Pepperoni Mozzarella Snack Sticks

[IRGoode]

I decided to try a recipe I seen on YouTube and I'm glad I did.

Backwoods Pepperoni Seasoning
Five cups of course shredded Mozzarella cheese
Three pounds of ground pork
Two pounds of ground lean beef

Mix the seasoning and cure in 5oz cold water. Mix this and cheese with the ground meat. I used the jerky gun to stuff 19mm casings then left them in the fridge over night. They went in the smoker at 6am with 2.5oz of cherry wood. Ran the first two hours at 150 without the fan, then turned it up to 175 with the fan. The upper temp swing was 187 when set to 175. I did not use high temp cheese. Regular cheese course shredded works fine, just make sure the box temp never reaches 200. The IT hit 160 at 1 o'clock. I did put them in an ice water bath for 10 minutes when I took them out.

These taste really good. I will be making more of these!

 

[TexasSMK]

Bob that looks awesome.  Hope they tasted as good as they look.

 

[IRGoode]

They were really good Dale. I normally do a lot of research before I smoke anything. I hate to waste good meat. For instance, Gregg or NDKoze posts on here a lot and he has made hundreds of pounds of the same type of snack sticks. I figure it has to be good for anyone to make that much of anything.  I'm pretty sure it is Walton's pepper stick seasoning. That will be my next batch. I'm thinking about adding some sharp cheddar to it though. Not sure yet.
If anyone has added sharp cheddar to their snack sticks before and remember how much they added per pound, please let me know. I'm thinking one cup per pound for sharp cheddar may be a little much.

 

[Perkolater]

Very nice results Bob.  I'm adding your recipe/process to my 'to-do' list which I hope 'gets done' after I acquire the jerky drier.

 

[IRGoode]

Thanks Dave. I just used the same recipe but used cheddar cheese. I think I like these better. I may back off on the seasoning just a bit on the next batch. It is just a little salty for my taste but still good.

 

[NDKoze]

I am not sure how I missed this post before.

But, dang your sticks look really good. Nice Job!

I love to see others making sticks. They are a great protein snack for anyone trying to cut down on carbs and lose some weight too.

I have made hundreds of pounds of the original Excalibur Pepper Stick seasoning purchased from Waltons Inc. But, lately I have started to try some new things. I recently tried the Buffalo Bleu Cheese and it was awesome. I only wish I would have added some high temp bleu cheese, which I will be doing the next time.

I prefer the high temp cheese, because even at lower temperatures, I have found that I have had too much cheese melting going on.

Last weekend, I made my first batch of Ring Bologna and it turned out awesome. I still need to put up a post with this because I did take some pictures that I wanted to share. It has just been a busy time of year and work and I have neglected a lot of the posts in the Recipes section and am trying to catch up on my reading, thus why I missed this one.

But again, nice job on the snack sticks guys!

 

[IRGoode]

  Just finished another batch. These are the Excalibur Pepper sticks Gregg recommended. They are really good too. I did go with the high temp cheddar cheese this time and liked the results. The bottom of the smoker was completely clean! It looked like I hadn't even used it yet.
  I did change my process up a bit for an experiment. I started out at 125 with no wood and the jerky fan on for an hour. Then took the fan off, added 2oz of cherry wood shavings and increased the temp to 150 for 2 hours. After that I set the analog dial to 180 until they hit 160 IT, still no fan, about 6 hours total time. I'm sure it's just personal preference but I like the texture of these better.
  I will be using this same process tomorrow and make 5 more pounds of the same sticks. The only alteration will be the use of high temp hot pepper cheese this time. I've only been making 5 lbs at a time until I figure out the seasoning and cheese combinations I like the best.
  Please excuse the bookends I used for the picture, that's all I had handy.

 

[Libohunden]

Bob, you did those with a jerky cannon?

 

[IRGoode]

Yes I did. That's all I have right now but I'll have the stuffer soon. You have to fill the jerky gun up about 4 times to make 5 lbs of sticks.

 

[Libohunden]

Which gun do you have?  The LEM, Jerky Spot or another?

 

[IRGoode]

I bought this one at Bass Pro. I've done about 25 lbs of sticks with it so far. There may be better ones. This is the only one I've ever used.

 

[SconnieQ]

The only problem with your bookends is that they are not open.

 

[NDKoze]

The sticks look really good!

Interesting idea on the fan usage. I am not sure if it would work as well when I smoke 28lbs at a time since there would be a lot more meat mass and moisture to expel. But, the outside of your sticks looks nice and dry with a really nice color to them. So it is hard to argue with the results.

 

[DivotMaker]

If you need an "independent judge," Bob, I'll be glad to send you my address....