Pepperoni style hot dogs???

[gearloose]

A few months ago, I found some 'hot Italian-style' smoked sausage at Aldi's in their mark-downs. They were about the same size as premium 5-to-a-pack hot dogs or precooked brats. I grabbed a couple of packages, brought them home and threw them in the deep freeze where they were soon forgotten. I found a package the other day & decided it was time to give them a try. After thawing and giving them a quick warm-up in the microwave, I placed them under the broiler until they started to sizzle & pop and the skins started to split. The grease coming off them was very red, so I assume they had a lot of paprika in them. The taste reminded me of pepperoni more than anything else. Smoke flavor was almost not there. They had some heat, but very mild to medium by my tastes. I served them on hot dog buns with some Bertolli garlic spaghetti sauce, parmesan cheese and Mozz. melted over the top. Very tasty!

I'd like to try to make something similar. Any suggestions?

 

[indaswamp]

Sounds interesting gear, I'm in. Sorry I can't help out with a recipe though.

 

[motocrash]

This might be something to work off of http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Hot Links-California.pdf

 

[SmokinAl]

I don't have a recipe, but I sure hope someone does, cause they sure sound good!
Al

 

[worktogthr]

I recently made some snack sticks with sheep casings. Ended up being a little thick and looked more like hot dogs (Get some weird looks at work when I'm eating them because it looks like I'm eating cold hot dogs haha). One variety was a pepperoni stick and because of their hot dog like shape I had exactly the same thought, that I should put these in a bun with some marinara and mozzarella. I used this recipe but made them all 90/10 beef with the addition of a cup of NFDM. I always forget the rules about posting external links so I'm sorry if I am not supposed to and it can be deleted.

http://www.lets-make-sausage.com/smoked-venison.html

 

[tropics]

Here I used the search feature for you
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pepperoni.248602/
Richie

 

[gearloose]

Here I used the search feature for you
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/pepperoni.248602/
Richie

Thanks. I spent some time using the search feature before my OP. I have plenty of pepperoni recipes from multiple sources, but was asking if anyone has tried to make a pepperoni-flavored hot dog and what changes they made to a pepperoni recipe to get there. I guess I did not make myself clear in my OP.

 

[mossymo]

For a hotdog texture and style but with pepperoni flavor I would fine grind till emulsified like a hotdogs texture and then stuff in a 26mm hotdog sized casing.

 

[ghostguy6]

One of my very first sausage attempts was a venison Kleinsausage (?) which is basically a pepperoni, in 32mm casings. The casings were breaking before I could get long sticks so I decided to turn them into brat sized sausages to save the what I could of the casings. Smoked them and then into the freezer for later. I completely forgot those brats were a pepperoni when I heated them on the bbq. Some tomato sauce, melted mozzarella and caramelized onions on a bun were amazing!
I think Ill might be making another batch this weekend now that you reminded me of this.

 

[gearloose]

I've decided to experiment with a 5 lb batch using one of my pepperoni recipes. I'll tweak it with added Paprika for color and stuff it in 26mm hotdog casings. I plan to only lightly smoke them for a couple of hours, then finish cooking in 160° hot water like they were ordinary hot dogs..

 

[gearloose]

Here's what I'm doing: I mixed the meat up yesterday, and after a few hours in the fridge. to marry the flavors I fried a few test patties. I adjusted the spices a bit, put it back in the refrig. overnight, and am ready to stuff the meat into casings. It's snowing like crazy right now, so the neighbors are going to think (again) that the old man next door is nuts when I go out and start messing around with the smoker. :D
The recipe is a merging of two recipes from two of my sausage-making books with some tweaks to make it a plump & juicy hot dog instead of a dry, hard pepperoni.

Pepperoni Hot Dogs

by Jim Ball
5 lb. recipe:

2-1/2 lb. Beef Chuck
2-1/2 lb. Pork Butt
2 Tbsp. coarse kosher salt
1 tsp. Instacure #1
2 Tbsp. Dextrose
1 Tbsp. Paprika
1 Tbsp. Cayenne pepper
1-1/2 tsp. ground Anise seed
½ tsp. allspice
1 tsp. minced garlic
1 cup NFDM
1 cup dry red wine*
*or any combination of wine & water or plain water to equal 1 cup.

Grind meat through a ¼ or 3/16” die, then regrind through a 1/8” die. Alternately, use supermarket ground chuck & ground pork. Mix dry ingredients. garlic and wine in a bowl to make a slurry. Pour over meat and mix until all incorporated & evenly mixed. Stuff into 24mm casings and form into links. Refrigerate overnight.
Allow links to air dry 30 min. if using collagen casings, or 1 hour if using natural casings. Hang in a smoker preheated to 125°and smoke for 1-1/2 to 2 hours. Remove from smoker and finish processing in a 160° water bath until hot dogs have an internal temp of 152°. Shower under cold water.

 

[motocrash]

Sounds good,Looking forward to seeing the end product.

 

[indaswamp]

No encapsulated Citric acid???

 

[gearloose]

No encapsulated Citric acid???

Not for a hot dog. I'm going for a Pepperoni flavor - not an actual Pepperoni.

 

[indaswamp]

Gotcha...I assumed the acidic bite was part of the flavor profile. Links look good....

 

[motocrash]

As said by swampa,very nice links.

 

[indaswamp]

LOL!

 

[gearloose]

Gotcha...I assumed the acidic bite was part of the flavor profile. Links look good....

Like I said in my first post, I'm attempting to replicate a cooked sausage I got at Aldie's. Their flavor was reminiscent of pepperoni, but not exact. There was no tang to the flavor.
From the taste of the sample patties, I'm close. The patties were very tasty. These are hanging in the smoker now. I'll pull them in a couple of hours and finish in a hot bath.

 

[gearloose]

As said by swampa,very nice links.
View attachment 352784

If they would just stay twisted after I hang them... :oops:
I always end up tying them with kitchen twine.

 

[motocrash]

Hickory I assume?