Second attempt at hotdogs

[jasonatxbs]

Lately I've been making hot dogs, playing around with seasoning mixtures, dialing in flavors. These are my latest attempt, all beef franks based partially on the Rytek Kutas recipe, with a couple pointers from Ruhlman. My first shot was nearly straight Ruhlman, though did anyone else notice the seemingly extreme amount of pink salt he called for in his recipe? 1tsp/7gms for 2.5lbs of meat seems more than what's usually recommended, so I scaled mine back. Here's after stuffing into hog casings, before going in the smoker:

hotdogs01.JPG

• jasonatxbs
• Oct 24, 2012

Internal temperature is 120 right now, I'll post again in about 22 degrees. Is there a good consensus online source for sheep casing? I ordered from Butcher-Packer last time but if anyone else has another recommendation, I'm open to suggestions.

Jason

 

[daveomak]

Jason, good job on checking the amount of cure.... There are misprints on the web....  Dave

 

[sam3]

Nice job Jason.

 

[jasonatxbs]

Thanks ya'll. After about 5 hours of smoking with hickory pellets in a A-Maze-N Pellet Smoker at 160-165 the internal temperature was 145. Threw them in an ice bath and let them chill overnight in the fridge. Here's the finished product:

hotdog2.JPG

• jasonatxbs
• Oct 25, 2012

And the inside:

Hotdoginside.JPG

• jasonatxbs
• Oct 25, 2012

They ended up a bit drier and more "sausage"-looking than I was hoping, but they're firm and the taste is good. Next time I'm going to up the fat content (I figure I used about 15% in this batch, give or take) and add a touch more salt, I went to reduce it from the last batch and went a bit too far for my taste in the other direction. Here's the recipe I spun up for this batch, if you notice ingredient similarities to certain already published recipes, well, you can probably guess what I've got on my bookshelf:


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Jason's #2 Dog - 10/24/2012

1.25kg Beef meat and fat (1/2 shank, 1/2 cross-cut rib meat)

16g Morton's Kosher Salt

3.5g DQ #1 pink salt

125ml ice water

- Grind meat through medium plate, mix with salts and water, cover and refridgerate 24 hours. Add:

70g Dry Milk Powder

10g Dry Mustard Powder

5g Hungarian Paprika

2g Cayanne Pepper

5g ground coriander

3g white pepper

5g mace

2.5g celery seeds

1.5g worchestershire powder

15g minced/pasted garlic

16g cane sugar

125ml ice water

- Mix well, then re-grind through small plate, spread thinly on jelly roll half sheet and freeze until nearly stiff. Process in food processor until paste develops, adding minute amounts of ice water if it seems too stiff. Stuff in hog casing, let sit in refridgerator for 2-3 hours to develop pellicile, and smoke at 160 until internal temperature reaches 142-145. Remove from smoker and submerge in ice bath until chilled, dry and refridgerate uncovered overnight, then bag and store.

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Ideally I'd like plumper, juicier looking hot dogs. I know the consistency is off because I didn't puree it in the food processor long enough and I think the mix was a bit too dry going in. Increasing fat and being more diligent when processing the meat slurry. I'm also thinking of smoking for less time and then finishing the dogs by poaching in water. Would this help somewhat? Any comments/criticisms are very welcome.

 

[daveomak]

With the mix of shank and rib meat, they must have some awesome beef flavor....  The look good.....   Dave

 

[DanMcG]

. I'm also thinking of smoking for less time and then finishing the dogs by poaching in water. Would this help somewhat? Any comments/criticisms are very welcome.

I do that all the time with a number of my products...Shortens the total time and you end up with a plumper sausage.

 

[jp61]

Nice job Jason!

Your next batch will be even better! Thanks for posting!

I was just thinking the other day to make my first hot dogs.....hopefully I will sometime soon.

 

[jrod62]

Looks good .
that on my to do list

 

[woodcutter]

Nice!
 

 

[boykjo]

Nice job Jason............ I use the B&P sheeps... They have a nice snap.... Grind through your smallest plate 3 to 4 times to emulsify the meat for texture.... here's a decent recipe to try

http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-recipes/wiener

Good luck

Joe
 

 

[willy2763]

I use Syracuse Casings http://www.makincasing.com/x/home.php    I have been very happy with them so far.

 

[driedstick]

Good job, Keep them coming.

 

[shannon127]

Frankfurter
Meats	Gr/Kg	Actual	Ratio
Pork Backfat	250	750	1750
Beef 90/10	750	1000	1.75
salt	18	31.5	1.75
Cure #1	2.5	4.375	1.75
Paprika	1.5	2.625	1.75
pepper	2	3.5	1.75
Nutmeg	1	1.75	1.75
garlic	2	3.5	1.75
cold water	100	175	1.75

This is my recipe for hot dogs:  I grind the meat through 1/8th die and stuff in 22mm casings.  I smoke at 145 for 2 hours then raise temp to 165 for an hour then soak in ice water until cool.