Texas hot guts sausage

[Postoak]

Sausage making newbie here.

I love the Texas style smoked sausage. Have looked around here and found some recipes. Simplest is just meat - some call for beef some for pork some for mix - am gonna do pork shoulder and some beef chuck. Some people season with just salt and pepper. Some have other seasonings. I might do salt and pepper and some fresh sage from my garden with a dash of red pepper flakes.

my big question is smoking temperature.

I see some recipes that use cure and smoke under 170 f.

others don't have cure and smoke at 225.

If I don't use cure and smoke at 225 will it turn out well???? Or will all the fat melt away leaving gritty mealy lean meat behind?

Any pointers appreciated.

Thanks!!

 

[kilo charlie]

Welcome to SMF!

There's a difference between fresh sausage that's hot smoked at the higher temperatures and the cured sausage that's smoked at the lower temps.

One of the Sausage Masters will come along and hopefully answer all your questions!

 

[jbo_c]

I’m no expert, but I think most Texas Hots are cured.

There is a recipe for spicy ones floating around here that is a permanent fixture in my freezer. It’s excellent if you like them with kick. I lean toward 70-100% pork when I make them, but I think traditionally, that would be more typically the beef ratio.

You can smoke a non-mealy sausage at higher temps, but If I were doing them that way, I’d still start for maybe the first hour or more at low temp, then finish off with a traditional hot grill.

All that to say, do what you like. Experiment, but be good safe.

Enjoy.

Jbo

 

[SmokyMose]

I guess it depends on what you are wanting. If you want actual smoked sausage the cure#1 and lower temps is the way to go. Kind of hard to do unless you have an electric smoker. At 170 you might still have some fat render out. Start out at 120 or so and bump it up as you go. You don't want the IT to go above 152-155.
Except for the occasional Andouille or snack sticks I rarely smoke sausage anymore. I just grill, fry or poach. I still use cure in my fresh just to be safe, though.
I don't have an electric and we don't care about smoke on most sausages.

By the way, welcome to the forum :-)

 

[SmokinEdge]

Unless you are just opposed to cure (nitrite) then I would suggest using it. Much safer, can smoke in the correct temp range, and for me, I prefer the color and flavor of cured.

 

[chopsaw]

If I don't use cure and smoke at 225 will it turn out well????

Should be good at that temp with no cure . Just get them to 165 internal in under 4 hours , which shouldn't be a problem .
I use the formula from Marianski's web page . " Texas hot link "
He makes it as a fresh sausage , but I add cure 1 in the correct amount for the size of the batch . I smoke some , and link some and leave un-smoked for grilling .
Fantastic sausage .

Smoked . Didn't have any cooked pics from the grilled .


Here's the link to his page .

Sausage Recipes

Detailed sausage recipes and instructions are provided for making different types of sausages. The recipes cover the production of fresh sausages, smoked sausages, salamis, fermented sausages, liver and blood sausages, and hams.

www.meatsandsausages.com

 

[tallbm]

Sausage making newbie here.

I love the Texas style smoked sausage. Have looked around here and found some recipes. Simplest is just meat - some call for beef some for pork some for mix - am gonna do pork shoulder and some beef chuck. Some people season with just salt and pepper. Some have other seasonings. I might do salt and pepper and some fresh sage from my garden with a dash of red pepper flakes.

my big question is smoking temperature.

I see some recipes that use cure and smoke under 170 f.

others don't have cure and smoke at 225.

If I don't use cure and smoke at 225 will it turn out well???? Or will all the fat melt away leaving gritty mealy lean meat behind?

Any pointers appreciated.

Thanks!!

Hi there and welcome!

The guy shave given some great info.

Living in Texas I love a good Texas Hot Gut or Hot Link sausage.

All that I've eaten definitely have cure #1 in them. This will do 2 things. Allow the sausage to be smoked at low sausage temps safely AND give that great smoked sausage flavor you can ONLY get with cure #1.

I personally would add cure #1 to the sausage and then grill them. OR, I would build the smallest smoking fire you can that wont get your smoker over 150F temp and smoke the sausages for 2-3 hours and then throw them on a hot grill to cook them. This way you get some smoke without the full process and you grill them to finish them off and eat.

Finally, your recipe as it stands (and even if you add cure #1) is basically a breakfast sausage recipe. You won't get close to a Texas Hot Gut/Link flavor that you are shooting for BUT you will get a good breakfast sausage flavor, especially if you add a little garlic.

Here is my Texas Hot Gut recipe that I have landed on and man I love it. You may not have all the ingredients but that is ok. You can incrementally add more of them. To me the ground bay leaf and the bit of fennel were the final bit of magic to bring it home but are not needed to have a great sausage. Also if you are heat sensitive then cut the Cayenne and Red Pepper in half. Leave the Paprika as is since it has no heat.

Texas Hot Gut Seasoning recipe here:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...t-your-experiences.303825/page-2#post-2208781


Let us know what you land on and what you make. I hope this info helps :)

 

[SmokyMose]

Hi there and welcome!

The guy shave given some great info.

Living in Texas I love a good Texas Hot Gut or Hot Link sausage.

All that I've eaten definitely have cure #1 in them. This will do 2 things. Allow the sausage to be smoked at low sausage temps safely AND give that great smoked sausage flavor you can ONLY get with cure #1.

I personally would add cure #1 to the sausage and then grill them. OR, I would build the smallest smoking fire you can that wont get your smoker over 150F temp and smoke the sausages for 2-3 hours and then throw them on a hot grill to cook them. This way you get some smoke without the full process and you grill them to finish them off and eat.

Finally, your recipe as it stands (and even if you add cure #1) is basically a breakfast sausage recipe. You won't get close to a Texas Hot Gut/Link flavor that you are shooting for BUT you will get a good breakfast sausage flavor, especially if you add a little garlic.

Here is my Texas Hot Gut recipe that I have landed on and man I love it. You may not have all the ingredients but that is ok. You can incrementally add more of them. To me the ground bay leaf and the bit of fennel were the final bit of magic to bring it home but are not needed to have a great sausage. Also if you are heat sensitive then cut the Cayenne and Red Pepper in half. Leave the Paprika as is since it has no heat.

Texas Hot Gut Seasoning recipe here:
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t...t-your-experiences.303825/page-2#post-2208781


Let us know what you land on and what you make. I hope this info helps :)

Thanks for the link tallbm! I totally missed that post.
Would you use the same amount of sugar instead of the Erythritol?

 

[tallbm]

Thanks for the link tallbm! I totally missed that post.
Would you use the same amount of sugar instead of the Erythritol?

Yeah you would be fine at these amounts to go 1 for 1 on the substitution.

If you are big on accuracy, Erythritol is about 70% as sweet as Sugar so if you wanted to cut down the sugar slightly to hit the nail on the head then go for it. Again, these amounts are so small it shouldn't matter if you go 1 for 1.

Yeah the thread was originally for some chicken sausage I wanted to attempt but I also worked on my Texas Hot Gut and man it's good!!! I ALMOST preped to make some this weekend but got lazy about it. I want to do 20 pounds but I need someone to help crank my 22pound sausage stuffer with that much meat in it. It takes 1 adult male to crank that much meat, 1 person to feed the casings.

Maybe in a month or so I'll just make a 5 pound batch since I can do that alone with my smaller 4 lb stuffer (claims 5 pounds but can only fit about 4 pounds).

Let me know how it all comes out :)