A Little Spice Help Please

[josbocc]

Hey everyone,

A couple of months ago, a buddy of mine took some venison to a place called Tri-Town Meats in Northern, NY and had some Jalapeno Cheddar Hot Dogs made.  They were fantastic!  Of course this prompted me to start doing some investigating, especially since my brand new LEM 3/4 hp grinder arrived last week  :D.

I have a package of LEM's frankfurter spice mix, and a bag of high temp cheddar.  I made my own Chipotle powder a few months ago, and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions about how much Chipotle powder I should be using for 12.5 lbs. of hot dogs.  I don't want it overpowering, but I do want to taste the jalapeno flavor.  I'm out of venison, so this is going to be a 50/50 mix of ground beef and pork butt.

Your suggestions, as always, are greatly appreciated.

Jeff

[RexLan]

Add jalapeño flakes, the real deal, or the chopped up ones from the jar in the store instead if that is the flavor you want.

If you want the smoke then I use 1 gram/lb of meat of powered/liquid smoke.

If you want bot then use both.

There is no way to know what strength you home brew is but if I was having to use it I would try 2g/lb of meat as a start.

The cheese, IMO, will add nothing to a hot dog and may actually distract from it.

[josbocc]

Rex,

Thanks for the advice.  I would have agreed about the cheese, but when I had the dogs that my friend had made for him, it was just the right addition.  Gonna do the first 12.5 lbs. with the cheese, maybe the second 12.5 without. 

As far as smoking goes, I'm still undecided.  I may smoke in the Bradley, or I may just do the hot water bath.  Hope to take some pics, and share the results.

Thank Again,
Jeff

[Habanero Smoker]

With a chili powder Marianski recommends starting with .5g per 2.2lbs of meat; so I believe that would be 2.9g for 12.5lbs of meat. Keep in mind he doesn't state what chile pepper, but chipotle if fairly mild compared to the other chiles. I've used his recommendations from his ingredient guide, and were pleased with the results. Remember you can always add more, after sampling the test patty.

[josbocc]

Gentlemen,

I sort of split the difference from the two recommendations that I was given.  Went with the equivalent of 1 gram per two pounds of frankfurter mix.  Did a test patty, and I am very happy.  The new LEM grinder performed flawlessly, especially with the foot switch.  Meat is emulsified, and I am going to let it rest tonight.  Not for flavor purposes, but rather just too damn tired.

Going to stuff tomorrow, and probably into the hot water bath.  It's snowing up here again in the Great White North, so I think the smoked dogs will wait for another day.

Thanks again for the input folks.

Jeff

[Habanero Smoker]

It does sound like a good combination of ingredients.