Deer Venison Snack Sticks... Kinda

[DntBrnDPig]

So I was really excited about my new 5# LEM sausage stuffer that I found a venison sausage snack stick recipe on my favorite BBQ smoking website/forum (thesmokering.com). I thawed out 10 lbs of venison and some ground pork butt.

I ordered 17mm collagen casings (as the recipe calls), got the meat mixed and seasoned.. but when I went to put the casings on the stuffer tube.. they didnt fit. No one had a 3/8" sausage stuffing tube for my stuffer in the immediate area so I had to alter the plan.

I had to put the sausage back in the fridge for over 24 hours while I came up with Plan B. After calling every sports store around Cleveland the reality set in that I was going to have to scrap this meat or try something different. I found an Eastman's Sausage Variety kit that had natural casings in it - so I used that.

First time using the stuffer and I am hooked. I got a lot to learn.

Here is the recipe.
http://www.thesmokering.com/forum/viewt ... e8dba4cb6d

And here is the sausage porn.

All stuffed up and no where to go... but the smoker

Fresh off the smoker...

 

[Vermin93]

Those look awesome. I want one right now. How do they taste?

 

[DntBrnDPig]

they turned out ok. I let some get a little too hot and the fat started to render. But for the most part they were awesome. I can't wait to get the appropriate sized tube and casings for these. They are supposed to be more "slim jim" style than brat looking.

Overall I'm happy with my first attempt. Learned a lot.

 

[Mike Belt]

I just made some of those for the first time this weekend. I mixed my 20% fat 50/50 pork/beef. I ended up using 21mm collagen casings and they almost didn't fit on my smallest stuffing tube. Also my tube was too short to get over 2 feet of the casing onto it. I think I remember Bass Pro having some "specialized" stuffing tubes that were smaller and elongated for the smaller casings. If not I'm searching for what I ned. Mine came out great once I got my smoker to working right.

 

[WestTn Huntin man]

I get my sausage supplies from the Sausage Maker. They have pretty much whatever you might need.
http://www.sausagemaker.com/catalogrequ ... nQodrxcA_A

 

[DntBrnDPig]

When you buy casings in bulk, can you use a little at a time.. Or all or nothing?

 

[Mike Belt]

I haven't used anything but collagen casings and you use only what you need. I would imagine the natural casings are the same.

 

[Mike Belt]

The Sausage Maker catalog didn't have the stuffing tubes I'm looking for either. Still looking....

 

[Mike Belt]

I think I finally found what I was looking for. Walton's Inc. out of Wichita Ks. has stainless steel stuffing tubes that are smaller inside diameter with the tubes 2.5" longer than the plastic stuffing tubes I have now...and they're the same outside diameter the entire length of the tube. The plastic versions are tapered up from the small end to the larger end preventing you from getting much of your smaller casings on the tube for stuffing. They're website is Walton'sInc.com (ph:1-800-835-2832)

 

[Mike Belt]

I'm just the opposite. I've only used collagen but I will try the natural. I haven't had any problems with the collagen and they smoke just fine. Thus far I've only used pre-made mixes from Hi Mountain and Backwoods just to get a starting point. They taste pretty good. The Backwoods pepper snack sticks are really good.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

The natural casings were great. I only had one tear on me. I just snipped it off and started a new run.

I'll use collagen next since I have them already. But, I'd be interested in getting the sheep casing's in 20mm for more of a snack stick feel.

 

[Mike Belt]

I used 21mm casings for my snack sticks. They're actually too big and look more like link sausages. I think 19mm would work great. I went to your recipe sight and the recipe looked good but I noticed that some of the people's comments mentioned dry meat. I've posted this on here before but I'll throw it out there again. Dry milk and extra water.. Add 1 cup of dry milk per 10 pounds of meat when your mixing along with 10% extra water. You'll lose 10-15% moisture during a long low heat exposure. The extra 10% water will compensate for this and the dry milk will help bind the remaining moisture to the meat.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

I've never heard that before. Thanks for the tip.

My mix wasnt dry though, but I used like 40% pork butt 60% deer. It probably had more fat content than most peoples mix.

Plus, I was really paranoid about keeping water in the mix so I added every time I felt it was.. less sticky.. if that makes sense.

 

[DntBrnDPig]

I agree though, 19mm would be great.

 

[Mike Belt]

We tried cutting up some of my hot links in red beans and rice tonight. It worked great.