Snack Sticks
Tree Stand Landjäger
Pressed Smoked Landjäger with Toasted Caraway and Red Wine
Tree Stand Landjäger is a snack stick built on a 50% lean meat / 50% pork blend, using lean wild game or lean beef. Smoke at 130-170°F (54-77°C) and finish at an internal 155°F (68°C); 165°F (74°C) for bear, wild boar or feral hog, stuff into 32-35 mm natural hog casings, grind at 1/4" then 1/8". Exact amounts scale to any batch weight in the DeepWoodz Smokehouse app for iPhone and Android.
A Landjäger is a hunter's stick built to ride in a pocket, which is why it is pressed flat and dried until it is firm and wrinkled. This one is made in the smoker, not a curing chamber: press the links overnight under weight, smoke them to temperature, then dry them on a rack in the fridge. Toasted, cracked caraway and coriander lead, dry red wine sits underneath, and red pepper flakes give it a kick most store-bought ones do not have.
- Internal temp
- 155°F (68°C); 165°F (74°C) for bear, wild boar or feral hog
- Smoker temp
- 130-170°F (54-77°C)
- Casing size
- 32-35 mm
- Casing
- Natural Hog Casings
- Bloom
- 1-2 hours
What goes in it
- Kosher Salt
- Cure #1
- Dextrose
- Whole Caraway Seed
- Whole Coriander Seed
- Coarse Black Pepper
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Garlic Powder
- Ground Nutmeg
- Dry Red Wine (Pinot Noir)
- Ice Cold Water
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 165°F and hold 3 minutes. Freezing, smoking and curing do not reliably kill trichinella — only heat does.
How it's made
- Grind the lean meat and pork through a 1/4" plate, then again through a 1/8" plate. Keep everything below 34°F.
- Toast the whole caraway and coriander in a dry pan until fragrant. Let them cool, then crack them coarsely.
- Mix all the dry seasonings together, salt included.
- Dissolve the cure in the ice cold water, then stir in the cold red wine. Use a dry, light red such as Pinot Noir. Avoid sweet reds and heavy, oaky wines like Cabernet, which overpower the caraway.
- Add the water and wine mixture and the dry seasonings to the meat. Mix until the meat is very tacky.
- Fry a small test patty and taste it. If it tastes flat it is under-salted, not under-spiced.
- Stuff loosely into 32-35 mm hog casings and twist into 7" links in pairs. Prick any air pockets, then weigh the links and write the weight down.
- Lay the links side by side between two parchment-lined boards or sheet pans and set about 15 lb of weight on top. Refrigerate overnight.
- Hang the pressed pairs over smoke sticks, or lay them flat on racks, at room temperature for 1-2 hours until the casings are dry to the touch.
- Place in the smoker at 130°F for 1 hour with the damper open.
- Raise to 150°F and apply smoke for 3 hours.
- Raise to 170°F until the internal temperature reaches 155°F (165°F if you used bear, wild boar or feral hog).
- Cool them down promptly. (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.)
- Dry them uncovered on a rack in the fridge until they are firm and wrinkled and have lost about 30% of their stuffed weight, usually 4-7 days. Landjäger is usually made with beef and pork. Our recipe uses half lean wild game or beef and half pork butt.
Wood
Beech · Oak · Maple
Safety
- Cure #1 at 0.25% is required and locked. These sit for hours at low smoker temperatures and must be cured. Do not reduce or omit it.
- Cook to 155°F internal, verified with a probe. Do not judge by time or color alone.
- Bear, wild boar and feral hog can carry trichinella, and the bear type survives freezing. Cooking is what kills it: take those meats to 165°F internal, and cook the test patty all the way through.
- Keep the meat below 34°F through grinding, mixing, stuffing and pressing.
- Do not let the smoker go above 170°F or the fat will render out and the texture turns dry and grainy.
- Dry them in the fridge, not at room temperature. Store them refrigerated, or vacuum seal and freeze. They will keep a few days unrefrigerated in a pack in cold weather.
- Cool them down promptly once they hit temperature.
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