Garlic Jalapeno Snack Sticks

[bluearc74]

Hey all. Well I thought I would add what I did for my jalapeno snack sticks since I have used a lot of usefull info from others pool of knowledge on here! I use a 4 rack digital Bradley. I have experimented alot with cheese, ribs, pistachios, jerky, and now some snack sticks. I thought I would just add my experience to help other newbies like myself! I used a High Mountain 20lb Jalapeno Snack Sticks kit from Cabelas. I added a couple things and we will see how they turn out! For 10 pounds i added extra jalapeno to kick it up a bit. Here is what I used:

15lb ground deer meat
5 lb ground pork loin
1 1/2 cups of diced jalapeno seeds and all.
3 Tbs minced garlic
Hi Mountain Jalapeno Stick kit
Bradley Apple Bisquettes

I just split it in half and mixed 10 lbs with the Hi Mountain,garlic,and about a quarter cup of fresh diced jalapenos. The other 10 lbs I mixed the Hi Mountain mix,jalapenos,and garlic. Stuffed it right away after mixing wit the casings that were supplied in the kit. I then let the stuffed sausage sit in the fridge overnight.

The next day I then hit the smoking stage. I wanted to hang them in the smoker but didn't have doweling to put across like most guys do. So i just took one rack and slipped the 28 inch long cut lengths into the mesh holes and used the rack as the hanger. This worked better than I thought it would. With all of them hanging on one support it was easy to handle.

So for the smoking I started with the smoker preheated to 130F. I let the casings dry for about an hour with vent 1/2 open and no water in the bowl in the bottom that catches the used pucks. After the casings were dry I then started the smoke and turned up the heat to 150F for 2 more hours,then with smoke off(I find that 2 hours is perfect and not too strong of smoke.Its all preference.) upped the heat to 190F till the inside temp of meat was 160F. The last part can even be done in an oven if you would like to start another batch in the smoker. I did this as I have a four rack and found that 10 lbs fit perfectly on the rack toward the front leaving a space in the back since I have found that stuff cooks faster near the back and doing this eliminated even having to turn rack around to re-position. The heat was perfect and even.

Once they hit 160 I then let them cool without ice bath or anything. I know some like to do this but I think its more when the mix is alot more fatty?Vacuum packed them up. Now we will let them sit and age a little and see how they turn out!!


Cheers

[Keymaster]

Sounds great!! Try going to photobucket.com and upload your photo's there. Once uploaded you will get a image code you can just copy and paste to your thread.

[bluearc74]

Pictures have been added!! Thanks Keymaster!!