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Ingredients
Instructions
Prepare the Meat and Spices
Cut the boneless pork shoulder and chuck roast into 1.5" cubes.
Add all dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl, except the powdered milk and water, and mix together. Add the cubes of meat and mix well. Freeze for 30 minutes.
Get it Cold and Grind it Twice
First, grind the meat mixture once with a coarse (⅜") grinding plate.
Grind it a second time second time with a medium (¼") grinding plate. The medium grind is important to get the right texture in the hot links. Mix the dry powdered milk with the water and add it to the ground meat. Using gloved hands, mix it all together until the meat mixture becomes tacky.
Stuff the Casing
Setup the sausage stuffer and rinse and rehydrate the natural casings.
Stuff the natural casings using the sausage stuffer. These hot links were made using medium hog casings.
Smoke Them Low and Slow
Setup the smoker with lump charcoal.
Smoke the hot links until they reach an internal temperature of 155°F.
Chill The Links Then Let Them Bloom
Substitutions
Variations
Equipment
Storage
Final Thoughts
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Pairing
📖 Recipe
Spice it Up - Homemade Texas Hot Links Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Meat Grinder
- 1 Sausage Stuffer
- 1 Smoker
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs prime chuck roast
- 2.5 lbs boneless pork shoulder
- 2 tbs kosher salt
- 2 tbs black pepper freshly ground
- 1 tbs garlic powder
- 1 tbs onion powder
- 2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tbs paprika not smoked
- 2 teaspoon mustard powder
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon Prague powder (Insta cure #1)
- 2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
- ½ cup powdered milk
- ¾ cup water ice cold
- 28-32 mm hog casings
Instructions
- Trim and discard any excess fat or silver from the chuck roast and pork shoulder. Cut the meat into 1.5 inch cubes and mix the pork and chuck roast pieces together with all ingredients except the powdered milk and water. Freeze for 30 minutes. Also freeze the grinder components that will come in contact with the meat.
- Rinse and rehydrate the natural casings. Then, grind the chilled meat using a course, ⅜" plate.
- Regrind it using a ¼" plate. Then mix the dry powdered milk with the water and add to the ground meat. Mix it all together with gloved hands until the mixture gets tacky.
- Load a piece of clean casing onto the sausage stuffer tube and fill the sausage stuffer with the ground meat. Tie a knot in the end of the casing and slow fill it with ground meat. Tie off individual hot links with butcher's twine or twist it between link. If a casing ruptures, just tie off the casing on both sides of the rupture and continue. Tie off the end of the last hot link with twine. Refrigerate the filled hot links for at least an hour.
- Setup the smoker for indirect heat at 160˚F. An offset smoker works with a wood like kiln dried oak. Alternatively, use a Kamado Joe, a Big Green Egg or another smoker and add a small amount of wood chips to the hot coals.
- Smoke the hot links for two hours then raise the temperature of the smoker to 175˚F. Continue to smoke the hot links until the internal temperature reaches 155˚F.
- Remove the hot links from the smoker and immediately plunge them into an ice cold water bath until they reach room temperature. Then hang the hot links or allow them to rest on a rack at room temperature for two hours. This allows the flavors to develop. Hot links will keep refrigerated for 3 -4 days. They also freeze well.
- To serve, cut the hot links on the diagonal into ¼" slices and pan fry until lightly browned on both sides.
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