Meat Stick

Note: if you like your meat stick less spicy, decrease the peppers to 1 ½ teaspoons each. Try experimenting with the spices!

Place the ground meat in a large bowl. Be prepared to roll up your sleeves and mix with your hands!

Sprinkle the tender quick cure salt over the ground meat and mix with your hands. Next, add the liquid smoke and brown sugar and mix. Sprinkle the ground pepper and the red pepper onto the meat and mix. Add the garlic powder, mace and the mustard seed and mix again.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for 3 days. After three days, take the mix out of the refrigerator and mix once more. Divide the meat mixture into five equal-sized balls.

Using your hands, work each ball into a roll about 2” thick. Place the meat sticks directly onto an oven rack. Cover one oven rack completely with foil and place this on the lowest rack setting in the oven, under the rack with the meat sticks.

Bake the meat sticks at 200° F for 7 hours. Once they are done cooking, take them out of the oven and allow them to cool for about ½ hour. Ideally, vacuum seal the meat sticks into individual packages, or place them in freezer bags to keep them from getting dried out. Store in the refrigerator or freeze.