Hot Links From Scratch Recipes

HOMEMADE PORK HOT LINKS

Steps:

• Place the cubed pork shoulder in the freezer. When the pork is half frozen, remove and grind using the LEM Products #12 Big Bite Grinder with a coarse (10 mm) die.
• Combine the Cattleman's Grill 8 Second Ride Carne Asada Seasoning, Code 3 Spices Grunt Rub, House of Q Slow Smoked Gold Mustard Sauce, cayenne powder and smoked paprika and mix well.
• Combine the ground pork and seasoning mixture and mix by hand to evenly distribute the seasonings. Grind the pork a second time through a fine die (5 mm). Chill the sausage mixture for 20 minutes.
• Transfer the sausage to the bowl of a KitchenAid 5 Quart Stand Mixer. You may need to divide the mixture in half and work in batches. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed to form the primary bind, about 60 seconds. Transfer the mixture to a LEM Products 10 lb Sausage Stuffer.
• Feed your soaked and rinsed LEM Products Natural Hog Casings onto the horn of the stuffer. Lay out a sheet pan with water on it under the stuffer. Stuff the casings. Tie off the end. Twist sausages, if desired, using the pinch - pinch - twist method. Store in the refrigerator, uncovered, overnight, if smoking. Smoke sausage at 225°F until the internal temperature reaches 160°F. Alternatively, grill the sausages over high heat (400°F+) over indirect heat until the internal temperature reaches 160°F.

HOT LINKS FROM SCRATCH

Steps:

• Cut the pork and beef trimmings into approximately 1⁄2 inch cubes. In a large bowl, combine the chopped meat, the rub, and a cup of water to help distribute the rub evenly, and mix thoroughly. Place the seasoned meat back in the fridge at least three hours or overnight for the following day.
• After the rub has set on the meat, run the meat through a meat grinder on the coarse setting according to the manufacturer's instructions.
• Using your hands, mix the meat thoroughly. Once the meat is mixed properly, you should be able to grab a handful of meat and it should stick together.
• In a large bowl, soak the hog casings in warm water for 10-15 minutes. Stuff casings using a sausage stuffer, according to the manufacturer's instructions. We typically like to make our links 4-6 inches long.
• Set your smoking temperature to 225°F. Smoke the links until they reach an internal temperature of 165°F, about 30 minutes. Also look for a beautiful red color on the sausage. Take your cooked links, place on a piece of white bread, spoon some of your favorite BBQ sauce on the side, and serve.

SMOKED HOT LINKS

Steps:

• If you're using sausage casings, the day before you plan to stuff the sausage, rinse the casings under cold water inside and out. Prepare a solution of 1 cup water to 1 capful of cider vinegar. Soak the casings in the solution overnight.
• In a large bowl, mix the pork with the garlic, sage, parsley, salt, fennel, oregano, thyme, pepper, and cayenne. Stir. If using casings, mix in the ice water if the meat mixture is too dry to stuff into the casings.
• Stuff the sausage mixture into the casings or make into loaves, sticks, or patties. If you're making sticks, links, or logs, it helps to use plastic wrap to form the meat into the desired shape. Hang stuffed casings for at least an hour in a cool, dry place and then refrigerate at least overnight but for no more than 5 days before using. Sticks, links, or logs can be cooked immediately.
• You can fry, smoke, or grill the sausage as desired.

TEXAS HOT LINKS

Steps:

• Cut the venison and pork into chunks that will fit into your grinder. Mix well with the salt and sugar. Let this sit in the fridge for as long as you can stand, up to overnight if you have time; it helps the sausage bind to itself better.
• Get out about 10 to 15 feet of hog casings and soak them in warm water.
• Mix the spices and garlic with the meat and fat and grind though a coarse die, about 10 mm. If you don't have that, grind with as coarse a die as you have. If your room is warmer than about 70°F, grind into a container that is set in ice, to keep things very cold.
• If the meat is still below 40°F, go ahead and grind again through a 6 mm die or similar. TIP: If you have some bread around, rip off a piece and make that the last thing in the grinder: It pushes out all of the rest of the meat so you don't waste any. If the meat is above 40°F, put it in the freezer for 30 minutes while you clean up everything.
• Add the beer (or water) to the sausage mixer and mix well with your (clean) hands, or a mixer with a paddle attachment set on low, for about 2 minutes. The sausage will adhere to itself and you will see whitish streaks in the bowl. Put the sausage in a sausage stuffer.
• Thread a casing onto the stuffer, leaving a few inches as a "tail" so you can tie it off later. Stuff the whole casing at once, again leaving a tail at the other end. Repeat until you've stuffed all the sausage.
• Make links by pinching them off and spinning them, first one way, then the other. This prevents them from unraveling when you hang the links to dry. You can also tie them off with twine. Here's a quick video on making the links. Tie off the ends of the casings.
• Carefully compress the links to reveal air pockets, and prick the links with a needle to remove them, gently compressing the meat.
• Hang your sausages to dry, for an hour at room temperature, or up to a day if you can do so in 40°F or below.
• Smoke your hot links at 200°F or thereabouts until they reach about 150°F internal temperature. Then, either eat them or plunge them into a bath of ice water to stop the cooking. Dry them off and store in the fridge for a week, or freeze.

HOMEMADE HOT DOG

Steps:

• Prepare the casings (see instructions below).
• In a blender or food processor, make a puree of the onion, garlic, coriander, marjoram, mace, mustard seed, and paprika.
• Add the pepper, egg white, sugar, salt, and milk and mix thoroughly.
• Grind the pork, beef, and fat cubes through the fine blade separately.
• Mix together and grind again.
• Mix the seasonings into the meat mixture with your hands.
• This tends to be a sticky procedure, so wet your hands with cold water first.
• Chill the mixture for half an hour then put the mixture thorough the fine blade of the grinder once more.
• Stuff the casings and twist them off into six-inch links.
• Parboil the links (without separating them) in gently simmering water for 20 minutes.
• Place the franks in a bowl of ice water and chill thoroughly.
• Remove, pat dry, and refrigerate.
• Because they are precooked, they can be refrigerated for up to a week or they can be frozen.
• Preparing the Casing.
• Snip off about four feet of casing.
• (Better too much than too little because any extra can be repacked in salt and used later.) Rinse the casing under cool running water to remove any salt clinging to it.
• Place it in a bowl of cool water and let it soak for about half an hour.
• While you're waiting for the casing to soak, you can begin preparing the meat as detailed above.
• After soaking, rinse the casing under cool running water.
• Slip one end of the casing over the faucet nozzle.
• Hold the casing firmly on the nozzle, and then turn on the cold water, gently at first, and then more forcefully.
• This procedure will flush out any salt in the casing and pinpoint any breaks.
• Should you find a break, simply snip out a small section of the casing.
• Place the casing in a bowl of water and add a splash of white vinegar.
• A tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water is sufficient.
• The vinegar softens the casing a bit more and makes it more transparent, which in turn makes your sausage more pleasing to the eye.
• Leave the casing in the water/vinegar solution until you are ready to use it.
• Rinse it well and drain before stuffing.

HOT ITALIAN SAUSAGE

Steps:

• Place the ground pork into a large bowl. Season with salt, garlic salt, black pepper and paprika. In a blender or food processor, blend together the oil, anise seed, fennel seed and red pepper flakes. Mix everything into the ground pork until well blended. Refrigerate for 24 hours to let flavors blend. Bag and freeze in portions that suit your needs.