Stuff & Freeze and then Smoke later?

[Jonathon]

I had a guy on our meatgistics facebook (Nick Harling) ask the question if you could mix/stuff and then freeze snack sticks for smoking at a later date. I said it could possibly create an issue with casings separating and you’d want to make sure that they were laid down in a single stack in the freezer but didn’t see any other reason it wouldn’t work. Has anyone ever done this, if so what were the results?

[Parksider]

I can say I’ve never done it, not sure I’d recommend it…but I guess I don’t see why you couldn’t. I would recommend defrost, hang overnight and make sure they are DRY before putting smoke on them. Even hang them in the smoke while it warms without wood. The smoke won’t stick if it’s wet, get these ugly black streaks.

[Jonathon]

Parksider Yeah, that is a good point, you would need to make sure they were dry and fully thawed but cold 1st. That might be the hardest part actually…I am going to have to test this huh?

[PapaSop]

After thinking about this for a couple days I keep coming to the same conclusion. Why?

[akdave]

Great question never know when your smoker could c**p out and their you sit with 25 plus pounds of meat you can’t smoke

[craigrice]

PapaSop life has a habit of getting in the way !

[PapaSop]

craigrice
So true.

[Ben W]

Jonathon so I took this challenge on this weekend. Luckily a week ago I made 25 lbs of the Rueben brats with venison and beef with the high temp Swiss in 33mm collagen casings. I did add the sure cure even though I didn’t cook it right away. After stuffing they went to the freezer for a few hours to hold their shape and then I vacuumed packed and froze them. I pulled a couple of pounds to thaw on Friday and smoked yesterday. I ramped up the temp from 130-140-150 and finished the smoker temp at 175 until the internal temp of the brat[censored] 160. They went into the ice bath for about 20 minutes. They came out 100% perfect with no issues at all!

[Jonathon]

Ben W Thank you for doing that an posting your results! That will answer that query. Rueben is awesome, I need to make some more of those soon. Did you add any kraut?

[Ben W]

Jonathon Just on top using the fresh ones that went straight to the grill and it’s amazing. I thought about mixing it in but wanted to try it without first. Next up is venison hotdogs with the 26mm casing. My wife bought me the Walton’s 26lb electric stuffer for Christmas and it’s pretty awesome. By the way I was just watching one of your YouTube videos and you said the electric stuffers may not be suitable for the smaller diameter casings. Do you think I’ll have an issue with the 26 mm casings using a 16 mm stuffing tube?

[Jonathon]

Ben W With hotdogs I would suggest you add a little more water than what is called for and keep the meat super cold. That should help, I think Austin used this a long time ago for hot-dogs but I never have.