Tubesteak Tuesday

[Makkara]

Realizing we were out of hot dogs, I decided it was time to remedy the situation. I dug around the freezers and ended up with around 13# of mostly beef chuck, and a small amount of fatty pork butt trim. Monday was coarse grinding, seasoning mixing in 5gal bucket with drywall mud paddle, fine grinding, emulsifying, and then stuffing. The Sausage Maker weiner seasoning was used as directed, and mince was kept ice cold during all steps. Perhaps next time I'll try it from scratch. I used a champion juicer for the emulsifying. Since I like a big dog, 31mm cellulose casings were used. A rest overnight in the fridge, and smoking started this AM.
2 hours at 140 degrees with alder pellets in the AMPS. 1hr 45min in the sous vide at 143 degrees. Ice bath, peel off casings, quick rinse off of surface fat, and set out to bloom. Taste is wonderful!
Thanks for looking!

 

[ronf]

They look great. Nice job.

 

[Dave in AZ]

Nice! What did you use to hold those link twists from unspinning?

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice work. I love my Champion juicer for emulsifying. I do all mine from scratch and prefer the larger casing as well, more like a sausage. I also finish all my sausages in SV it works perfectly. Good job.

 

[gmc2003]

Hot Dog them look good

Point for sure
Chris

 

[DougE]

Those dogs look fantastic!

 

[tbern]

Awesome looking hot dogs, nice job!!

 

[Makkara]

Nice! What did you use to hold those link twists from unspinning?

Zip ties

 

[DougE]

Zip ties

I wouldda just pre-cut a bunch of pieces of butcher twine and done it that way, but I reckon zip ties do the job, too. I do use zip ties on large diameter casings like fibrous, though.

 

[Makkara]

I wouldda just pre-cut a bunch of pieces of butcher twine and done it that way, but I reckon zip ties do the job, too. I do use zip ties on large diameter casings like fibrous, though.

I agree twine is easier at times. But when using cellulose casings, twisted tight, I find that doing this solo with zip ties work best for my not so nimble fingers.

 

[indaswamp]

Nice dogs and great write up! And great first posts on SMF! Welcome!!!

 

[DRKsmoking]

like above said , great looking dogs and your steps on doing. And on the spinner with first post, well deserved

David

 

[Sven Svensson]

Wow!

 

[Hockeydudde]

Very cool!
I like your sous vide weigh down apparatus.

 

[torp3t3d0]

Never made any, but want to try….blender to emulsifying? I don’t understand that step. Can you explain?

 

[flatbroke]

Welcome, nice job. There are a lot of tubesteak loving people here. you found the right place

 

[SmokinAl]

Your hotdogs look fantastic! We stopped emulsifying years ago, now we do a double grind, first med, then add the seasonings, then fine grind!
Al

 

[Makkara]

Never made any, but want to try….blender to emulsifying? I don’t understand that step. Can you explain?

Search for Champion Juicer. I found mine used for around $80.

 

[tallbm]

Realizing we were out of hot dogs, I decided it was time to remedy the situation. I dug around the freezers and ended up with around 13# of mostly beef chuck, and a small amount of fatty pork butt trim. Monday was coarse grinding, seasoning mixing in 5gal bucket with drywall mud paddle, fine grinding, emulsifying, and then stuffing. The Sausage Maker weiner seasoning was used as directed, and mince was kept ice cold during all steps. Perhaps next time I'll try it from scratch. I used a champion juicer for the emulsifying. Since I like a big dog, 31mm cellulose casings were used. A rest overnight in the fridge, and smoking started this AM.
2 hours at 140 degrees with alder pellets in the AMPS. 1hr 45min in the sous vide at 143 degrees. Ice bath, peel off casings, quick rinse off of surface fat, and set out to bloom. Taste is wonderful!
Thanks for looking!


View attachment 646286 View attachment 646287 View attachment 646288 View attachment 646289

Man those look fantastic!

I'll let you in on a secret for when I use cellulose castings and make links the size you made.
I use a triple link approach which will keep the cellulose twists in place because the sausages kind of "tie" themselves together at the twists.

Here is a video to give you the idea. It can seem a little complex but I think this guy makes it look more difficult than it is.
All you are doing is the following:
1. Twist casing to make 3 links (yep these will not hold on their own but will in a triple link)

2. Take the 2 of links that can fold against each other (at their twist) and twist them together to make a 2 sausge "chain link" (this will not hold on its old but we are close)

3. Take the entire rest of the stuff sausage "rope" and pull through the 2 sausage chain link so it wraps over the existing casing twist.
Do this a 2nd time and you will have wrapped the twist in place for all 3 sausages

4. Take the sausage rope and keep going through the chain locking all twists in place and continue steps again starting at 1

Hard to understand in text but now that you've read that, match it up with what this guy is doing.



This speeds things up GREATLY for me since I don't have to stop and tie the links off as much since this technique ties them in place via the linking. I then only have to tie off the ends and the singles that get left over :)

If its too much, then nothing wrong with sticking with your zip ties.

I hope this info helps :)

 

[uncle eddie]

Wow...cool post. Looks great! Thanks for sharing.