who makes venison snack sticks?

[True Texan]

I want to make some venison snack sticks this year. I always make and smoke my own sausage and I really like the recipe that I use. I am wondering if I can use the same same ingredients as I use in the sausage, but instead of stuffing the meat in hog casings stuff it in the smaller casings. I plan to smoke it in the smokehouse as I would the sausage, but just adjust the cooking time since it will reach 165 deg. quicker. I have been told that the recipe would need to be different for the snack sticks. I am hoping that some of you guys that have experience with this can give me some advice.

[Old Goat1]

Snack sticks need to have a cure mixed in. We use colligen casings and then they are dried , sort of like dried sausage. You can get a cure from many places as weel a s the casing. We have ordered from SuasageMaker.com. They also have a lot of good information.

Hope this helps.

[teamfirstcast]

Made some not long ago...

I made a batch this year and they turned out great. Yes, you must use the pink cure #1, standard amount, same as regular links. Also, I used the smaller collagen casings i got at Gander mountain. The main difference that i found is to use a much leaner mix of meat, less fat/port and more venison. Also, smoke for a longer time. I started at 125/150 for about 4-5 hrs then went higher for the last hour to insure they were fully cooked. When making regular smoked links I like to use 60/40 pork to venison, but reverse the ratio for the snak stix. Too much fat will not dry properly. After smoking, cool off in ice water to rinse, then allow to dry in the fridge uncovered for a couple days to continue the drying process. Or them hang for a couple days as long as humidity is low and temps are cool. Here's a couple of pics...