Good day fellow smokers, please forgive me for asking, but I have done many searches and scrolled through pages of threads and seemed unable to find an answer to a few questions I have about making my own sausage links. I will be butchering my own hog in a few weeks and want to make sure what I'm planning on doing is correct. I plan on making my own sausage. My plan is to cube up the meat with about 20% fat, grind it, season it, stuff it, and freeze it. I plan on making some mild Italian, sweet Italian sausage links. If I plan on hot smoking after freezing, do I need a cure? Its my understanding you only need a cure if you plan on cold smoking, is that correct? I plan on hot smoking for an hour or so until the IT reaches 160ish, is that correct? Thanks a bunch for any advice!!