Morgan C.
TVWBB Diamond Member
I figured I would post some of the specifics to my beef stick test...I posted some pics on the photo gallery as well..
Any way my wife picked up the WSM smoker rack so I was real excited to try it out..I have done some bulk pork sausage and made breakfast sausage links with my current set up (kitchen aide mixer with the grinder and sausage stuffer) I used natural casings...it was slow but works. This time I was after some snack sticks..I have a recipe I have used with venison for years and years..I have never tried to stuff it into casings...here is the recipe..
2 lbs lean ground venision (I subbed lean top round)
2 tablespoons Mortons quick cure
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayanne
Recipe states to add mixture well to ground meat, cover in non reactive bowl for 8 hours or over nite, stuff in collagen casings and smoke with hickory till 150 at 150! You can also roll the meat up into links (after it sets up this is no problem and holds together well)
I ground my meat up once, added the spice and reground with a smaller plate, covered in the fridge for about 16 hours(tip..if using the KA grinder it works slick to cut your meat into long strips..feeds itself thru the grinder.)
The smallest casing I could find was 22mm clear collagen casings. I opened the package and let them set in the fridge over nite (to make them a bit more plyable)
I ended up rolling the meat up into strips to feed it into the grinder which did work well..it wasnt self feeding but it was easie than trying to stuff the grinder with handfuls of beef(if you have used this machine before you know that feeding the KA and trying to manage getting semi decent tubes of meat is a feat in itself!
The stuffing process took me about an hour and I had a couple blow outs..I tried to feed it too fast and my goal was long ropes that I could hang in the WSM..I ended up with links about 12 to 14 inches..I ended up cutting a bit extra casing on each link and tying them together 2 at a time with butcher twine..it was labor intensive but worked!!
Fired up the WSM with a small snake coal set up..lit up a few coals and added the hickory chunks..started with about 125 in the lid for temp..after about 1 hour it snuck up to about 140 and held till I realized it was only about 99 in the main body where the meat was hanging (I have no doubt you can cold smoke with this set up for long periods of time!)
Bumped up the temp to about 180 and sped things up..still took about 10 hours but it was so worth it!
This was so worth it...incredible flavor..my wife gave me the green light on a real stuffer since she enjoyed this so much..I took some to work and everyone loved it (or their just really nice cause I'm the boss)
Anyway..I'm no expert but I had fun..can't wait to try something else!!
Take care folks!
Any way my wife picked up the WSM smoker rack so I was real excited to try it out..I have done some bulk pork sausage and made breakfast sausage links with my current set up (kitchen aide mixer with the grinder and sausage stuffer) I used natural casings...it was slow but works. This time I was after some snack sticks..I have a recipe I have used with venison for years and years..I have never tried to stuff it into casings...here is the recipe..
2 lbs lean ground venision (I subbed lean top round)
2 tablespoons Mortons quick cure
1 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1 teaspoon ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayanne
Recipe states to add mixture well to ground meat, cover in non reactive bowl for 8 hours or over nite, stuff in collagen casings and smoke with hickory till 150 at 150! You can also roll the meat up into links (after it sets up this is no problem and holds together well)
I ground my meat up once, added the spice and reground with a smaller plate, covered in the fridge for about 16 hours(tip..if using the KA grinder it works slick to cut your meat into long strips..feeds itself thru the grinder.)
The smallest casing I could find was 22mm clear collagen casings. I opened the package and let them set in the fridge over nite (to make them a bit more plyable)
I ended up rolling the meat up into strips to feed it into the grinder which did work well..it wasnt self feeding but it was easie than trying to stuff the grinder with handfuls of beef(if you have used this machine before you know that feeding the KA and trying to manage getting semi decent tubes of meat is a feat in itself!
The stuffing process took me about an hour and I had a couple blow outs..I tried to feed it too fast and my goal was long ropes that I could hang in the WSM..I ended up with links about 12 to 14 inches..I ended up cutting a bit extra casing on each link and tying them together 2 at a time with butcher twine..it was labor intensive but worked!!
Fired up the WSM with a small snake coal set up..lit up a few coals and added the hickory chunks..started with about 125 in the lid for temp..after about 1 hour it snuck up to about 140 and held till I realized it was only about 99 in the main body where the meat was hanging (I have no doubt you can cold smoke with this set up for long periods of time!)
Bumped up the temp to about 180 and sped things up..still took about 10 hours but it was so worth it!
This was so worth it...incredible flavor..my wife gave me the green light on a real stuffer since she enjoyed this so much..I took some to work and everyone loved it (or their just really nice cause I'm the boss)
Anyway..I'm no expert but I had fun..can't wait to try something else!!
Take care folks!
