Venison Snack Stick From Start To finish...help

[dAWGS]

ok im sure its on here somewhere but i cant seem to find it.  i need a recipe and the procedure/process  to make venison snack sticks.   PLEASE be as detailed as possible.  im a newbie and i wanna learn and understand

do i hang or lay the sticks?   do i use smoke?  how much?  what kind?  temp?  time?  what type of casing?   size?

im all ears

thanks

[rcger]

I'm sure that someone with more know how than me will reply, but I'm going to following the recipe found at this link...
http://www.askthemeatman.com/ac_legg_snack_stick_recipe.htm

[goblism]

I am curious myself, tried a batch of 10lbs last spring and they were an epic fail.  I finished stuffing 25lbs tonight and plan on smoking them on Saturday.  Tastes good so far.  Also have 20lbs of summer sausage ready to be cooked.

[RAF128]

I've made quite a bit of snack sticks from venison.    First off you have to have a recipe or a mix of prebought spices.    I've used the Hi Mountain ones and they're good.   Others swear by the L.E.M. kits.    Lately I've bought pre mixed spices from the butcher shop I use and they're the best so far.   Make sure there's cure in the mix and if not get some cure #1, prague powder or what ever it's called where you are.
You ratio of meat is important.   I use a mix of 70% lean venison and 30% pork.   The pork I buy is call 50/50.   Half meat and half fat.   Make sure you trim the fat off you venison.  Grind it all up and mix well with the spices.   Most kits require you add cold water.    After it's all mixed, stuff it into your casings.   I prefer the coligen casings.   They're easy to use.    After they're stuffed, put them in the fridge for at least 12 hrs.    Give time for the cure to do it's thing.
As far as smoking goes that's easy if you have a PID.   If not you'll have to hang around the smoker and keep an eye on it.   Usually you want to bring the sausage out of the fridge to warm to room temp or close to it.    Then place in the smoker.    I run the smoker at about 120 for about an hour to dry the sausage.   No smoke at this point.     Then bump up the temp to 140 and add what ever smoke you like.   Then I bump up the temp to 180 until the sausage reaches and IT of 152.    You'll need a meat probe to do that.    When You hit the IT, take out the sausage and put it in an ice bath to quick cool it and stop the cooking process.     Then hang it to air dry, called blooming.    That's about it.
As far as laying it on racks or hanging, that's up to you.   I preferr to hang mine.   I use so 3/8 dowling cut to the width on the inside of the smoker and it rest where the rack usually go.    Be careful that they're not touching each other.

[dAWGS]

how long do you leave it at 140 until you bump it t0 180?   how long do you smoke it?  how long do you hang it afterwards to dry?

[dAWGS]

you use collagen casing.   why?   is there any other kind i can use?   im just curious   and what size?  19mm?

[Keymaster]

you use collagen casing.   why?   is there any other kind i can use?   im just curious   and what size?  19mm?

I'm a novice but i've made sausage with hog casings and they are a lot more work than Collagen casings. Hog casings come packed in a salt preservative and you have to soak and rinse which is a couple hour process. Then you have to feed them on the stuffer tube which at times can be a royal pain in the Buttocks  ;D . Collagen casings come plug and play, you stick them on the stuffer tube and your ready to stuff your favorite Snausages. Hope i may have helped.

[RAF128]

Sorry I didn't tell you how long at 140.   That's where I add smoke and I leave it there for 2 hours.     If you don't want to use collagen casing you'll have to use the sheep casings.   Like hog casings you'll have to soak and then flush them out.   I find they're a lot of work plus they're a whole lot more expensive.he

[pensrock]

19mm collagen casings are what I use. I lay mine on the racks and rotate the racks top to bottom and front to back every couple hours. Keep the vent wide open. I like apple, oak or hickory with venison. I have a recipe on the recipe site for snack sticks if you do not want to purchase it from somewhere. I would go with 2 hours of smoke.

http://www.susanminor.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?354-Greg-s-Spicy-Beef-Sticks
If your doing ten pounds use 8# venison to 2# ground pork or beef fat. I like pork fat.  :)
If your not using straight fat then mix 7# venison with 3# fatty pork.

Have fun and good luck.  :)