# Advice about snack sticks...



## thadoc (Nov 27, 2009)

I am going to smoke some venison/pork snack sticks this weekend, I have been reading here that most people give the sticks a ice cold water bath after taking out of the smoker to drop the temp. I am curious if that is entirely necessary? I have done three different batches in the past and two of the batches the casings seperated from the meat and wrinkled up, the sticks did not snap at all. Could the water bath be the reason for this happening! I don't want to make the same mistake, this is the venison from this years hunt! Any help or suggestions would be great! Thanks.


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## ronp (Nov 27, 2009)

That may be the problem. I haven't made them, maybe someone will chime in soon for you.

Good luck!


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## salmonclubber (Nov 27, 2009)

When i do snack stix i start them at a smoker temp of 120 for 1 hour then i add a pan of chips and smoke for an hour then i bump the temp up to 140 for an hour then up to 160 for an hour then up to 175 until the stix reach a temp of 152 i then pull out of the smoker and do not have any trouble with the casings i do not give the stix a cold water bath
it sounds like you are cooking your stix at to high a temp and the fat is melting out causing the loose casing a cold water bath will not help tighten the casing


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## desertlites (Nov 27, 2009)

I'm in the middle of doing 30#s and I do very much like salmonclubber and don't do the ice bath.It does sound like your doing at a hi temp. throughout.start low and up your temps every hr.


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## meat hunter (Nov 27, 2009)

I agree, it sounds like your temps are too high, cooking the fat out of them. Also, if you do the cold water bath, don't let them sit in cold water, instead, cool them down in a cold shower, otherwise you are just soaking them. Its not needed, some do, some don't. Are you letting them hang for a couple hours afterward to dry and bloom? What temps are you smoking them at?


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## thadoc (Nov 27, 2009)

I want to thank all of you for your input and advice! I was not letting them sit after smoking, I would just bring them into the house and let them air dry on racks until they were at room temp. Probably should have waited a little longer for them to bloom. The other problem was when I did them the last few times I had to do them in my offset smoker with charcoal and woodchips. I was still learning how to use the offset and had a real hard time keeping the temp low, it was all over the board let alone I tried to put 10# of sticks on there and ended up putting some of them right over the end where the smoke box was. Needless to say that it cooked the hell out of the ones on that side cause that is clearly the hottest part of the smoker! I will be doing these sticks in the new vertical smoke house I built so, it should have much better results since I am able to hold as low as 120 degrees steady. I also just got my Smoke Daddy today and will be installing that this evening so I can use it for the sticks! 

Just a quick question for all of you that have the Smoke Daddy, did your come with the grate inside the tube just above the bottom cap? Mine did not and was wondering if it is suppose to have it in there! Thanks, will post some pics once I get em' fired up and smoking!


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## jimr (Nov 27, 2009)

I'm not sure if I read this info here or at another site but I seem to remember someone saying that if you let your snack sticks rest overnight in the refrigerator after they are stuffed, the casing will knit to the meat and not separate.  Is this someone else has read or is this just my imagination


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## marknb (Nov 30, 2009)

Your smoke daddy should have a grate at the bottom!


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## meandmytwodogs (Nov 30, 2009)

I just made my first batch of snack sticks and I did not do an ice bath. I used natural sheep casings and just set them on the counter to cool after smoking. Friends said these were my best deer treats yet. For the pork I used trimmings and end pieces from a loin that became canadian bacon and a little bit more of some ground pork from the market. Can't wait to do some more!

Good luck whatever you try!

Dave


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## jerseyhunter (Dec 1, 2009)

I just stuff and smoke, I never go over 170* and pull at 154. never did a water bath on snack siticks, maybe I'll give it a try and see what happens.


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## hounds51 (Dec 1, 2009)

I agree with Jersyhunter, I do the same with no water bath. I use Leggs snack stick seasoning with 3 Tbs of brown sugar and 3 Tbs of liquid smoke with mix. Most people who tried mine say they taste like mini Lebanon Belonga. That is a compliment round here since I'am in the middle of Lebanon Belonga country.
If anyone is interested in trying Leggs here is a web site to get the spices. These people have really reasonable prices, and they do not overcharge on shipping, in fact you will probally get a refund with your order. Thy them there good people.
http://www.columbiaspice.com/116snackstick.html

Also thier main web site.

http://www.columbiaspice.com/


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## 93viking (Jun 14, 2010)

Hounds51...did you add 3 Tbs of brown sugar and liquid smoke for 25lbs?  Anything else you can recommend from Leggs?


Hounds51 said:


> I agree with Jersyhunter, I do the same with no water bath. I use Leggs snack stick seasoning with 3 Tbs of brown sugar and 3 Tbs of liquid smoke with mix. Most people who tried mine say they taste like mini Lebanon Belonga. That is a compliment round here since I'am in the middle of Lebanon Belonga country.
> If anyone is interested in trying Leggs here is a web site to get the spices. These people have really reasonable prices, and they do not overcharge on shipping, in fact you will probally get a refund with your order. Thy them there good people.
> http://www.columbiaspice.com/116snackstick.html
> 
> ...


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## kniggit (Jun 19, 2010)

We're getting ready to start our second try at snack sticks using the Hi-Mountain kit. The first try turned out like snack sticks but were inedible because they were incredibly, incredibly salty. LOML is an expert cook and said that she mixed the ingredients as directed, could the lack of letting them "bloom" be the cause of that or was it just bad execution on our part?


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## mballi3011 (Jun 19, 2010)

Now I have only made them a couple of times and they have gotten better the last 2 times and I mixed up all the ingredient and let them sit in the refrig over night and then stuffed them into some collagen casings. Then I smoked them starting out at about 85° and moved it up by 10 degrees each hour till I hit 165°-170° and the sticks got to 152° internal temp and then I put them into the refrig over night to let the flavors mingle with each other. Now I ate a handful (2-3lbs) and sent the rest to Iraq to our son and his buddies. I would say that they tasted good and pretty hot but the boys in the Army  just loved them.


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