Being the Slim Jim lover I am, after reading a number of posts here on the forum, I decided to give making my own a try. I started out using a recipe posted by Nepas a while back. He put together a great QView on the process as well. Here’s the link to his post:
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110217/smokies
I accumulated the 19mm collagen casing, a 3/8” stuffer tube for my LEM and went to work. The one change I made to the spice recipe was to substitute ECA for the buttermilk. I also used beef only and did not include the pork. As this was an experiment, I decided to make a 2.5 lb batch so I adjusted the ingredient amounts accordingly.
After mixing up the spices and meat, leaving out the ECA, I refrigerated the mixture overnight as I didn’t have time to stuff and smoke right away.
The next morning, not sure of what I was doing, I got everything ready and started stuffing the casings.
I learned a number of lessons as I progressed. First, collagen casings burst easily! It took me a couple tries to learn how much pressure and how quickly to feed out the casing as it was being stuffed. The second lesson is that it’s easier to do a continuous stuff and tie off at certain increments versus making a certain length, cutting it and tying it off on both ends.
Hard Way...
Easier Way....
As you can see, not the prettiest or even sized sausages, but…..Now into the smoker at 120° for an hour.
From there, I started the smoke using hickory chips and raised the smoker temp to 140° for and hour or so, then over time up to 160° and finally 170° until the sticks had an IT of 154°
The smoking process ended up taking about 11 hours and here they are just off the smoker.
After letting them cool, I cut them into semi even lengths and vacuum packed them.
By the way, they actually do taste like a Slim Jim! Thanks Nepas!!
http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/110217/smokies
I accumulated the 19mm collagen casing, a 3/8” stuffer tube for my LEM and went to work. The one change I made to the spice recipe was to substitute ECA for the buttermilk. I also used beef only and did not include the pork. As this was an experiment, I decided to make a 2.5 lb batch so I adjusted the ingredient amounts accordingly.
After mixing up the spices and meat, leaving out the ECA, I refrigerated the mixture overnight as I didn’t have time to stuff and smoke right away.
The next morning, not sure of what I was doing, I got everything ready and started stuffing the casings.
I learned a number of lessons as I progressed. First, collagen casings burst easily! It took me a couple tries to learn how much pressure and how quickly to feed out the casing as it was being stuffed. The second lesson is that it’s easier to do a continuous stuff and tie off at certain increments versus making a certain length, cutting it and tying it off on both ends.
Hard Way...
Easier Way....
As you can see, not the prettiest or even sized sausages, but…..Now into the smoker at 120° for an hour.
From there, I started the smoke using hickory chips and raised the smoker temp to 140° for and hour or so, then over time up to 160° and finally 170° until the sticks had an IT of 154°
The smoking process ended up taking about 11 hours and here they are just off the smoker.
After letting them cool, I cut them into semi even lengths and vacuum packed them.
By the way, they actually do taste like a Slim Jim! Thanks Nepas!!
