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Close up of blue cheese venison snack sticks on butcher block with blue cheese crumbles and bacon in foreground.
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Blue Cheese Bacon Venison Snack Sticks

Blue Cheese Bacon Venison Snack Sticks are smoky, rich, and loaded with savory bacon and tangy gorgonzola in every bite. This 5 pound batch uses venison, pork, and pork back fat for a juicy wild-game snack stick with a rich, smoky bite.
The bacon adds salty smokehouse flavor, the gorgonzola melts into bold little pockets, and the 17mm collagen casings give the sticks that classic slim snack-stick bite. Smoke them low and slow, cool them quickly, bloom them, then chill before slicing and packaging.
Prep Time1 hour
Cook Time6 hours
Bloom Time1 hour
Total Time8 hours
Course: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Keyword: venison snack sticks
Servings: 25 servings
Author: Joshua Boquist

Equipment

Ingredients

  • 2 lb venison well chilled
  • 1¾ lb pork well chilled
  • 1¼ lb pork back fat well chilled or partially frozen
  • ⅞ oz Eco Cure #1 use the amount listed for your favorite cure product
  • 2½ oz Fermento
  • 1 oz nonfat milk powder
  • ⅔ cup ice cold water
  • 1⅓ oz kosher salt about 8 tsp Morton kosher salt or 13 tsp Diamond Crystal
  • 2 tsp black pepper
  • 2½ tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp onion powder
  • 2 tsp chipotle powder
  • 4½ tsp spicy pepper flakes
  • 1 tsp mustard powder
  • 1¼ tsp granulated sugar
  • 4 oz bacon bits cooked, drained, and well chilled
  • 4 oz gorgonzola crumbled and very cold
  • 1 full collagen casing 17mm; have extra casing ready just in case

Instructions

  • If you are grinding your own meat, keep the venison, pork, pork back fat, grinder parts, and mixing bowl very cold before starting. Freeze the meat for about an hour before grinding.
  • Grind the chilled venison, pork, and pork back fat through a coarse plate for the first grind, then grind again through a fine plate. Keep the meat cold between grinds so the fat stays firm.
  • Combine the Eco Cure #1, Fermento, nonfat milk powder, salt, and seasonings. Sprinkle the mixture over the ground meat, then add the ice cold water.
    Adding water to the venison snack stick mixture.
  • Mix until the meat becomes tacky and well bound. The mixture should feel sticky before you add the bacon and cheese.
    Mixing blue cheese bacon venison snack sticks meat in a stainless bowl.
  • Fold in the chilled bacon bits and very cold gorgonzola just until evenly distributed. Do not overmix, or the gorgonzola can smear into the meat instead of staying in small pockets.
    Sprinkling gorgonzola cheese over meat in a stainless steel bowl.
  • Stuff the mixture into 17mm collagen snack stick casings, taking care not to overstuff or leave large air pockets.
    Stuffing snack sticks and coiling them on the counter.
  • Let the stuffed sticks rest while the smoker preheats to 120°F.
    Smoked venison snack sticks stuffed and coiled on cutting counter.

Smoke the Snack Sticks

  • Smoke for 1 hour at 120°F. Then increase the smoker temperature in stages to 140°F, 150°F, and 160°F, smoking for another hour at each stage.
    Venison snack sticks hanging in smoker.
  • Increase the smoker to 170°F and cook until the snack sticks reach an internal temperature of 160°F, about 2 to 3 more hours.
  • Cool the snack sticks quickly in an ice water bath to stop the cooking process.
  • Bloom the snack sticks by letting them rest at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.
  • Chill in the fridge for 12 to 24 hours before slicing and vacuum sealing.
    Blue cheese and bacon venison snack sticks vacuum sealed in packages.

Notes

For the Meat

This version uses venison, pork, and pork back fat. The pork rounds out the lean venison, and the back fat helps keep the snack sticks juicy through the smoke.
If you grind your own meat, keep everything cold. Chill the meat, fat, grinder parts, and mixing tub before you start, and put the meat back in the freezer for a short rest if it starts to soften.

Bacon and Gorgonzola

Use cooked bacon bits that are drained and well chilled before mixing. Warm bacon fat can smear into the meat and make the texture greasy.
Keep the gorgonzola very cold and fold it in gently after the meat mixture is tacky. This keeps the blue cheese in small pockets instead of blending completely into the meat.

For the Casings

This recipe uses 17mm collagen casings. Collagen casings do not need to be soaked, and they give the sticks a slim, classic snack-stick shape. You can use 19mm or 21mm casings as well, and they will be easier to fill with the chunky add-ins.
Do not overstuff the casings. If they are packed too tightly, they are more likely to split while loading, hanging, or smoking.

Mixing

Mix the meat, water, cure, binder, and seasonings until the meat becomes tacky. That sticky texture helps the snack sticks bind so they are firm instead of crumbly.

Cooling and Blooming

Use an ice water bath after smoking to cool the sticks quickly and stop the cooking. This also helps keep the casing tight against the meat so that the casing doesn't delaminate from the meat.
After the ice bath, pat the sticks dry and let them bloom at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours. Chill them completely before slicing and packaging.

Timing

Cook snack sticks by internal temperature, not just time. Around the 4-hour mark, start checking the internal temperature every 30 minutes and pull the sticks once they reach 160°F.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 357kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 17g | Fat: 30g | Saturated Fat: 11g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 13g | Cholesterol: 70mg | Sodium: 772mg | Potassium: 277mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 220IU | Vitamin C: 0.4mg | Calcium: 53mg | Iron: 2mg