Texas Hot links.....need a recipe.


 
Bill S.

Bill S.

TVWBB Pro
Just happened to be talking about BBQ with a guy at work today, and mentioned that I wanted to try and do Hot Links. Told him I couldn't find them around here and I wondered if I could make them without a machine. Well he just happens to have one that I can use. So I'm in business. Anyone got a recipe similar to those joints down in Lockhart TX that were on tv. They're the only ones I've seen and they looked delicious. I'm sure I'll have other questions about the process along the way...thx.
 
Well, you can try this version and see what you think. Many spots in Texas use all beef, some beef with pork. Your choice. Texas hot links aren't what I'd call hot.

10 lbs boneless chuck roast - not lean

3 Tbls salt
4 Tbls coarsely ground black pepper
3 Tbls granulated onion
6 cloves garlic, pressed or finely minced
2 tsp savory
2 tsp cayenne
2 tsp ground mustard
1 Tbls MSG
2 tsp pink salt

2 c ice water


Grind the meat through a medium disk. Mix in the rest of the ingredients, except the water, and mix very well. Chill several hours or overnight.

Regrind the meat through a fine disk*. Mix the water in very well. Stuff into hog casings. Hang and allow to dry.

Smoke gently at a low temp, then raise the cooker temp 180 or so. The sausages are done when they hit 152-155. Remove, spray well with cold water to cool, dry well, finish cooing at room temp, then chill, unwrapped, for a couple hours. Package for storage after that point.
 
Well, yes. The flavor will be a bit different but you can.

Oh, the * above. Meant to say that if you wish, reserve some of the medium grind - say, 20% or so - and grind the rest fine when you get to the second grind point. Then stir the medium grind into the fine along with the ice water. Changes the texture.

I can't remember if I've made this particular recipe or not. I spice more substantially so I doubt it. I tend not to follow recipes for sausage unless I'm making a very particular kind. For this type I usually prefer a beef-pork mix and I go 50-50. But I like all beef and all pork. Your choice. Experiment.

Play with it. Pull out a knob of meat after the mix (stick the bowl in the fridge to keep cold) then nuke it just till cooked through. Cool a little and taste. Adjust the seasonings if you wish.

Just like with barbecue, you can make much better sausage yourself than you can get at the Q joints. The sausage in Lockhart (and surrounds) looks better than it is. It's not bad at all - it's okay - but like their barbecue, it is (imo!) wildly overrated.
 
Although I'm a Texan growing up on the Texas/Louisiana border was more a fan of the Louisiana hot links. Always much spicier. Funny as a kid thought of Tabasco as a hot sauce, now it's just a weakly flavored vinager...

Hmm, got a pork butt in the freezer now, may have to make this upon my return home next week.
 
Let us know how it comes out, if it's as good as it looks I might have to make some along with some andoullie for my low country crawfish boil next month
 
My wife is not happy. After reading this thread I started looking at a grinder and thinking hmm I should make my own Hotlinks
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Don't worry. Make some sausages, and let her taste the final result, and you're the hero of the household!

(But read about sausage making first. It's not as easy as it seems. Among other things, you'll need control of temperatures, and fat and salt levels. Very important.)
 
Originally posted by Geir Widar:
Don't worry. Make some sausages, and let her taste the final result, and you're the hero of the household!
Click to expand...

This is the truth. My wife never understood my love of sausages until she started getting homemade ones from me. Now she requests it as a protein for dinner. Never really happened before I stuffed my own.
 
Originally posted by Geir Widar:


(But read about sausage making first. It's not as easy as it seems. Among other things, you'll need control of temperatures, and fat and salt levels. Very important.)
Click to expand...

I figured it was just grinding the meat, adding spices a trowing it in the smoker or grill. I take it I'm wrong.....
 
Nah, that's essentially it. If the recipe if good the bind, spicing and salt should work fine. One can always tweak.

Where sausage making can sometimes be a little tricky is when you are developing your own recipe from scratch (it's worth simply mimicking, if possible, a recipe you you've successfully before, to get the fat level right, e.g., or the liquid addition); or stuffing casings, if you haven't before - not difficult, it just takes getting the hang of the prep (adequately soaking the casings, e.g.), and the process); or making dry-cured sausages, which may or may not rely on fermentation, adequate acidity, the right temp and humidity, that sort of thing. But for typical fresh sausage, smoked/cooked, poached/grilled, etc., it's not difficult. Use food safety protocol at all stages; no worries.
 
Not really. But the taste is different. You can make patties and stuffed sausages from the same mixture, and the taste is quite different. Stuffed sausages wins every time in my book. Magic happens.

Regarding my comment on temperatures, I am not willing to "compete" against mr Krugers advice, but I tried to make sausages for several years, and almost ended up with dry sausages, where the juices cooked on their own inside the casings, leaving the finished product more dry and boring than I would like.
After I started to control the temps on the meat mixture, and keeping the temps down, using ice water, and measuring temperatures, I have made juicy and very nice sausages on numerous occasions.
 
I am not willing to "compete" against mr Krugers advice,
Click to expand...
Nonsense. We're discussing what largely is made up of opinions. I have mine, you have yours, and neither of us should feel we can't share them. That's what makes a discussion board work.

I would not dispute your opinions at all. (I remember an early post of yours on the subject of dry, mealy sausage.) My point above is that the process itself is not difficult, i.e., it is not something one should think of avoiding because the process is trying, hard to get right, or in some other way loaded with insurmountable problems. (This is often not the case with dry-cured sausage, where attention to fermentation, air temp, humidity, most mold avoidance, etc., are key.)

Yes, things might not turn out as one hopes. But then it is matter of figuring out what it amiss - perhaps it was the mix getting too warm, or an insufficient bind, or not enough fat, etc. - kind of like figuring out what might be wrong with a particular barbecue cook. Much of figuring out the problem(s), if any occur, can be fairly easily done via this board, another, through books or online info, and this process will then go a long way toward making future sausage making endeavors work out well from the get-go. Just as you yourself figured out. Jumping in and just doing it is the first step.
 
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