New Smoke, Need Advice.

[Pork Belly]

I am attempting to make Ham and Cheese Snack Sticks.

The Plan is:
Make a Brine of 1 Gallon water 1.5 cups kosher, 2 cups brown sugar and 8 teaspoons cure.
Brine chunks (approx. 1.5 to 2 inch chunks) in brine for __?____
Drain meat, Rinse and pat dry
Course grind the meat, for the past few years we have only been doing a single run through the 3/8 plate for snack sticks for a courser texture.
Add .04 oz. of Sodium phosphate (Meat Binder) per pound (normal rate is 2 oz. per 25 lbs of meat, I think my math is correct)
Add High Temp Cheddar Cheese
Stuff meat/Cheese mixture into a 21 mm Mahogany collagen casing and smoke at 200 until IT of 150.

I had planed on letting the meat brine 36 hours. I am having doubts that this may be too long. I do not want a salty snack but also need full penetration of the brine to carry the cure through it. I don't want streaks of grayish meat in the sticks from uncured meat.

This first batch is only 7 pounds as an experiment but if successful I will increase to 25 lb batches

I would like opinions on these things:
How long to brine?
Stick with the .10 pounds of cheese to 1 lb of meat (5lbs to 50 for venison) or increase the cheese)?
I am considering spreading a 50/50 mix or Dijon Mustard and Brown sugar through the meat prior to stuffing to get some sweet vinegary notes on the occasional bite. - So yes or no on mustard?

Thanks,

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[Pork Belly]

18 views and no opinions, wow......

[Walt]

Sausage is not my forte.  That being said, I would add the mustard & I agree 36 hours for meat chunks, that small, seem a bit much unless the brine was an equilibrium brine.  I would imagine brines have a predictable penetration rate but I have not run across those numbers yet.  My guess, based on brisket would be about an inch per day.  If that is in the right ballpark, a 2 in cube should have total penetration in a day.  The brine penetration rate probably varies based on the density of the meat & fat content, so brisket & pork may differ but it should be close enough not to matter with such small pieces.  I hope this helps.

I might even replace the brown sugar with cane syrup.  Mustard & cane syrup is my traditional binder & works quite well.

[DivotMaker]

I'm hiding in the woods, watching, and hoping to learn something!  Sounds like a great project!

[NDKoze]

I have processed several hundred pounds of snack stix and we always mix our cure and seasoning into pre-ground meat.

So, this is a new one for me. I am curious to see how it goes. I am curious what the purpose/advantage is of brining prior to grinding? Were you having problems with the cure getting adequately mixed if you mix the cure in after grinding?

We typically make 25lbs batches at a time and mix our cure and seasonings in with 1 QT of water and let the cure dissolve. Then we slowly add the seasoning/cure/water mixture into the mixer. I have never noticed any parts of our sticks that didn't appear to be cured.

What kind of seasoning or recipe for seasoning are you going to use?

Good luck.

[NDKoze]

Forgot one thing.

The .10lbs per 1lb of meat is exactly what we use and I think that amount is just right.

[Pork Belly]

Thanks guys this is how it ended up...

The wet brine was decided on after discussing the project whit a couple of the chefs at work. My first thought was to dredge the chunks like I do a belly for bacon but it was thought that might create a firmer texture.

So I made the same wet brine that I used on that ham awhile back. Second guessing myself I was initially going to do 24 hours which I thought would be enough. Ended up doing 48 but could have gone shorter. A test patty in the skillet after grinding was a bit salty but not horrible. so that needs adjusted.

Adding wet mustard and brown sugar was a mistake. Those sticks are a bit loose in spots and have excess moisture I imagine from the mustard. I should have used dry mustard or increased the sodium phosphate. I used two different colors of casing to keep track of which ones had mustard.

They smoked quickly coming up to 160 IT before the smoker hit 200. I had to go without the jerky fan because my wife moved it and I couldn't locate it.

I plunged them in an ice bath and laid them out in front of a fan. So far only minimal wrinkling and shrinkage.

[NDKoze]

I would think the brining is where a lot of your excess moisture came from along with the mustard.

Too bad you couldn't find your jerky fan. I did a batch without it last year and won't do another one without the fan on.

How long did yours take to get to 160? In your original post you said your plan was to take them to 150. Did they get up to 160 before you noticed or did you look at them at 150 and decide to go to 160?

I know technically 150 should be enough, but when we did a taste test at 150 we thought they were too raw so went up to 160 and that was a lot better for our tastes anyhow.

So, how did they taste is the big question?

[Pork Belly]

Taste was pretty good. I agree with the brine added moisture, I should have upped the binder or rethought the whole brine option. I was hung up on trying to match the ham flavor i had achieved with the whole ham.

The entire smoke was quick. I got them started at 200 in a cold smoker then went to the house and grabbed two beers ad a frosted mug. When I return the sticks were at 60 IT and the smoker at 90. The IT climbed very slowly and the smoker temp was only up to 115. I bumped the heat to 150 assuming it would land around 220.

Before the end of two beers the sticks were at 148 IT. I went in the kitchen to get the ice bath and the had risen to 160.

I need to snack on these for a week or so and let the kids decide if we are going to research this further. Overall not bad just not super excited.

Thanks for the tips.

[DivotMaker]

Well, Brian, they look tasty!  If no one minds, I'll throw in my 2¢ - from an outsider with no sausage experience (but at least jerky).

The brine:  That ham brine looks great, and I bet it tastes incredible.  Brian, have you ever done an equilibrium brine (forgive me if you have).  Your comment about the test patty being a little too salty made me ask this.  It seems equilibrium brining would be perfect for something like snack sticks, as you can absolutely control the consistency of the salt content, every time.  And, time in the brine doesn't matter; it will equalize and never get any more salty.

The heat:  I know that we always push starting with a cold smoker and cold meat, but I would think things like this might be an exception to the rule.  Seems like I recall you talking about preheating to get the smoke rolling before?  I could be wrong.  But, it seems like it might not be a bad thing with snack sticks.  Also, I agree with Gregg about the jerky fan...enough said.

[Pork Belly]

Never done one but did think about it after the taste test. Not sure at this late hour if I will attempt to perfect this or just move on to the next smoke. After we eat some I will take a family vote on it. Thanks for the input everyone.