2nd try at snack sticks

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bryceb

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Aug 9, 2013
75
19
Acworth, GA
So, I got hooked on snack sticks on a trip to Michigan this year. This has truned into me getting the Kitchenaid grinder stuffer... That has turned into getting a LEM 606SS because the KA sucks as a stuffer, but is fine for grinding. It also ended up being a purchase of a Lowe's Masterforge MES GenII knock off smoker.
I picked up a High Mountain original Snack Stick kit and 5lbs of 80/20 gound beef. Cussed and fought with the KA to stuff them, let the sticks sit over night, then into the smoker for my first smoke. Lessons learned, the smoker had soe temp fluctuations and that it went too hot too fast, but I don't think I was upping the temps in small enough increments... I have since come to terms with the smoker and we have an understanding of each other on the temps now (last weekend's pulled pork was amazing!). The other was that I had waya too much smoke... Maybe even a creosote issue. The stickes were way to smokey for my family and bitter.

So last night, we tested out the new LEM 606... It turned hours into minutes and disgust into joy! It was sooo much better. The stickes sat in my beer fridge over night. This morning, I portioned them up and tied them off. Whie the smoker preheated.


They are in the smoker now at 100deg to dry and the plan it to got up 10deg until they hit an IT of 154ish then pull them out. Plan to only use 1 tray of hickory to smoke them at about 120-130deg and see if we get a nice smoke faver that isn't too powerful.


To be continued...
 
Nice start !!!

Remember it's not how long you smoke that causes creosote. It's how heavy the smoke is.

IOW----6 to 10 hours of light TBS (Thin Blue Smoke) is Great, but 1 hour of heavy smoke can be bad.

Bear
 
Watching. I will be making snack sticks shortly so this is interesting. Thanks for posting.

Disco
 
Thanks for the advice Bearcarver... The sticks were my first smoke other than the inital seasoning after setting up the smoker. I got a few more smokes under my belt now and i think i was over lading the chip tray and filling it too often.

Here's the other sausages that we made with the new LEM 606SS. Chicken Italians with a little pork fat. The plan is to grill these and put on rolls with peppers and onions with a bit of marinara sauce and mozerella for dinner.
 
You're killing me! That Italian sausage looks great! I guess I just gotta do some. I can hardly wait to see your snack sticks.

Disco
 
The antique Maverick ET-77 is showing an IT of 138 and the smoker just got turned up to 150. i did run 3 small trays of chips since the smoke was looking good... That's making me a bit nervous, but i think I had good TBS instead of nasty thick stuff like my first sticks got. Hopefully it'll hit 154 soon so I can pull them... We finally got a place local that does growlers of beer and I wanted to check them out tonight.
 
Nice color!!!  I could eat a few of those!!!

They won't last long----I can tell you that !!!

Bear
 
sticks look great good job i have a 10lb lem stuffer i use now instead of my grinder i agree with your statement makes it alot more enjoyable.
 
Nice job on the sticks and italians......Sounds like you have the smoking issues figured out.......Enjoy
 
These turned out great! Smokey but not bitter and over powering. Cooked but not to the point where the fat liquefied and drained out. Good texture and favor.

Vacu-sealing them was probably a waste since they won't last long before they are eaten up, but its another new toy that needed to be tested.

 
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