Yep. Another hot dog thread.

[SmokyMose]

Good afternoon! You may want to grab a beverage. This is a long one :-)
I'd been wanting to make some lower sodium dogs for the Mrs. and the attempt at all beef was a total disaster, but I won't go into that.
I went with all pork this time with different casings.

I had a recipe from SmokinEdge that was almost identical to one from meatsandsausages.com except for the coriander. Good enough.
What I came up with was:
2 Kg meat
5g cure#1
15g Morton's kosher salt
15g salt substitute (NoSalt brand)
5g powder dextrose
4g white pepper
2g ground coriander
2g paprika
1g mace
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 tsp liquid smoke (Colgin mesquite)
1/2 cup soy protein concentrate
1-1/2 to 2 cups ice water (I don't measure water)

So I had 4# of cut up shoulder in the freezer but I needed .4# more to make 2Kg.
Cut up some smoked belly. Why not? Ground it up first with the 1/4" plate and again with the 3/16" plate.

I mixed up with everything but the SPC and liquid smoke, adding water as needed, then covered and into the fridge overnight.
Next day mixed again with the SPC and liquid smoke and water. Got a wet, sticky mass. Perfect.
Time to stuff.
First time using cellulose for me. Here's where I learned a little lesson.
When using hog casings I prick a couple of holes in the end of a new link to let air out. Mistake with cellulose.
I had four of them open up a little at the end while drying. I just re-tied and wound up with four shorter links and didn't really lose much meat. Lesson learned.

I let them sit overnight in the fridge to dry a bit. No more blowouts and they shrunk up a tad.
So the next day I experimented a bit. I did some of them in the SV at 140F for 2hrs and some of them in the oven at 170F until they hit 149IT (which also took almost 2hrs).
The oven ones colored up but the SV ones didn't. (?)
After their cold bath they went back into the fridge (again).

Finally it's cook time! The casings peeled off easily.
Another lesson learned. When the Mrs. says she wants hers "well done" don't let Anheuser-Busch take over.
"Yes, Dear"
Got a little too done for me but they were still good and still juicy believe it or not.

I didn't notice any taste difference between the SV'd ones or the baked ones.
So yesterday I went a different route.
Much better!
This recipe is a keeper and I'll be using it. For what it's worth I'm estimating the sodium to be around 350-360mg per link.

Special thanks to chopsaw and chefjimmyj for tips and encouragement.
Thanks for looking, keep learning and stuff on!
Dan

 

[SmokinEdge]

Those are some fine looking dogs. Great job, but most of all I’m glad you made them and you have a recipe you like. That’s gold right there. Nicely done, big like.

Edit: I bet those SV Dogs turned red when grilled.

 

[motocrash]

Good Looking dogs. Good to hear you created a "keeper" recipe, thanks for sharing. Lower salt content is something we all should put a little more focus on.

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

Very nice man! Recipe sounds great and the dogs look top notch!

 

[thirdeye]

I've never used cellulose casings either. If I'm reading this right you had no smoker time, just one batch in the oven and the other in SV? I don't recall the reason for the stripe.... but don't they come with a red or black stripe?

 

[rc4u]

i know in the days of old Accent or {msg} got a bad rap but ya know the fda still has not found any proof of any complaints... its 60% less sodium than salt and i use it along with the japenese cooks{they have a flavor name for it} just have to learn a little about how much to use..

 

[checkdude]

Nice looking dogs. Have made them once but did not care for the taste. Time to try again with your recipe if you don't mind. Grad kids go bananas over hot dogs and I don't mind them once in a while.

 

[rc4u]

i posted a while back about how i used my dehydrator for my summer sausage and turned out great.. my next batch of dogs i am gonna try it again.., i use 26-28mm hog casings

 

[SmokyMose]

Those are some fine looking dogs. Great job, but most of all I’m glad you made them and you have a recipe you like. That’s gold right there. Nicely done, big like.

Edit: I bet those SV Dogs turned red when grilled.

Thank you! Yes, once they were grilled it was hard to tell them apart.

 

[chopsaw]

Look great Dan . Nice work .
I'm ready to make some more .

 

[SmokyMose]

I've never used cellulose casings either. If I'm reading this right you had no smoker time, just one batch in the oven and the other in SV? I don't recall the reason for the stripe.... but don't they come with a red or black stripe?

No smoker time. Liquid smoke instead.
Supposedly the reason for the stripe is so you can tell at a glance if the casing has been peeled off. Seems silly to me because it's pretty obvious.
These came with a black stripe.

 

[SmokyMose]

i know in the days of old Accent or {msg} got a bad rap but ya know the fda still has not found any proof of any complaints... its 60% less sodium than salt and i use it along with the japenese cooks{they have a flavor name for it} just have to learn a little about how much to use..

Actually I've been using Accent in my "Kosher Style Beef Sausage" for awhile now. Adds a little kick....

 

[SmokyMose]

Look great Dan . Nice work .
I'm ready to make some more .

Thanks, Rich! Your help had a lot to do with this.

 

[SmokyMose]

i posted a while back about how i used my dehydrator for my summer sausage and turned out great.. my next batch of dogs i am gonna try it again.., i use 26-28mm hog casings

Sounds interesting. Wouldn't a dehydrator dry them out?

 

[Brokenhandle]

Those are some good looking dogs! We don't eat them very often, I should try making my own but the to do list is awful long already!

Ryan

 

[thirdeye]

No smoker time. Liquid smoke instead.
Supposedly the reason for the stripe is so you can tell at a glance if the casing has been peeled off. Seems silly to me because it's pretty obvious.
These came with a black stripe.

Yep, that's obvious all right. Are they easy to peel, and I'm assuming you peel after the shower step? And what size did you use, I need to make a Walton's order soon and they have options.

 

[SmokyMose]

Yep, that's obvious all right. Are they easy to peel, and I'm assuming you peel after the shower step?

Actually I vacuumed and froze with the casings on and a little snip at the end before cooking and they come right off.

 

[SmokyMose]

Nice looking dogs. Have made them once but did not care for the taste. Time to try again with your recipe if you don't mind. Grad kids go bananas over hot dogs and I don't mind them once in a while.

I don't mind at all and would be flattered if you like them.

 

[rc4u]

i dunno yet but worked great on my summer sausage..somebodys gotta try it.. ovens have lots of air flow to... and i can control temps like a smoker.. and we are not going for jerky here .. mid way in jerky dry is soft n moist.

Sounds interesting. Wouldn't a dehydrator dry them out?

 

[thirdeye]

Nice looking dogs. Have made them once but did not care for the taste. Time to try again with your recipe if you don't mind. Grad kids go bananas over hot dogs and I don't mind them once in a while.

It's funny but some sausage recipes have 3 ingredients and are good, but almost every hot dog (frankfurter) recipe I've seen has 8, 10, 12 ingredients. I finally figured out it's small amounts of signature spices that make the flavor pop. For example, I don't use mace in anything but hotdogs.