Smoked Franks & Spicy Meat Sticks

[Kevin A]

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]

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]

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]

Very nice job on all!!!!

[SouthernSmoked]

Awesome!!!

[Tenpoint5]

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

[SamuelG]

Amazing Kevin.




SamuelG

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[Kevin A]

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]

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]

Frankly those franks look awesome !! great job

[OU812]

That all looks gooood!

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

[Kevin A]

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]

Nice color on them too Kevin.

[squirtthecat]

Fantastic...

Which AC Legg mixes did you use?

[ghost9mm]

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