Snack Stick Guru's HELP-Questions and Confused

lkapigian

Been having fun with Fresh and Smoked Sausage, want to try Snack Sticks- Seems easy enough...Wrong

Do i need Citric Acid, Starter Cultures , what the "F" is Fermento Dehydrate then Smoke, Smoke then Dehydrate, Dehydrate Only Aggghhhhh...

I want to make something that is good, safe and has a bit of a shelf life , more than a few days, ........The most experience I have is adding Cure 1 to my Sausage , even fresh.

I Have made great ( IMO) fresh and smoked sausage, now my head is spinning from reading about Snack Sticks

Any insight, help, recipe appreciated

jeffwit

@hondabbq

hondabbq

For snack sticks its relatively the same vs smoked sausages. Meat, cure, seasoning. 

No need for citric acid. No starter cultures. Fermento isnt needed for snack sticks. It's used for semi dry cured products. It really only add a bit of tang to the product. NFDM can do the same thing, but I digress. The above items are usually for dry curing like pepperoni, salamis etc. Using Prague powder #2. I'm just learning more about this process and have made a few things but still a work in progress. 

I started out using HI Mountain Snack Stick mixes. Once I got the hang of it after a few runs I ventured off on my own, making my own seasonings and using cure #1. I also played with cook temps and times, and finishing temps. A great site I read a lot from was smokingmeatforums.com.  Type in snack sticks or meat sticks in the search bar and read. I read a lot of failure projects to learn what not to do just as many as the successful ones. The guys making them look easy do the little tips and tricks but don't add them in the methodologies all the time. A lot of fixes are found in the failure threads when the veterans explain the mistakes. I'm not saying I was perfect in the beginning but it saved a few batches of errors I'm sure. Now it's easy to do that I've done dozens of runs. I even did a 30lb stick run and " cooked" it I'm my proper at work. 

I did like the garlic and cracked pepper from Hi Mountain and bought a large bag of it. I usually do no less than a 10 lb run at a time so I just packaged them up based on a 10 lb run and ran them through a FS. A number of my recipes use it as a base and I just add accordingly from there, ie I'll add jalapeños and cheddar to make...... jalapeno cheddar sticks. I also use it in my kielbasa. Really just a large meat stick. Same thing just different casings. 

Im not sure what else to say but if you have anything specific, and I can answer it I will. 

What do you want to know? 

lkapigian

Thanks @hondabbq . A proofer would be like doing it in an,oven at say 170? I see some dehydrate some smoke some both,, your thoughts. Using Cure 1 what kind if shelf life can 1 expect ?

Thanks in advance 

hondabbq

I take my sticks from the fridge for at least an hour prior to putting them into the heat. I start my sticks at 140 for an hour and bump up 10f every hour up to a maximum of 190f. 

I have done stick in many in many pieces of equipment. Ovens ( when I started, I usedpropoed the oven door open and slowly closed it over time getting to the temps above using my maverick) as you mentioned, BGE,  propane smoker, proofer, and recently a dehydrator. 
I find certain flavour profiles don't require a smoke flavour so if needed I use a smoker and if not the proofed or dehydrator. 
 
Once the sticks are cooled I leave them out overnight to bloom. The next day I cryovac them. Extensive reading tells me with #1 you can safely get a week at room temp, I've done 4-5 days just to test and it was fine. After cryovacing them I either put in the freezer or fridge.  Fridge I have got up to 2 months and they were still fine. Freezing is endless. 

lkapigian

@hondabbq thanks So Much, very concise ...my thought was the same on CA and starter cultures for salami and such but seems some were doing it with sticks as well...I will save that stuff for later, thanks again,

hondabbq

No problem. 
If you have anything else that comes to mind let me know. 

lkapigian

Thanks @hondabbq I saw in another thread you picked up a Cabellas Dehydrator , I'd like to get one and I'm a bit over kill looking at the 80 liter ( I think it is) question is is that considered hot enough to dehydrate and cook IE. get the meat 150 ish

hondabbq

The one I have has a max temp of 160f. I have done 3-10 lb runs in it with decent results so far. 
I pull my sticks at 154-156, so it does get there. 

hondabbq

Have you done a run yet?

lkapigian

hondabbq said:

Have you done a run yet?

@hondabbq , ordered my Collagen Casings and it's on my list to do next week

hondabbq

I usually go 50/50 lean ground beef and lean ground pork. I have used 81% ground chuck instead of lean beef.

Make sure when your mixing you mix it enough to get the meat to be "sticky".

This is a big 'to do" when mixing as this prevents the meat from becoming grainy during cooking.  It is a reaction of the salt and the meat proteins breaking down during mixing that creates a bound finished mixture.

I undermixed my second batch of Kielbasa and had this happen. That batch I also experimented with adding a binder. I was so focused on the using the binder I undermixed the meat, not following the cardinal rule for mixing.

lkapigian

hondabbq said:

I usually go 50/50 lean ground beef and lean ground pork. I have used 81% ground chuck instead of lean beef.

Make sure when your mixing you mix it enough to get the meat to be "sticky".

This is a big 'to do" when mixing as this prevents the meat from becoming grainy during cooking.  It is a reaction of the salt and the meat proteins breaking down during mixing that creates a bound finished mixture.

I undermixed my second batch of Kielbasa and had this happen. That batch I also experimented with adding a binder. I was so focused on the using the binder I undermixed the meat, not following the cardinal rule for mixing.

I agree, my first couple of Sausages I did I was not creating the primary bind, now I know exactly what to Feel for and it is a big step in learning the sausage game