The Original Slim Jim Recipe

I found this "original" Slim Jim recipe posted at the New York Times. I don't know if it is the real thing yet, but I'm going to pass it along to the butcher. I LOVE SLIM JIMS! I hope I LOVE GOAT SLIM JIMS! I'm thinking of culling one of the Boer does and her baby from last year just so I can make slim jims. Goat meat is really low in cholesterol and healthier than beef. After growing up on a beef farm, it is hard not to like beef.

http://events.nytimes.com/recipes/1884/2001/12/30/The-Original-Slim-Jim/recipe.html

The Original Slim Jim

Adapted from Bruce Aidells

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Ingredients

• 1 lamb intestine casing (4 feet long)
• 2 1/2 pounds top round chuck, cubed
• 1 pound beef fat, cubed
• 3 tablespoons paprika
• 2 teaspoons black pepper
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon ground fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon No. 1 curing salt
• 4 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 clove garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/3 cup lactic-acid starter culture

Preparation

1.

Rinse salt off the sausage casing. Soak in ice water for at least 1 hour.

2.

Combine meat and fat. Run the mixture through a meat grinder into a large bowl, using the finest setting. Add all ingredients, along with one cup of ice water. Knead vigorously until mixture is the consistency of bread dough (about 8 minutes).

3.

Rinse casing one last time. Choose the narrowest gauge tube of your sausage press. Splash the tube with ice water, then pull the casing over it. Transfer the mixture, about two fistfuls at a time, to the sausage press and then pump the meat into the casing, splashing more water on the tubing as needed to stop the casing from tearing.

4.

Preheat an electric smoker to 100 degrees. Hang sausage in the smoker for 22 hours. Temperature should never dip below 90 degrees or go above 110 degrees. After 22 hours, raise the temperature to 150 degrees and cook until the internal temperature reaches 150 to 155 degrees (about 30 minutes).

5.

Remove from smoker and let cool at about 50 degrees in a dry place for 4 hours. Cut sausage into 4-inch lengths.

YIELD

16 servings

• Originally published with FOOD: ADOLPH LEVIS, B. 1911; A Tricky Stick
• By Manny Howard, December 30, 2001