Winter Projects: Duck/Goose Snack Sticks

It was a good waterfowl season this year. We did well to shoot plenty of birds but now you got to do something with them. The reality is, a lot of folks don't duck and goose hunt because although it's fun, they're not big fans of eating them. That's why we turn most of ours into either snack sticks or brats or just smoke the breasts and use them for cold-cuts. This last weekend was spent making 75 pounds of snack sticks. Pretty crazy. I'll tell you, there were some ups and definitely some downs and like always, a lot of lessons I wish I had been privy to me on the front side of the project. I guess it will make things that much easier next time.

First things first. You have to grind your birds and mix them with your favorite seasoning. I'm not going to go through my recipes but what I will do is direct you to the place I get all my stuff. They also put together some great instructional videos so here you go:  https://meatgistics.waltonsinc.com/topic/182/how-to-make-homemade-snack-sticks-recipe 

I went with sriracha and cheddar, Willies Classic and pepper cheese, and teriyaki. They are delicious. The only problem with Walton's is they make so many different varieties it's hard to chose but trust me; If you're going to take on this project, you don't need to go anywhere else for supplies or spices. They package everything in batch sizes--usually 25 lbs so all you do is bring the meat. Just remember to go through the instructions so you get everything you need like the pre-portioned bag of spices, the curing agent, high temp cheese, and the meat binder. You'll also obviously need casings that match the size of links you want to make that work with your gear. Stuffing tubes are not all the same size so go to the chart provided on the site and make sure your tubes will work with the size casings you're ordering. That may have saved me a trip to the store only to find they don't typically sell stuffing tubes on their own. 

Other necessities you'll find there are pre-cut vacuum pack bags, labels, etc. One thing I'd suggest is don't skimp on casings. I knew I would be cutting it close on the amount of casings I ordered and I ran out, which subsequently led to one of the many trips to Sportsman's Warehouse and they didn't have the right size and color of casings I was looking for. Yeah, they come in clear and smoke colored so now I have a handful of sticks that don't match--not a big deal but I would have liked them to be consistent. The reality is, is you're not going to be proficient right out of the gate and you'll blow through more casings than you think until you get a feel for it. Plan for making some mistakes.

Another tip I'd recommend for waterfowl grinding is invest in a metal detector. It may take a little while to get it dialed in and it won't pick up every piece of shot but it will help find most of it. The more diligent you are at going through every piece of meat with the detector, the more you'll find and the less head-aches down the road. Steel shot is hard and can really mess up a grinder. It can also scare the crap out of you if it gets into your garbage disposal. Just sayin. And if you break a blade or a grinding plate, you might be SOL until you can order one. There aren't a lot of places you can buy those things on the weekend in town.

This is a grinder. No matter what anyone tells you or how it's marketed; it is a grinder and not a sausage stuffer. 

This is a sausage stuffer and is well worth the $150. 

I stuffed 75 lbs of fresh sausages using a mixture of elk, deer, and pork with the grinder. It worked okay but I definitely thought there was a better way. My brother suggested I buy a stuffer as it would save a lot of time and frustration. I'm cheap though so I thought I'd just tough it out with the stuffing attachment on the grinder. The problem is, is that waterfowl turns mushy and with the curing agent and meat binder you need to use for snack sticks, it becomes that much stickier and won't go through the grinder plate and tube very well. What happens then, is you'll get air pockets and blow-outs and then your grinder will start shutting down every 30 seconds or so because it's just too much work for it. That or the hopper pops up off the feed tube and then you have crap flying all over the fricken place. Breathe...

It took me about 4 hours to stuff 25 pounds of sausages with the grinder. With the stuffer...literally 20 minutes and everything is consistently packed and no blow-outs. There are still some tricks to it like making sure there's enough water in the mixture and letting the meat warm up a bit. The colder the meat is the harder and less pliable. You definitely want it soft and mushy and you'll be stuffing like a pro and you know what? It's actually kind of fun and maybe even a bit therapeutic. 

Here's my smoking set-up. You'll notice, it's really just a two part grill with gas on one side and charcoal on the other with a little kicker off the side.  

To smoke, you'll have to load up the charcoal side with meat racks and then use the kicker for the heat and wood. You don't need much charcoal to heat things up so be patient. A few briquettes and a chunk of wood goes a long ways and make sure you don't put meat in direct contact with the flow of the smoke and heat. I just use foil to create a barrier.  

Cooking instructions can be found on the Walton's website that I shared above. It's really important not to cook too fast and be sure to bring all of the links up to 170 degrees to finish. Temperature control is always an issue when smoking; especially with such a rudimentary system like what I have. But it is what I have so here's a little tip; start out by smoking your sticks for a couple hours at around 130 degrees. There are a lot of really cool thermometers out there that will connect with your phone and are able to alert you when the temps get too hot or too cold. I use the EasyBBQ Pro. After a couple hours in the smoke, finish your sticks in the oven. It's way more consistent and you can set it at 200 degrees and just let the sticks come up to temp. Be patient. It will take a few hours but it's worth it. 

Once the sticks are to temp, dump them in an ice-water bath to cool them rapidly and to get the skins to tighten up. Let them dry a bit and they're ready to package. 

I started this project Wednesday and finished packaging them all up today, which is Monday. That seems like a long time, right? Was is worth it? I could have just brought all the meat to the butcher and had them do it but here's the deal; I know what I have. I also had way more options for flavors and without bragging, these sticks are WAY better than anything I've ever gotten back from the processor's. The other thing is I can be proud of these sticks and feel good about the process of bringing an animal from the field to the table all by myself. (Well, Jill and I anyway. Thanks for the help, Jill.)

Did I save money? Sure. I think you'd pay about $4/lb at the game processor. I payed around $2.50, not including the gear I bought so I saved a little over $110. You'd also have to decide for yourselves what your time is worth. I have the time right now so I'm ok with that and now with the right tools, and knowing a few tricks, future projects will cut the process in half. You can only cook so fast but the preparation will be a breeze. And if you bring your friends and family into it with the right brews and maybe some wine, you can make it into a party. Seriously. Back home I knew plenty of folks that would have maple syrup parties, meat cutting parties and now, sausage parties!! Wait. I've been to some sausage parties so maybe we need to call it something else.

Keep 'em where they live...