Is there a way to save a topic for future reference? There is a lot of great information here that I would like to flag and reference at a later date. Might just not be seeing it. Thank you.
Joe Hell I usually mix fresh sausage by hand as well, you just need to mix long enough for the seasoning (and water if you add some) to be thoroughly mixed in. Anything beyond that is too long.
TexLaw said in sous vide questions:
You ought to be just fine. I have an Inkbird wand that I’ve used many times with the smaller (“economy”) meat lug that Walton’s carries (LOOK HERE. It’s not quite two feet, corner to corner, so your sticks will just fit (depending on how many you want to fit in there).
One thing about snack sticks, though, is that they typically are semi-dried. While some moisture will come out, you aren’t going to get any real “drying” effect from sous vide cooking. If you’re fine with that, rock on. If not, you might want to leave your sticks in the smoker for longer, maybe to 150F or so. I brought my most recent batch of Summer sausage to 150F (maybe 152F) before moving it to sous vide, and I was very happy with it.
I thought of this as well. I haven’t tried doing snack sticks in smoker+sous vide yet, but one thought i had was bagging them with paper towels to draw moisture, but i am not sure if it would draw any extra moisture then what would just end up in the bag anyway. Maybe silica packs.
Either way, i think using sous vide after the initial cold smoke to bring it to 165F then remover and finish in a dehydrator at a low setting to reach desired finish weight might be a good way to prevent too much fat out. My problem has always been the casings ending up too tough and chewy to eat. I am not sure if it was cheap casings, or something went wrong during the cook/cooling process. I wonder how well natural casings would work for snack sticks. Something like natural casings for breakfast sausage links.
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