Snack Sticks

First Cut Sticks

Original Style Snack Sticks

First Cut Sticks is a snack stick built on a 50% lean meat / 50% pork blend, using lean wild game or lean beef. Smoke at 130-175°F (54-79°C) and finish at an internal 152°F (67°C), stuff into 19-21 mm all natural sheep casings, grind at 1/8". Exact amounts scale to any batch weight in the DeepWoodz Smokehouse app for iPhone and Android.

The one to make first. No cheese, no heat, nothing to hide behind — just pepper, garlic and smoke, which means you find out fast whether your grind and your smoke schedule are right. People who have been making sticks for years still come back to this one, usually in the biggest batch the smoker will hold.

• Smoky
• Pepper
• Garlic

Internal temp

152°F (67°C)

Smoker temp

130-175°F (54-79°C)

Casing size

19-21 mm

Casing

All Natural Sheep Casings

Bloom

1-2 hours

What goes in it

• Kosher Salt
• Cure #1
• Coarse Black Pepper
• Garlic Powder
• Onion Powder
• Cayenne Pepper
• Paprika
• Sugar
• Ice Cold Water
• Mustard Powder
• Ground Coriander

Amounts are calculated for your batch weight in the app — including the cure, which is held at a fixed, food-safe rate.

The meat

Lean Wild Game · Lean Beef · Pork Butt · Pork Shoulder

Bear or wild hog: take it to 160°F and hold 3 minutes. Freezing, smoking and curing do not kill trichinella — only heat does.

How it's made

1. Grind meat through a 1/8" plate.
2. Add dry seasonings to ground meat and mix to distribute evenly.
3. Dissolve cure in ice cold water, then add to meat.
4. Continue mixing until tacky with good protein extraction — the meat should feel sticky and cling to your hand.
5. Stuff into 19-21mm all natural sheep casings.
6. Hang at room temperature for 1-2 hours to bloom. The casings should feel dry to the touch and the color will darken slightly.
7. Place in smoker and dry at 130°F for 1 hour with damper open.
8. Raise to 150°F and apply smoke for 2 hours.
9. Raise to 175°F until internal temp reaches 152°F. Important: Do not let your smoker exceed 175°F. Even if your smoker is set at or below 175°F, the actual temperature can spike higher — monitor closely.
10. Shower with cold water or ice bath to bring temp down quickly. (Optional — an ice bath is not required. It is personal preference; many just let them cool at room temp, or outside in cold weather. Just cool them down promptly.)
11. If snack sticks are softer than you prefer, hang them in the fridge or a cool dry area for a few days to firm up and dry out to your liking.

Wood

Hickory · Cherry · Maple

Before you start

• How much Cure #1 per pound
• Venison to pork fat ratio