Beef/Pork Sticks #3

Sticks are what outdoormen call cured meat finished in small casings, and are like a cross between soft jerky and salami. As a cured meat, sticks can be taken on hikes or camping, or even airline trips where you never know where your next meal may come from. While not exactly health food, they are tasty, wash down well with beer, and are a helluva lot more healthy anything you’ll find at a convenience store. You can of course substitute game for the beef, but keep the pork ratio high, and using pork fat is important for taste and texture.

  • 1,820 g Beef/Pork/Game, ~4 lbs – cold and cut into 1″ cubes, elk, deer, pheasant work well
  • 450 g Pork fat, ~1 lb – cold and cut into 1″ cubes
  • Collagen casings, 18 – 24 mm
  • Mix 1
    • 1 g Red pepper flakes, 1TBL
    • 1 g Whole mustard seed, 1 TBL
    • 1 g crushed Fennel, 1 TBL
    • 1 g crushed Anis, 1 TBL
    • 3 g Onion powder, 1 TBL
    • 3 g Paprika, 2 TBL
    • 3 g Cayenne pepper, 1 tsp
    • 2 oz water – hot
  • Mix 2
    • 3 g Kosher salt, 4 tsp
    • 3 g #1 curing salt, 0.75 tsp – make sure it’s #1, it’s important
    • 2.5 oz Soy sauce
    • 2.5 oz Worcestershire sauce
    • 2 oz Water

Process

  1. Mise en Place: Measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Prepare Meat
    1. Cut meat and fat into cubes.
    2. Arrange on a tray so they’re not touching. Put in freezer 1 hr.
    3. Grind cubes twice; once coarse (1/2″) and then find (1/8″).
  3. Prepare casings per instructions: likely will need to soak in water 30 mins.
  4. Make Mix 1 and 2 (separately)
    1. mix all the dry ingredients together.
    2. Seep in hot water.
  5. Put ground meat in a meat mixer and add mix 1 & 2.
  6. Put meat mixture into sausage stuffer.
  7. Stuff into 24″ long lengths (later cut in half).
  8. Rest sticks in fridge for 24 hrs.
  9. Dry in smoker without smoke for 1 hr at 100 F.
  10. Smoke for 3 hours at 130 F.
  11. Finish cooking
    • Raise smoker temp to 170 F. then let sticks cool. or
    • Put in Sous Vie bags in water at 165 F for 15 mins and then cool
    • Need internal temp to reach 155 F.
  12. Age: put sticks on drip tray in fridge for 48 hrs covered with paper bag.
  13. Cut sticks into 12″ lenghts and vacumn seal.
  14. Store in freezer until ready to eat.
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