Found

[GusRobin]

For a while now I have been searching for the perfect hot dog ( or at least perfect to my taste preferences). My first try tasted good but wasn't quite there as the texture wasn't quite right. The next batch was a different recipe, made with collagen casings and hot bath to finish. Those came out terrible and after a couple of bites I threw them out. Today I think I found my holy grail. 
I started out with a couple of recipes: one posted by Nepas and one by Roadking. Made a few variations in the recipes and made 2 batches. Mixed the meat and the spices in my Kirby mixer. It did a great job in emulsifying the meat to get the right texture.
Sorry I don't have any pics of the early part of the process. First started with sheep casings. Had a lot of problems with bust outs, plus they are small like breakfast sausages. So I decided to do the rest in hog casings (go big or go home) Here they are ready to go into the bradley at 120* for an hr to dry; an hour of hickory smoke at 140* and then into the hot bath.


out of the bath and blooming



Two of the big dogs and one of the small ones


All in all very tasty. Add store bought hot dogs to the list of things I won't buy anymore.

[Caribou]

Hi Gus,
Congrats on conquering the hotdog!
The look like they came out great :)
Carolyn

[pikeman_95]

Looks good Gus.

I would be interested in the hot dog recipe you came up with. My German Franks are a little more spicy then a regular hot dog. I know what you feel like when you have a batch go bed. I have made some real crap try to find recipes that work well. I am glad the mixer worked out well for you. I tested the 5 gallon version on my last project and it worked OK but I have decided the drive shaft needs to be built a lot stronger. I am going to double the shaft size for the 5 gallon mixer.

any way good looking sausage.
Kirby

[GusRobin]

Here is how I ended up making the hot dogs....
For 10 lbs.
5 lbs lean ground beef 90/10
3 1/2 lbs pork butt
1 1/2 lbs beef fat
2 level tsp cure #1
2 Cups ice water
4 TBS Paprika
6 TBS ground mustard
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp celery seeds
1 TBS mace
1 tsp garlic powder
4 Tbs kosher salt
2 Cups non fat dry milk
4 TBS powder dextrose
1/3 Cup corn syrup solids
32-36mm hog casing

Mix all the dry ingredients (except the cure) and grind to a coarse powder. Put meat into the mixer, add the water, add the ground ingredients. Mix the cure in a small amount of water, pour into mixer. Mix until emulsified. Stuffed in hog casings. I put it in the fridge overnight, only because I ran out of time. Next day I heated the Bradley to 120* put the dogs in for an hour, then 1 hour of hickory at 140*.  Then into a 160* bath until IT reached 152 ish. Then into an ice bath for about 15 minutes. The hang to bloom for about an hour. After that I just threw a few on the grill.

[SouthernSmoked]

Hey Gus,

Dog's look good.

From Gus' Kitchen to Yours!


PS: I'm not a big fan of the sheep casing neither...always had problems.

[ccfdmike]

Wow! I know I'm new to this whole process, but that is really impressive.  One more thing that I have to add to my list of things to try!

Cheers!

[pikeman_95]

Thanks Gus

copied and saved.

KC

[OU812]

Mmmm mm mmmm.

Nothing like a good dog.

Them look gooood.