Once again inspired by cheap minced beef at the local supermarket, I was left trying to find a new sausage to try. All beef hot dogs are very common in the US, this is my take on this classic, the only issue I had was that my mince didn’t appear to be fatty enough, the normal ratio in commercial products is up to 50% meat to fat, this recipe adds cooking oil to the emulsion to try and recreate the mouth feel of the normal hotdog.
This is not a recipe for the beginner, it is a lot of work, and the risk of failure is great, it requires a close eye on temperature to ensure that the emulsion doesn’t fail. This recipe doesn’t contain any artificial binders or chemicals to assist the formation of the emulsion or to replace it, it is a test of the sausage makers skill to reproduce at home! Good Luck!
Ingredients:
800g of minced beef
20g salt
3g cure #1 (pink salt)
280g finely crushed ice
30 mls of light corn syrup
4g dextrose
6g minced garlic
9g mustard powder
6g hungarian paprika
3g coriander seeds, roasted and ground
2g fresh ground white pepper
1 1/2 tsp of liquid smoke (essential for that hot dog flavour) you can leave this out if you want to cold smoke the sausages
100g of chilled cooking oil (placed in fridge)
3 mtrs lamb casing
Instructions:
Mix the salt and cure #1 with the minced beef, mince through a fine disc, place onto a tray and place in the freezer until chilled but not completely frozen.
Mix all the spices and the liquid smoke (if using) with the minced beef, and again grind through a fine disc.
Place the farce into the bowl of a food mixer and using a beater work the forcemeat on high speed for 3 minutes slowly adding the crushed ice. This process will help in producing the protein emulsion which is what will bind the meat, fats, moisture and liquid oil into your sausage.
Slowly dribble the chilled oil into the bowl of the food mixer, the soluble protein in the farce will coat the oil and entrap it as long as the farce is kept cold.
Do a quenelle test on a portion of the farce to check the seasoning.
Place the farce back into the fridge while you are doing the quenelle test and preparing the lamb casing and stuffer.
Stuff the casing and link into 200 mm links. Place the links into the refrigerator overnight for the maturing and to allow the cure #1 to work.
The next morning if you are cold smoking, cold smoke the sausages for 2 hours.
Prepare a large pan of hot water and poach the sausages in water keep between 70 and 80 degrees C, until the internal temperature of the sausage reaches 60 degrees C. 10 minutes should be fine.
Chill the sausages in very cold or preferably iced water, remove and dry.
These next pictures show the emulsion and the bind, unfortunately the emulsion is not perfect as is shown in the first picture, there are air bubbles! I first thought that this was due to rendering out of fat particles, but there was no sign of this in the poaching water which was completely fat free! It must be caused by the beating of the food mixer. I will try beating the mixture at a lower speed next time and see if that helps. The bind is fine, and this was achieved without the assistance of chemicals or additional binders!
As these sausages are already cooked they will keep for about 1 week in the fridge, but will freeze for many months!