Beef Sticks and Cheez Its

[Lew Newby]

I'm happy with my cased Beef sticks but decided to try uncased Beef Sticks. Less work. Today I cooked 5 lbs. of ground beef with no casings. Ground Beef from Sam's Club, LEM Original Backwoods seasoning, and 3 TBS. minced Jalapenos. LEM Jerky Cannon and B&B Championship Blend pellets. I'll adjust to the lack of a snap when I bite in but the raw beef seemed to pick up more smoke than with the casings. It only took 3 hrs. and 20 minutes for the sticks but smokeboost spent most of the time at 220 or above. I'm not happy with smokeboost and the controller did NOT display pit temp in smokeboost BUT it's all about the cook and the cook was another success. I also did a box of Cheez Its for the first time. They're OK but, for me, it's very hard to improve the taste of Cheez Its. I won't do that again. I didn't crop the first picture to show how my EX6 is set up for low and slow or hot and fast. The top grate is 14" deep, my low and slow grate, and a little tribute to those makeshift BBQs that Dad threw together with available junk. The right 2/3 of the lower grate is the Weber Spirit 300 stainless GBS grates that went on sale this last winter. That's my sear zone. If you think I'm a tad anal then you're right. It's all about how it cooks and not how it looks.

 

[TimA]

How’s that LEM cannon? I just went to make jerky last weekend and the plastic no name one I had snapped the handle right off! Only had it for probably 20 years

 

[Rich G]

I'm happy with my cased Beef sticks but decided to try uncased Beef Sticks. Less work. Today I cooked 5 lbs. of ground beef with no casings. Ground Beef from Sam's Club, LEM Original Backwoods seasoning, and 3 TBS. minced Jalapenos. LEM Jerky Cannon and B&B Championship Blend pellets. I'll adjust to the lack of a snap when I bite in but the raw beef seemed to pick up more smoke than with the casings. It only took 3 hrs. and 20 minutes for the sticks but smokeboost spent most of the time at 220 or above. I'm not happy with smokeboost and the controller did NOT display pit temp in smokeboost BUT it's all about the cook and the cook was another success. I also did a box of Cheez Its for the first time. They're OK but, for me, it's very hard to improve the taste of Cheez Its. I won't do that again. I didn't crop the first picture to show how my EX6 is set up for low and slow or hot and fast. The top grate is 14" deep, my low and slow grate, and a little tribute to those makeshift BBQs that Dad threw together with available junk. The right 2/3 of the lower grate is the Weber Spirit 300 stainless GBS grates that went on sale this last winter. That's my sear zone. If you think I'm a tad anal then you're right. It's all about how it cooks and not how it looks.

I've never done the beef sticks this way, Lew, they look like they turned out well! I kind of like the snap of the casing on my sticks, so will probably keep doing them that way (been using sheep casings.)

Interesting attempt on the Cheez-Its! I'm with you, they are pretty much as good as they can get right out of the box!

R

 

[Lew Newby]

How’s that LEM cannon? I just went to make jerky last weekend and the plastic no name one I had snapped the handle right off! Only had it for probably 20 years

I hear you. Nothing's built to last any more. The LEM works fine and it's the only one I've ever used so I can't compare.

 

[Darian Hofer]

Another great post!

 

[ChuckO]

Nothing but pure goodness Lew

 

[Lew Newby]

I've never done the beef sticks this way, Lew, they look like they turned out well! I kind of like the snap of the casing on my sticks, so will probably keep doing them that way (been using sheep casings.)

Interesting attempt on the Cheez-Its! I'm with you, they are pretty much as good as they can get right out of the box!

R

Yeah, I prefer the casings and will go back to them next time.

 

[Jason-Jayjay1976]

I've never done the beef sticks this way, Lew, they look like they turned out well! I kind of like the snap of the casing on my sticks, so will probably keep doing them that way (been using sheep casings.)

Interesting attempt on the Cheez-Its! I'm with you, they are pretty much as good as they can get right out of the box!

R

Cheezits are meh, ima smoke me some doritos.

 

[Bob Bailey]

I'm happy with my cased Beef sticks but decided to try uncased Beef Sticks. Less work. Today I cooked 5 lbs. of ground beef with no casings. Ground Beef from Sam's Club, LEM Original Backwoods seasoning, and 3 TBS. minced Jalapenos. LEM Jerky Cannon and B&B Championship Blend pellets. I'll adjust to the lack of a snap when I bite in but the raw beef seemed to pick up more smoke than with the casings. It only took 3 hrs. and 20 minutes for the sticks but smokeboost spent most of the time at 220 or above. I'm not happy with smokeboost and the controller did NOT display pit temp in smokeboost BUT it's all about the cook and the cook was another success. I also did a box of Cheez Its for the first time. They're OK but, for me, it's very hard to improve the taste of Cheez Its. I won't do that again. I didn't crop the first picture to show how my EX6 is set up for low and slow or hot and fast. The top grate is 14" deep, my low and slow grate, and a little tribute to those makeshift BBQs that Dad threw together with available junk. The right 2/3 of the lower grate is the Weber Spirit 300 stainless GBS grates that went on sale this last winter. That's my sear zone. If you think I'm a tad anal then you're right. It's all about how it cooks and not how it looks.

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Looking good Lew!

I've never done beef sticks with casings. I grind super lean cuts, marinate overnight, shoot them out of a Cabela's jerky pistol then lay them in my Big Chief, letting them dry until they start to wrinkle, after about an hour of smoke. I do use Prague Powder, so not worried about them being a bit moister than the commercial sticks.