Unstuffed Smoked Beef Pepperoni Sticks with Qview

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Bearcarver

Gone but not forgotten RIP
Original poster
OTBS Member
Group Lead
Sep 12, 2009
45,279
18,182
Macungie, PA
Unstuffed Smoked Beef Pepperoni Sticks

Here they are. I made them skinless (not stuffed in casings), because I find most stuffing skins annoying, and I wanted to see if I could make them without casings. They ended up ugly (looks like dog shit), but they are by far the best tasting Beef Sticks I ever ate! Nobody seems to care what they look like.
I had them rolled pretty nice and round, but I guess when some of the fat cooks out, that causes them to get lumpy----meat stays---some fat leaves.
Everybody who tasted them said they were the best they ever ate, but my kid says they could be hotter. I told him next time I'll make part of the batch extra hot for him.

Ingredients:
5 lbs Beef (ground--80/20)
7 1/2 level tsp (2 1/2 TBS) of TQ
3 tsp Black Pepper
1 1/2 tsp of Mustard Seed
2 tsp of Fennel Seed (slightly crushed)
1 1/2 tsp of Crushed Red Pepper
1 tsp of Anise Seed
1 tsp of Garlic Powder
1 tsp of Italian Seasoning
6 ounces of ice water
Mix dry stuff in the water. Mix this all real real good with the 5 pounds of ground Beef, and cover & put in fridge for 24 hours.

Next Day:
Roll out cured ground Beef about 3/4" thick with a rolling pin. Make cuts every 3/4" in this rolled out Beef. Drop one of these 3/4" X 3/4" bars into a piece of plastic wrap about 8" or 10" long by a little wider than the bars are long, and give each one a little back & forth roll, causing the bars to become cylinders wrapped in plastic wrap. Do this with all of the bars (mine were 28 pieces). Put them on a tray and put in fridge over night.

Next Day:
I unwrapped them and put them in my MES for 1 1/2 hours at 100˚ without smoke.
Then I lit both ends of a Hickory filled A-MAZE-N-SMOKER (6" X 6"), and put it in the bottom of my MES30.
After another hour, I bumped the heat up to 110˚.
Then 120˚ for one hour.
Then 130˚ for another hour.
After 3 1/2 hours my A-MAZE-N-SMOKER burned out, so I bumped it up to 150˚, and threw some dust & some Apple chips in my MES chip drawer.
After another hour, I bumped to 160˚.
After one more hour, I bumped it up to 180˚.
Then an hour later, I bumped it up to 190˚.
When they were all up to 165˚ internal, I pulled them out. They ranged from 164˚ to 175˚.
Then I threw them in ice water to cool off. This made grease form on the outside of each piece, so I rinsed them off in warm water & dried them all off.
Then I put them all on a dish (except for a few snackers for that evening), covered them with plastic wrap, and stuck them in the fridge for the night.
Packed & marked them the next day, and into my bloated freezer.

BTW: Started with 4 lb. 14 oz of beef-------Finished with 3 lb. 4 oz of sticks. Lost exactly 1/3 of original weight.

I will be doing bigger batches exactly like these real soon, because they are awesome!!!

All mixed with cure & seasoning:
DSC01213-1-1.jpg



All rolled and started in smoker:
DSC01215-1-1.jpg



Close-up:
DSC01216-1-1.jpg



All smoked (started packing & realized I need more Qview):
DSC01219-1-1.jpg



All packed up, except for some early snacking:
DSC01220-1-1.jpg


Thanks for lookin',

Bearcarver
 
Last edited:
I see the photos of the Amaz-N are classified.  The rest look just great.

A question on your ground beef:  I grind my own, fresh as I use it, the fat content relative to what it's being used for.  What is your ground beef? Lean, 20% or what.

You got invisible points for this one. 
 
Those look really awesome! Thanks for the detailed recipe and cooking instructions, I might give this a try! One question though, the wood in your A-Maze-N smoker looks "chunkier" that the dust I have, did you make that or was it from Todd?
 
They don't look that ugly to me -- they look pretty dang tasty!

Thanks for sharing the recipe
cool.gif
Thanks Mythmaster,

Bear


 
I see the photos of the Amaz-N are classified.  The rest look just great.

A question on your ground beef:  I grind my own, fresh as I use it, the fat content relative to what it's being used for.  What is your ground beef? Lean, 20% or what.

You got invisible points for this one. 
Dave,

Thanks for the invisible points
PDT_Armataz_01_12.gif
.

My wife picked it up on sale----80/20 for $1.99 a pound. This week they (Giant) have 85/15 for $1.99, but I figured I needed the extra 5% fat. I shoulda put that in my recipe above, but I forgot.

