Venison Snack Sticks

[ThunderLund78]

FINALLY GOT AROUND TO THIS. First time trying these.  Went with Curly's "Cody's Snack Stick" mix.  6 lbs ground venison, 4 lbs ground pork shoulder:

 

Got the spices and cure mixed and and put it al through the medium plate.  From there, half of it went right in the stuffer.  This is my assistant, Luke - he turns the crank on the stuffer and giggles endlessly at the outcome:

 

The other half got some hi-temp cheddar mixed in:

 

Filled the lug with meat rope! It's all in the fridge for an overnight now.  Tomorrow I'll be firing up the smoker, it's been a couple of months - can't wait!  Pretty excited about these - getting them done just in-time for the guys ice fishing trip next week!  Smoker pics and finished product to come.

 

 

Edited January 24, 2016 by ThunderLund78

[reinhard1]

Awesome!!! I've made them before also using Cody's mix from Curley's.  Right before deer camp.  They didn't last long.  good luck.

[lovebigbluegills]

Lookin good Thunder!!!

[bobberineyes]

Perfect thunderlund! !! That's going to be some fine finger food!!

[ThunderLund78]

Got 'em done today!  Started with figuring out how I was going to rack these - best way I could improvise - between to kitchen chairs:

 

Here's a pic at the end of the smoking cycle - put hickory on them for 2 hrs. Man, oh man! the smell was awesome!

 

Couple more hours and they were at temp - pulled them and gave them a cold shower:

 

Here's the finished product - going into the fridge to sit overnight to cool completly before I try them. Gotta tell ya, it's hard to resist, but I think they'll be better fully-chilled and set. I'll cut to length and vac-seal them tomorrow night.  Fun project!  I'll let you know how they turned-out, I'm sure I'll have one for breakfast!

[RebelSS]

Boy, those look great!! Good job!!!!

[lovebigbluegills]

More food porn!!!  Nice work Thunder!!!

[reinhard1]

Awesome work Thunder!! Great color on those sticks.  One note on the water bath.  Depending on the texture you want, giving a water bath to sticks can make the bite more tender.  Not giving the bath will give them the more "typical" bite.  Giving the cold bath is used by me for all of my smoked sausage.  It stops the cooking process, shrinkage, and of course the wrinkles [if you don't give them the bath].  But with sticks all of that goes right out the window.  I take them out of the smoker and just let them cool off in the kitchen or just open the smoker door and let them cool off there.  Then let them sit in the fridge overnight before vac packing them.  good luck.

[ThunderLund78]

Directions from Curlys said to run cold water over them for 5 minutes.  They were already quite wrinkly, but I figured, they were done so it would probably good to stop the cooking process. I let the air-dry and put them in the fridge overnight. Anyway - I couldn't be happier, these are AWESOME!!!  Great flavor and just the right amount of "snap!"

[reinhard1]

You did a great job on those.  Ya the water bath is personal preference with sticks, and will not hurt the flavor at all, just the texture one likes.  That's a very good stick recipe from Curley's.  I have made sticks from their polish seasoning and their formed bacon recipe as well.  Your sticks look like you have been making them for many years.  Looks like Luke as a great teacher there and will himself make some fine treats!!  good luck.

[ThunderLund78]

One thing that I did realize is that these things are a lot like Jerky.  You get a LOT less than what you start with!!! 10 lbs will not be enough.  I wanted to try a number of smaller batch recipes with this year's deer, but I may end up making a lot more of these.  My kids wont stop eating them and after the ice fishing trip this week, I think they're be pretty much history!

[Boar]

AWSOME JOB,  did my sticks with curleys and cheese, best ive ever had. nice Job! I did 25 lbs batch and seemed like it wasnt enough. 

[lovebigbluegills]

Boar, did you find curleys around here? Or get it online?

[Boar]

online.

[ThunderLund78]

I don't know that they sell any of their stuff retail besides their own store in Iowa.  At least it's not around my area.  If someone knows a place that sells it, I'd be interested as they do have a minimum order amount for shipping. It's not terribly high but I ended up buying a meat lug to round out an order from them a couple of months ago.  I needed one anyway and they make good stuff so I was happy to give them the business.  But if you just need one thing it can be a pain.  I suppose you can always just buy more stuff as it keeps for months.