Meat sticks with sous vide finish, in bags

Jonathon

cdherman I can’t speak directly to snack sticks but for some summer sausage you 100% want to take it out of the vac pack and let it air dry. While I haven’t tested it on snack sticks I am certain that the lack of drying period would have serious negative effects. Mainly I think the casing would separate from the meat and I think you would end up with an overly moist snack stick.

Jesser

Mcjagger nice info that’s awesome, I have been looking for a liquid proof probe. I need to do more research but so far it looks like that probe will work on 4 or 5 different manufacturers units. You remember which manufacture unit you are using with that probe on?
Thanks

Mcjagger

Jesser it’s a Thermoworks Signals…they go on sale frequently,so don’t pay full price if you can wait for a sale

Jesser

Mcjagger thanks again for the reply and info

mrobisr

Denny O I researched SV’s for a year and finally bought one and had bought a second one within 2 months. Now I just cannot imagine meat processing or cooking steaks any other way.

Denny O

mrobisr Maybe I should know or remember, which ones did you get? Anova?

Dave in AZ

Here’s a tip on getting the sous vide machine low enough in your cooler to not have to fill it with unnecessary water. See the little plastic tray they come with, I cut a hole in it to hold machine?

mrobisr

Denny O said in Meat sticks with sous vide finish, in bags:

mrobisr Maybe I should know or remember, which ones did you get? Anova?

No, I missed their sale and bought ink bird and well am completely happy at half the cost.

samspade

Check offer up. I got my anova not wifi but Bluetooth for 45 bucks. Love it

Jesser

Dave in AZ could you fellas answer a couple more questions? I would appreciate it.
#1 summer sausage using fibrous casings after they are smoked are you putting in bags and vacuum down before you put in Sous vide or putting in SV without bags?
#2 in summer sausage since your water in Sous vide is not over 155 degrees have you used normal mild or sharp cheddar cheese? If so how did it compare with using high temp cheese in your summer sausage?

#3 with meat sticks I realize after you smoke you have to put in bags and vacuum them down before putting in SV but does your sticks always come out with tight casings? One of the biggest problems with making sticks is getting a tight casings. The only way I have been able to always achieve tight casings is to smoke low and slow to my finish temp. This takes 9 to 11 hours sometimes. Using a SV Will really speed up the process. Do you ever run into a casing problem using a SV?
Again thanks for sharing your knowledge!

salmonmaster

Jesser said in Meat sticks with sous vide finish, in bags:

Dave in AZ could you fellas answer a couple more questions? I would appreciate it.
#1 summer sausage using fibrous casings after they are smoked are you putting in bags and vacuum down before you put in Sous vide or putting in SV without bags?
#2 in summer sausage since your water in Sous vide is not over 155 degrees have you used normal mild or sharp cheddar cheese? If so how did it compare with using high temp cheese in your summer sausage?

#3 with meat sticks I realize after you smoke you have to put in bags and vacuum them down before putting in SV but does your sticks always come out with tight casings? One of the biggest problems with making sticks is getting a tight casings. The only way I have been able to always achieve tight casings is to smoke low and slow to my finish temp. This takes 9 to 11 hours sometimes. Using a SV Will really speed up the process. Do you ever run into a casing problem using a SV?
Again thanks for sharing your knowledge!

Jesser I’ll throw my 2 cents in here. I just put my summer sausage in 2 gal. Ziplock bags, suck the air out, and throw them in the water. Way cheaper, and a lot easier than vac sealing. Some guy’s are just putting in water with no bags with no problems. I just use hi temp cheese in my summer sausage. Some guy’s I believe have done it with regular cheese, but I personally have no experience with it. To me it would seem like a gamble. Maybe it will work, maybe not. I would just assume not gamble myself. As far as the tight casing on snack sticks the cold water bath at the end of your cooking cycle is suppose to make the casing stick. I haven’t done this yet either, but my plan is to smoke till I hit 140°, how ever long that takes, put in ziplock bags, into sous vide set at 155° for 1 hour, ice bath, then dry or bloom for a few hours and hopefully everything works.

Dave in AZ

Jesser
All same as salmonmaster

I wouldn’t vacuum seal for sous vide, because I’m too cheap to use the bag lol. Ziploc works fine. However, since summer sausage is a moist sausage with zero drying, I would just toss it into essential directly. I use the fibrous casings to make Taylor Pork Roll more than SS, but it is essentially the same, and I toss it in.
I do summer sausage and Pork Roll and SPAM all to less than 150f. I use a lot of fat and dont want any fat out. So 140f for 12 min, or 145f internal for 5 min both do full lethality treatment. Particularly if I used cheese.
Cheese… the #1 reason for hitemp cheese is summer sausage, it is for when you for sure want to keep good cheese chunk definition without melting. I WOULD use hitemp cheese for SS. Everything else I use normal cheese, but I like a bit of melt. If for some reason you use normal cheese, I would target 140f for 12 min myself.
Using the SV means snacksticks are always moist, so you don’t get dried out wrinkled casings, they stay taut. The ice bath fast temp drop is key to keeping them adhered to sticks. Then let them dry and bloom on a rack for 30 min or so.

Jesser

Dave in AZ awesome, thanks guys so much for the reply’s

deweymeats

Great job and another good inspiration to keep smoking!!

Jesser

Dave in AZ while using a Sous Vide to finish processing your summer sausage and meat sticks do you guys always use sure gel in both?
Thanks

salmonmaster

Jesser I used a soya protien concentrate in some cotto salami because I wanted it juicy, and it was. I use sure gel in everything else. Just keeps the fat in better and keeps it firmer which I want in a summer sausage or in my snack sticks that are coming soon.

Jesser

salmonmaster very good, I really appreciate all the sharing of information and tips. I hit the super market and picked up pork butts. Ordered a Sous vide off Amazon yesterday and ordered a thermoworks temp monitor with a submersible probe. I’m getting close to putting all this new knowledge to work.
I have been making sausage over 35 years but thanks to people like you salmonmaster, Dave and others brings new excitement to processing meat with new ways to process. May not be truly new but new to me that I would not of known about or have the know how to do if not for this web sit (forum) and the people that share knowledge and tips on it.

salmonmaster

Jesser sounds like your getting it all together. Remember when you get going to take notes, and picture of the whole process. The notes will help you out later, and we all like pictures. If something goes wrong, or if everything goes right, it just easier to figure stuff out with notes and pictures. We’re all here to help. And hopefully soon you’ll be helping us out good luck. If you have a question, don’t hesitate to ask.

Dave in AZ

Jesser I use either surgel, or non fat dry milk. Sergel is some milk proteins, maybe N FDM, phosphate, and gelatin Period I usually don’t feel I need phosphates phosphates, but sure gel is a good all around binder that has worked well for me. I also have gotten good results with N FDM.

bocephus

Jesser If you use community instead of forum it will allow it.