Snack stick problem

[Bruce 0]

Recently I made some venison snack stick with collagen cases and I used the recommendation of uncle willies recipe and the favor was awesome. I had one concern though, the casing on the stick after vacuum packing to freeze them seemed to be loose on the meat . Could anyone explain what I did wrong or what step I messed up on? They were venison and mighty tasty for sure. Thanks.

[YooperDog]

Bruce 0 how did you process them? What was your cooking schedule? Did you Sous Vide? Water bath chill? Lots of variables, but if you can give us a bit more info we can make better suggestions.

[processhead]

Bruce 0 said in Snack stick problem:

Recently I made some venison snack stick with collagen cases and I used the recommendation of uncle willies recipe and the favor was awesome. I had one concern though, the casing on the stick after vacuum packing to freeze them seemed to be loose on the meat . Could anyone explain what I did wrong or what step I messed up on? They were venison and mighty tasty for sure. Thanks.

It would help to know all the other ingredients you added to the venison and how it was mixed and stuffed.

[Bruce 0]

I used all ingredients from Walton’s and with no additional species. I used collagen cases from Walton’s and a 15 lb. sausage stuffer from Weston. The links looked good till I tried snacking on them and the cases were easier to remove than to snap them off in a bite
I hope this additional info will help. Followed temp directions to the letter as well

[processhead]

An all venison snack stick is going to be pretty lean and probably not an optimum emulsion. I would suggest adding 20% fat (pork or beef) to your meat mix and trying it again. Another thing to try is to quick chill the sticks in a cold water bath as soon as they come out of the smoker to lower their temperature. Don’t leave them in the water too long though. As snack stick will cool off quickly.

[Bruce 0]

I’m really new to this snack stick deal so I was glad that at least they were good tasting but being used to the way I thought that they should be according to the way commercial people get it done. Ice water bath but I didn’t refrig over night and I probably should have Thank for ANY advice given. Bruce

[twilliams]

Bruce 0 my first two things that come to mind is #1 if you didnt ice bath them directly after internal temp was reached.
#2 you packaged them wet
Or # 3 you had some fat out and fat get between the casing and meat

[Bruce 0]

twilliams