Smoking Snack Sticks

[otterman91105]

Hey guys was going to try making snack sticks for the first time, just wonder what works better to stuff them. A grinder with the stuffer tubes or an actual stuffer with the hand crank. What temp do you smoke them at? What wood? Thanks for any replies.

[huntnfish]

I've never made sticks but I have used a grinder to stuff into the tubes and it was a giant pain. After the first grinding and mixing it was not fun getting the sticky gooey ground meat back down into the grinder. It was enough of a pain that I stopped halfway through my meat and went to the store and bought a vertical stuffer. It made life much easier. I will never try stuffing anything with the grinder again.

[nofishfisherman]

Only snack sticks I've made I used the grinder but I didn't actually stuff the meat into tubes. I fed the grind through a 2nd time and ran it through the stuffer attachment to form into a rope that I then cut into uniform lengths and then flattened by hand slightly. I moved the pieces to wire racks and smoked half of them and put the other half in the oven.

Both worked just fine. Aimed for 200 degrees in the charcoal smoker but thats about as low as I can go with mine. In the oven I did 200 as well and then left the door open just a crack.

Only trick is that when forming the rope with the grinder catch the rope on a backing sheet lined with parchment or wax paper. That way when you cut it to length and flatten it you can lift it off the sheet easier otherwise it will stick to the baking sheet.

[Alagnak]

The higher pressure of stuffing small snack stix usually blows out grinder/stuffer combos and I've had much better luck with dedicated stuffer. 20-22 mm casings stuff WAY easier than the little nozzle for 18mm 'slim jims', I don't even mess with the real little ones anymore.

I smoke mine just like summer sausage- start low for an hour (140-150), let em dry a little bit then pour smoke to them for a couple hours as you ramp up temp by 10-20 degrees at a time to get to 200-225 until you get target meat temp. Mine are usually 5-6 hours depending on outside air temp. Don't skip the cold water bath/shower to stop the cook- it helps the cases adhere good and not separate. After cold water bath spread and lay out on drying racks with a fan to dry skins before packaging.

[Fishalittle]

I use a jerky canon to stuff, it seemed really hard on the vertical stuffer we had. Takes a little longer but I usually don't do real large batches anyway. Smoke similar to how others have already replied.

[Lip_Ripper Guy]

A dedicated stuffer is going to work way better. Even the stuffer will struggle with the small casings. I have one that works for sticks, and one that has a ton of meat blow by the plunger, so I only use that one for stuffing meat bags and bigger casings like summer sausage.

As far as temp, I shoot for 120-130 for a couple hours, 150-160 for a couple hours, and then get up to that 180-190 range to get them up to the target internal temp, which is usually 165. You need to keep it low enough to keep from melting the fat out of the casings.

Any wood should be fine. Just be careful if you use something strong like mesquite to use a little bit less to avoid over smoking.

[bak2MN]

I do mine in maple smoke. Everyone likes them. so they say.

[kerryd15]

I use hamburger, mix in seasoning for jerkey per direction. Seperate into one pound chunks. Use a layer of wax paper, burger, wax paper on top. Use rolling pin to flatten to desired thickness. Smoke at 170-180 till desired dryness- texture. Let cool, use knife to cut into strips of desired width. Remove wax paper before smoking.

[mnfathead]

I use 20% beef to venison mix ratio, collogen casings and an l.e.m. stuffer, I can hammer out a five pound batch in 20 minutes and have them in the smoker, its allot of trial and error to get going, but once you have it down its second nature.

[bak2MN]

Fathead. Do you not let your meat sit 12 hours or so before smoking? I was under the impression that it helps with the flavor.

[otterman91105]

I hear you on the trial and error. The first batch did not turn out the way that i was hoping. I used a water pan in the smoker and they just never shrunk down and the taste was off. The second batch i used a dehydrator for the first couple hrs then finished in the smoker and they turned out great.

[pikestabber]

Fathead. Do you not let your meat sit 12 hours or so before smoking? I was under the impression that it helps with the flavor.

Not to hi-jack Fathead's answer, but it's not just a matter of flavor for letting them sit... The cure has to have time to work, too. The cure's job is to kill bacteria that form when cooking/smoking at low temps. Personally, I let mine cure 24 hours which is overkill for curing but does wonders for a deeper flavor.

It's already been said, but a dedicated stuffer is the ONLY way to go, IMO. A grinder is not a very good stuffing tool. It can work, but it's much slower and more tedious. A frozen lamb leg could probably pound a nail into a board, but I'd rather use a hammer