Meat Block
10 lb of Venison 2.5 lb of pork straight pork fat or 10 lb of untrimmed pork butts 1 Bag of Taco Snack Sticks 10.75 oz for 12.5 lb 1 oz of Sure Cure (Included with purchase) 14.1 grams for 12.5 lb Water (2 lb per 25 lb batch of meat) 16 oz of water for a 12.5 lb batch
OPTIONAL Additives 1 Bag of Sure Gel 3 oz for 12.5 lb Encapsulated Citric Acid 2 oz for 12.5 lb
Equipment
Walton’s 50 lb Meat Mixer Walton’s 11 lb Sausage Stuffer Walton’s #12 Meat Grinder
Casing Preparation
We are using 19mm Smoke Collagen Casings, which will fit easily over our 12mm stuffing tube. These casings require no preparation; simply take them out of the package and put them on the stuffing tube.
Process
This meat was already ground once through a 3/8 plate and frozen. We defrosted it and ground it again through a 1/8 plate. The fact that it was still partially frozen sped up the 2nd ground significantly. What would normally be a process of 10 minutes was finished in under 3.
Pork Fat –
If you are adding just pork fat to your meat block, you should add somewhere between 20-25% of the weight of your venison meat in fat. In this case, that meant we added 2.5 lb, and we added that while we were grinding, this allows it to start mixing in with the venison as it grinds. We also made sure the pork was almost frozen to help it grind faster and better.
Pork Butts –
If you are adding pork butts, make sure that they are untrimmed, meaning that they have a good fat cap on them and that the skin is removed from the pork butt. You will be able to tell if the skin is still on by looking for small hair follicles; if you see that, then the skin is still on, and you will need to trim that off while leaving as much fat as possible on the meat.
Meat Mixing
Next, you need to mix the seasoning and cure into your meat. To do this, you can either use a meat mixer or do it by hand. Because this is a product that we are going to cure and smoke, we need to achieve a high level of protein extraction, so doing this with your hands is difficult but can be done. When using a mixer, add the meat to the mixer, then the seasoning and cure, and finally, the water. You will want to mix in both directions until all seasoning and cure have been mixed in and you have good protein extraction. You will know that a good level of protein extraction has been achieved when the meat is sticky and tacky; if you can pull a handful of it apart and it stretches, that is a good sign.
Sausage Stuffing
Next, choose the largest stuffing tube that your casings will fit over and begin stuffing. Stuff until the casings are full and smooth but leave yourself enough room on the end to close with a hog ring.
If you can just faintly see a swirl pattern running down the casing, that means you have stuffed them correctly. If that pattern is obvious, then they are understuffed, which will lead to excessively wrinkled casings and an odd texture.
If you cannot see that pattern at all, then you have overstuffed the casings, and you run a risk of the casings popping when you hang them in the smokehouse.
Note
If you added Encapsulated Citric Acid or other cure accelerators, you need to go directly from stuffing to smoking. If you did not use a cure accelerator of some sort, then after you’ve stuffed everything, the product has to be held in the refrigerator overnight to allow the cure time to work.
Thermal Processing & Smoking
Set up your smoker and hang your sausage on smoke sticks or lay on racks and smoke at: 125F for 1 hour 140F for 1 hour 155F for 2 hours 175F until internal meat temp of 160F
When they have reached 160 internal temperature, remove them from the smoker and put them in an ice bath to bring the heat down and help set the casing.
A water bath is not sufficient for this; the water needs to be ice water or shower them with a fan pointed at the hanging sticks.
Cooling
Lastly, leave them out at room temperature for about an hour before vacuum packing them; this will ensure you don’t get additional moisture in the vacuum bag, which would affect the shelf life of your meats.
Wrap up
Adding pork fat instead of pork butts will give them a more distinct taste and color. The intensity of the difference will depend on the protein you are using; deer works well with pork fat, so the 50/50 mix of venison and untrimmed pork butts will work well, but with something like goose, you really want to find straight pork fat.
Other Notes
Depending on your pH and your Water Activity, your sticks might be shelf-stable, but without a way to test this, you should vacuum pack and refrigerate these, and since these are wild game, they wouldn’t be considered “shelf-stable” technically.
What Is A Snack Stick?
Snack Sticks are meat snacks and semi-dried sausages that are stuffed into smoked collagen casings and then hung in a smokehouse for cooking. Many Snack Sticks will have a pH between 4.5 and 5.2 to give them some shelf stability and the classic tangy flavor.
