Can Snack Sticks be made with just Venison...no pork?

Just made summer sausage with all venison. It was very dry. I decided that the almost three pounds that are left will become gourmet dog treats for my two.

I would not make venison without some kind of fat from now on.

Check out the thread below this one, where Jarhead walks me thru what should have been delicious stuff. I also learned that I probably rushed the process because I ran out of time.

Every snack stick I have ever bitten into has been juicy/fatty. I guess that's why they r not called healthy sticks . Try to do some more research on the web, and also, maybe if you cook them real low like I should have they will come out okay without added fat.

I would love to know what you find. I have a bunch more venison left as well.

Vicki

Thanks Vicki. I can't find the thread you're referring to. Gotta link? (pun intended )

http://forum.cookshack.com/eve...1013824/m/6522937727

It's the thread below yours under sausage

Thanks. I think I'm going to go ahead and freeze my ground meat and try this another day. I'd like to add some soy protein concentrate instead of fat.

The soy protein concentrate added as per the number in the recipe as a binder, didn't do anything for moistness. I don't know if it was supposed to hold moisture.

I will do everything the same next time, but add a source of fat, about 20%.

According to LEM, who makes the cure and spice I'm planning to use, I can add soy protein concentrate instead of pork or fat. They claim it will hold in moisture, using 2 tsps per pound of meat. Obviously, I haven't tried it yet.

I'm with Vicki. I use soy protein as a binder, I think you REALLY need some pork fat due to the fact that venison is so lean....

I would love to know if that works. What are the suggested cooking temps/times? At this point I know I rushed the process so that may be why mine was dry, if you can call 12 hours rushing?

My recipe called for 11g of binder for which I subbed soy protein. If I remember correctly, the 11g was not 6 tsps (for 3 lbs of meat), probably a small part of my problem.

It's a seasoning and cure kit from LEM called Backwoods Snack Stick Seasoning. You add the appropriate amounts of cure, seasoning and water to the ground meat. They recommend using 20% pork or pork fat, but not suet. They're website says you can substitute soy protein concentrate instead of fat. Then you stuff into sheep or collagen casings and smoke at 180 degrees until the the internal temperature reaches 165 (though I'll probably only go to 155). That's it.

I am gonna look into that mix. I love the LEM stuffer I bought. After my personal experience, I am gonna start with adding the pork fat. Once bitten, twice shy.

Good luck. I am gonna check out their website now.

All of the Hi Mountain Jerky seasonings have a recipe for snack sticks on the instruction sheets. It's very similar to the LEM process, but a little more detailed and make no mention of adding fat or pork. If you have any of the Hi Mountain seasonings, you might try that first.

Well, I have about 7 of their flavors in the pantry. I will have to check it out. Thanks for the advice!

I've made snack stix with both sirloin tip and venison without adding fat to either. The sirloin came out great, although no fat content. They were very good and lasted a long time if vac sealed. The venison sticks were similar, only problem is, I didn't realize the guy who shot it soaked it in salt water for about a month before giving it to me and they turned out too salty. Other than that, they were fine. Here's a shot from our venison snack stix after they came out of the smoker.

I was hoping we would.get an expert to chime in. Thanks Chaplin. Those look really goo. What were the times/temp and size of those? If the posts on here just direct me to it. Would definately be a great help. Then I wont.have to buy fat.

I used the High Mountain Snack sticks kit, which contains the cure and seasoning and plenty of 19mm collagen casings. Ground meat, mixed with the cure, spices and water as per instructions. One time I mixed about a quart of honey mustard bbq sauce I had laying around and they were great. When I began, All I had was a grinder with a stuffing tube. This was ALOT of work. I got a small 5lb LEM stuffer and man, we were off to the races. Saved a lot of time.

I started them off usually at 150 and bumpted up slowly to 190, in my FEC to get a lot of smoke on them. I cooked them to an internal of 160 degrees, careful to rotate the racks to ensure eveness. Pulled at 160 and cool. On the last couple of batches I did, I submursed the finished ones in icewater to keep the casings from getting brittle. This also rapidly brings the internal temp down.

Here is a pic of them in the smoker.