Bear


 
Those look really awesome! Thanks for the detailed recipe and cooking instructions, I might give this a try! One question though, the wood in your A-Maze-N smoker looks "chunkier" that the dust I have, did you make that or was it from Todd?
Good eye there Cheryl,

That was the last of a bag of Todd's dust. I think maybe I didn't mix it up each time I dipped in that bag, leaving it a little more coarse at the end (I gotta watch that!)----It lit & burned nice though.

Thanks,

Bear
 
 
Oh, sure, now the two top photos are unclassified.  So, is that a 6x6?
Hmmmm, I got all the pictures on this thread yet. Did you give them enough time to load? They're a little slow sometimes.

Yes it is a 6" X 6".

Bear
 
In case anyone's interested, I added the two things I was asked about, by editing my original recipe & instructions above.

#1  80/20 ground Beef

#2  6" X 6" A-MAZE-N-SMOKER

Bearcarver
 
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Bearcarver

Looks Awesome!

I notice you removed the lower drip pan so the AMNS could clear....GREAT IDEA!

Looks like you need some more dust.....
icon_rolleyes.gif
??????

Todd
 
Last edited:
Todd,

I still have some of your dust, but I found a new way of collecting dust. All I have to do is is sit on my recliner for awhile watching NetFlix movies. The dust accumulates on all of my body parts that are facing the ceiling. The older I get the easier it is to gather dust.
PDT_Armataz_01_12.gif


Bear
 
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Todd,

I still have some of your dust, but I found a new way of collecting dust. All I have to do is is sit on my recliner for awhile watching NetFlix movies. The dust accumulates on all of my body parts that are facing the ceiling. The older I get the easier it is to gather dust.
PDT_Armataz_01_12.gif


Bear
Heck bear, ive know that for years !
biggrin.gif
  Great looking sticks btw !!!

 
 
Bear, is there a reason for the incremental bump in the smoking temps? I'd like to try and make some, but I don't think I can get that exact  with my smoker.

BTW, the sticks look fantastic
points.gif
 
Bear, is there a reason for the incremental bump in the smoking temps? I'd like to try and make some, but I don't think I can get that exact  with my smoker.

BTW, the sticks look fantastic
points.gif
You don't have to do that. My reason for doing that has evolved:

Before I had the A-MAZE-N-SMOKER, I did that to get more smoke out of my MES. If you run it up to 150˚ or 160˚ all at once, you get good smoke on the way up, but after it levels out there the element doesn't stay on long enough to make it smoke, because the MES is so well insulated.

Since I got the AMNS, I actually take it up systematically to keep it from spiking. When I bump it to 120˚ and leave it there for awhile, each time it goes from 118˚ to 120˚, it coasts to about 125˚ or 126˚---that's when I change it to 130˚. That keeps it from coasting much farther after it shuts off. I don't know if that makes any sense to anyone other than serious MES owners. It's just something that works good for me. You can take it up any way you want, but make it take long enough to get them well smoked.

Bear

BTW: A couple other guys have tried these, and loved them. "JustPassingThru" is on his 2nd or third batch. He shoots them with his Jerky gun (no casings). I want to try my LEM stuffer as soon as I get it (No casings). We can get them smoked much better without skins!
 
 
Last edited:
Wow decent trade BC! My square stuffed burger idea for a good snack stick recipie!! My to do list just grew once again
points.gif
 
Bearcarver, my youngest son was asking me about doing some beef sticks since he thought my try at making chicken and sun dried tomato brats "waz da bomb".

What type and size of casing would you use for sticks?
 
Dutch, I think for sticks they say sheep 19mm or their abouts but it's kinda up to you how big you want your sticks. I prefer my snack sticks to be about the size of summer sausage LOL
 
Bear those look great, I am going to try your recipe...       Invisible
points.gif
 
I wish I would have seen this recipe sooner, I just bought some Hi-Mountain Pepperoni mix. I got it bookmarked for next time.
 
Bearcarver, my youngest son was asking me about doing some beef sticks since he thought my try at making chicken and sun dried tomato brats "waz da bomb".

What type and size of casing would you use for sticks?
Dutch & Lugnutz,

I prefer my casings to be size "0".

Look a little closer at my post & the Title of it.

These don't only have a great recipe, they also have a great smoky taste, because you don't have to try to get smoke through the casings! There are no casings. Next time I will try to shoot them through my new stuffer (without casings).

Bear
Dutch, I think for sticks they say sheep 19mm or their abouts but it's kinda up to you how big you want your sticks. I prefer my snack sticks to be about the size of summer sausage LOL
 
I wish I would have seen this recipe sooner, I just bought some Hi-Mountain Pepperoni mix. I got it bookmarked for next time.



Bear those look great, I am going to try your recipe...       Invisible
points.gif
Thanks Meateater & Paul,

I enjoy when people tell me how good my recipes are, as much as I enjoy devouring them myself!

Bear
 
 
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