Hot Dog Recipe

Make your own hot dogs with this recipe— tested and approved by over 100 people at my husband’s 40th birthday party. I stayed up all night stuffing and tying hot dogs for that party, and even had help from the kids. Good times, great memories…though might never make that many hot dogs outside of a commercial kitchen again! This recipe makes a manageable 5-pound (2.5kg) batch. For best results, cold smoke then hot cook these dogs on the grill. Or, you can hot smoke them and plunge them in ice water afterward to prevent unsightly shriveling in the casings.

If you need to learn more skills to make this recipe, see my online courses, specifically the Sausage Making Bundle, which will get you basic sausage making and the preparation of suspensions which covers hot dogs and bologna. You might also consider my Smoking Meats course which gets you a fully comprehensive course on tending fire and wood smoke for successful cold, warm, and hot smoking of meats.

Ingredients:

2.1 lb. / 953 g pork lean trim

1.6 lb. / 726 g pork back fat

1.2 oz./34 g sea salt or kosher salt

0.6 oz. / 17 g cane sugar

0.2 oz. / 5.6 g cure #1 (optional if you plan to hot smoke immediately after stuffing)

2.88 oz. / 82 g dry milk powder

0.2oz. / 5.6 g ground mustard

0.25 oz. / 7 g chili powder

0.25 oz. / 7 g sweet paprika

0.3oz. / 8.5 g ground white pepper

0.25 oz. / 7 g ground coriander

0.8 oz. / 23 g garlic

20 oz. / 567 g crushed ice, divided

Process:

Chill your grinder’s moving parts and the bowl you plan to grind into in the freezer overnight. Mix all ingredients and about 1/3 of the ice and grind twice through the coarse plate of your meat grinder. Add another 1/3 of the ice and grind everything once through the fine plate. Finally, add the remaining ice and grind the mix once through the super fine plate. That’s 4 total grinds. If you do not have a super fine plate, you might consider 3 grinds through the fine plate for a total of 5 grinds. Metering out the ice this way will help to keep the mixture cold. Additionally, temp the mix as you grind to make sure it stays under 40F / 4C. If it comes above this mark stop and chill the mix while you clean your grinder, then begin again.

Once the mix is properly ground, chill and prepare sheep casings or 19mm collagen casings. If I am using collagen casings I tie in between each link so I prepare little pieces of butcher’s twine in advance. If using sheep casings you will need to rinse and soak them first. Stuff the hot dogs into the casings. You can smoke them immediately after stuffing, or if you’re like me, you’ll want to hang them in the smoker overnight. This will allow smoke to adhere better. Smoke the hot dogs. If you are hot smoking, smoke them until they are cooked to 138 F / 58 C and then shock them in an ice bath. If you are cold smoking, smoke them until you are satisfied with their color and smokiness, then pull them off and grill the ones you want to eat right away. Flash freeze the left overs and vacuum seal them, then you can pull them, thaw them and grill them off quickly at your next party.