A Definitive Guide to Make Healthiest Beef Sticks at Home

Making beef sticks at home not only saves money but also provides you better flavor and freshness. Moreover, you feel confident in the ingredients when you make them at home. Beef sticks are available at different stores, but their price varies a lot. You can easily make them at home if you have a few pieces of equipment and some ingredients.

Moreover, if you have a big family, then buying beef sticks sometimes costs you a lot. But if you make them at home, it will not only save money, but your family will also appreciate your effort. However, before making beef sticks, make sure meat is properly cooled at about 30°F. You can use a meat fridge for this purpose as it provides temperature ranging from 28°F to 32°F.

Here is the complete recipe of beef sticks:

Equipment:

Equipment or tools that you need for making beef sticks are meat grinder, oven or dehydrator, plastic tube, and a sharp knife. Moreover, you need cooking twine, large mixing bowls, and a smoker thermometer.

Ingredients

Beef roast, A.C. Legg Snack Stick Seasoning, Prague powder #1, and collagen casings.

Directions

Step 1: Grinding the Meat

As we discussed earlier, make sure that the meat is cooled down before grinding. Otherwise, it would be difficult to grind because of grease. Use a thick grinder and after grinding transfer the meat in the bowl and put it in the fridge for about an hour. Then grind it using smaller grinding plates.

Step 2: Seasoning

For seasoning, you can experiment to find new flavors. But for this recipe, use condiments and curing salt and mix the meat thoroughly. Then add a very cold glass of water in the mixing bowl and mix it again. After seasoning, put the meat back in the fridge for another hour.

Step 3: Grinding Again

After removing the meat from the fridge, grind it for at least half an hour. Use the same small grinding plate for grinding. You may want to know the reason for grinding again. It’s because grinding the meat again will make it more uniform for beef sticks.

Step 4: Stuffing

You can do it with a stand mixer or a jerky gun. Using the strand mixer method is a bit difficult and you will also need someone’s help. So, the use of a jerky gun is recommended. A jerky gun is specially designed to make your work easy. If you find any difficulty in using a jerky gun, you can get help from the manufacturer’s manual.

Step 5: Cooking

The last step in making beef sticks is cooking. And for cooking, you have to choose between three options: using a smoker, using an oven, or using a dehydrator. Here we are using the smoker method. So, preheat the smoker to 100°F and put the beef sticks in and cook it for an hour. Then increase the temperature and cook the beef sticks for 4 hours at 120°-125° F.

In the last stage, increase the temperature to 170°F to 180°F and wait until the internal temperature reaches 150°F. Then take the beef sticks out and let them cool before eating.