Snack sticks
-
I plan on making snack sticks in the near future. I wanted to ask how long can I hold them before smoking them? I plan on grinding, mixing and then stuffing them one day and holding them overnight for the cure to work. I can only fit about 12.5# in my smoker. I didn’t know if it would be ok to make a 25# batch and if I wasn’t able to smoke the second batch the same day to smoke them the 2nd day after mixing. Other option is to just do them in 12.5# batches. I won’t be using the ECA or a cure accelerator. Thanks
-
JohninPa Im not saying its correct but I’ve held them for 48 hours. I usually mix a batch up, stuff, then leave sit in the fridge. Seems to me when they are in totes for longer the casings get more moist and require more drying than the normal 24hours I do. Maybe that’s just in my head or maybe its moisture from the meat transferring to the casing?
-
JohninPa As long as you arent using any cure accelerator and they are stored in a fridge that will keep them cold and clean you should be okay for your plan. They might not have the same consistency and texture as the batch that is help for 12 hours but from a food safety standpoint you should be fine and it shouldn’t completely ruin your batch.
-
I can’t comment directly on snack sticks, but I’ve had to hold other cured sausage for close to 48 hours because life got in the way of smoking. That batch did have a cure accelerator in it (ascorbic acid). It came out alright. At the very least, fat out was not a problem.
