Smoked Franks & Spicy Meat Sticks

Kevin A · August 23, 2011, 10:11:37 AM

Following the recent chaos of hurriedly cranking out 10lbs of kielbasa, I decided to do something a bit more relaxed & make a batch of beef & pork franks and some snack sticks.

I used two mixes from AC Legg. I usually prefer to mix my own spices & ingredients, but have found the ACLeggs stuff pretty good & convenient. It also contains no gluten so it's safe for my purposes. I had used their snack sticks mix before with good results. This time I wanted to add a little heat so I added two tsp of cayenne, two teaspoons of hot smoked paprika, and a tablespoon of hot chili flakes. This was for a five-pound batch.

I used 10 pounds of fine-ground (3mm plate) combination of beef & pork (70% beef/30% pork) for both recipes. 21mm collagen cases for the sticks & 22mm natural sheep casings for the franks.

Got everything stuffed & hung in the smoker. Using apple wood pellets for smoke.
Figured I'd throw in about a dozen fresh jalapenos (chipotles) for later use.

All hung & ready to go:

No smoke for the first hour; just 120° heat to dry the links a bit. Then smoke.
Two hours in and the links are getting some good color.

After a bit over 2 hours, I pulled the franks & plunged them into a hot water bath (175°) of my vintage turkey roaster.

The initial IT of the franks was 132° so I was curious to see how long they'd need to poach before hitting the mark.

Less than 12 minutes later, I got my answer as the alarm went off so it was time to pull the franks from the bath.

Cooling on racks by a large fan:

Left to bloom for a while so I can keep an eye on the sticks still in the smoker.

The sticks took a bit longer (no poaching) so I increased the temp from 160° to 180° over the course of the next hour & a half.
Pulled & blooming along side the franks:

The smoked jalapenos smell great. I'll keep these for another recipe.

Tasting the franks: My boys have already eaten four of them. I'm very happy with both the texture & flavor of the franks.
Light bit of smokiness that really works well with the seasoning.

After a night in the fridge, I sliced up some of the sticks for 'easy access'. Not as HOT as anticipated, but I added heat cautiously this time.

Overall, a very satisfying experience. I'm always happy when the results are well received by my taste-testers.

—Kevin

pensrock · August 23, 2011, 10:38:48 AM

Looks great. One question, in the roaster about how long does it take for the water to get to 175? I have an old roaster myself and may try this out sometime. Do I turn the roaster on an hour before putting the sausage in?

Kevin A · August 23, 2011, 10:53:57 AM

Quote from: pensrock on August 23, 2011, 10:38:48 AM
Looks great. One question, in the roaster about how long does it take for the water to get to 175? I have an old roaster myself and may try this out sometime. Do I turn the roaster on an hour before putting the sausage in?

I fill the basin with hot tap water & crank up the roaster about 45 minutes to an hour before I figure I'll need it.
My roaster amps up to about 200° so I get it 'down' a bit before adding the load.
The sausages cause a brief drop so I try to keep the temps between 160-175°

Keymaster · August 25, 2011, 04:43:26 PM

Very nice job on all!!!!

SouthernSmoked · August 25, 2011, 07:46:07 PM

Quote from: Kevin A on August 23, 2011, 10:11:37 AM

Awesome!!!

Tenpoint5 · August 25, 2011, 07:47:03 PM

that 3mm plate sure does a good job of grinding the meat. Looks like you emulsified it. nice job Kevin!

SamuelG · August 25, 2011, 08:09:09 PM

Amazing Kevin.

SamuelG

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Kevin A · August 25, 2011, 08:45:27 PM

Quote from: Tenpoint5 on August 25, 2011, 07:47:03 PM
that 3mm plate sure does a good job of grinding the meat. Looks like you emulsified it. nice job Kevin!

Thx, 10.5! After having some real problems the LAST time I emulsified meat for franks, I decided to go with the double fine grind & skip the food processor route!
Its a whole lot faster, less messy and the results look REAL close to the emulsified batch.

pikeman_95 · August 25, 2011, 09:35:46 PM

Again very good looking work. The double grind looks like it did the job. I love the last shot. I wish I would have thought of that.

Kirby

cobra6223 · August 26, 2011, 08:57:36 AM

Frankly those franks look awesome !! great job

OU812 · August 26, 2011, 09:18:40 AM

That all looks gooood!

I could go for a couple of them franks right about now.

Kevin A · August 30, 2011, 03:40:31 PM

So, exactly one week later all ten pound of franks & sticks are gone..... :o
In fact they were all but gone 3-4 days after I made the whole batch.
The price of having 3 growing (& eating) sons.......

Not to self: BIGGER BATCHES next time!
:)

grnhs · August 30, 2011, 03:51:40 PM

Nice color on them too Kevin.

squirtthecat · August 30, 2011, 03:53:51 PM

Fantastic...

Which AC Legg mixes did you use?

ghost9mm · August 30, 2011, 04:01:01 PM

Really nice Kevin, I am gonna try that double grind with the 3mm plate the next time...

Smoked Franks & Spicy Meat Sticks

Keymaster

squirtthecat