were measuring 155 on my inkbird thermometer.

 

[DanMcG]

Natural casings or collagen ? try putting them in a paper bag and leave them in the fridge for a few days and it will slowly dry the casing out

 

[39Buick]

Natural casings or collagen

I used a collagen casing. I have them in the fridge now in a brown paper bag. Like I said, good flavor and taste but the texture and the feel are way off!
Thanks for the suggestion!!

 

[DanMcG]

give it time and check them daily, they can get over dried if they are in there to long..

 

[SmokyMose]

Just peel the casings off before eating. Some of my sticks have been like that for no apparent reason.

 

[zwiller]

+1. For some reason the dry step is missing or not clear from instructions. Another way to do it is leave them in the smoker a looong time to dry.

 

[39Buick]

Just peel the casings off before eating. Some of my sticks have been like that for no apparent reason.

The casing has bonded to the meat, really cant peel them without just ripping them open. The texture of the meat itself is chewy. I don't think its a casing issue but i really don't know!

 

[SmokyMose]

The casing has bonded to the meat, really cant peel them without just ripping them open. The texture of the meat itself is chewy. I don't think its a casing issue but i really don't know!

Sounds almost like they were overcooked...

 

[39Buick]

Does anyone know the effect of sodium erythorbate if you mix and then let it sit over night? I read briefly that it acts as curing accelerator reducing the need to let your mince cure overnight?

 

[39Buick]

Sounds almost like they were overcooked...

Had 3 trays in the smoker each with their own probe and an additional CC probe along with the smokers probe and therm. CC never got over 170. All the trays stayed within 4 or 5 degrees of each other!

 

[archeryrob]

Did you use deer and chuck or just beef? What fat percentage?

I make sticks at 13.5% Fat content with deer and 73% beef. I really like it for summer sausage but thinking about pushing the far content up to 20% with sticks with a bit of pork fat. They seem to cook tougher and dry easier. The fat might also make the spices taste better.

I only cook them to 145 IT and hold for ten minutes also.

 

[39Buick]

Did you use deer and chuck or just beef? What fat percentage?

I make sticks at 13.5% Fat content with deer and 73% beef. I really like it for summer sausage but thinking about pushing the far content up to 20% with sticks with a bit of pork fat. They seem to cook tougher and dry easier. The fat might also make the spices taste better.

I only cook them to 145 IT and hold for ten minutes also.

I used 3 pounds of Venison burger 90/10 and 2 pounds of ground chuck 80/20. The sticks have decent flavor and are moist. If you roll a piece between your fingers the fat will squeeze out.