Beef/Pork Sticks #2

Sticks are what outdoormen call cured meat that is finished in small casings. They are like a cross between soft jerky and salami. As a cured meat, sticks can be taken on hikes or camping, or even long road trips where the kids are always complaining about your poor choice of snacks. While we can’t really say sticks are healthy, they’re a helluva lot more healthy than pretty much anything you buy at a convenience store. This may seem like a large batch recipe but in the meat processing game, this is a normal batch size.

Ingredients

  • 1,400 g Beef – lean (~3 lbs) – cold and cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1,400 g Pork ~ 3 lbs, cold and cut into 1″ cubes
  • 700 g Pork fat – cold and cut into 1″ cubes
  • 2,200 g Water, ~8 oz
  • Collegen casings, 18 – 24 mm
  • 42 g Fermento, ~6 TBL, (optional, but recommended)
  • 7.5 g Prauge Salt #1 (~1.5 tsp) it has to be #1 curing salt
  • 5 g Dextrose, ~1 tsp
  • 45 g Kosher salt, ~2.5 TBL
  • 6.5 g Black pepper, ~1 TBL
  • 6 g Garlic powder, ~2 tsp
  • 8 g Onion powder, ~2.5 tsp
  • 8 g Mustard powder, ~1 TBL
  • 5 g Celery seed, ~2 tsp

Process

  1. Mise en Place: Measure and prepare your ingredients prior to starting.
  2. Arrange thawed and cubed meat + fat on a tray so they are not touching. Put in freezer 1 hr.
  3. Grind mix meat and fat cubes and grind twice; once coarse (1/2″) and then find (1/8″).
  4. Prepare casings per instructions: likely will need to soak in water 30 mins.
  5. Mix all the dry ingredients together and seep in 4 oz of hot water.
  6. If using Fermento, follow product instruction
  7. Mix spice water into ground meat. Using a meat mixer is best.
  8. Put meat mixture into sausage stuffer.
  9. Stuff into 24″ long lengths (later cut in half).
  10. Rest in fridge for 24 hrs covered with film.
  11. Dry in smoker without smoke for 45 mins at 110 F.
  12. Smoke for 3 hours at 130 F.
  13. 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 meat to reach 155 F.
  14. Age: put sticks on drip tray in fridge for 48 hrs covered with paper bag.
  15. Cut sticks into 12″ lenghts and vacumn seal.
  16. Store in freezer until ready to eat.
Print Friendly, PDF & Email