Spice it Up - Homemade Texas Hot Links
Texas hot links are a staple item in any Texas BBQ joint worth its salt. They are a bit spicy, full of flavor and slow smoked to perfection. The best part is that Texas hot links are really easy to make.
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.
Video
Notes
PAID AFFILIATE LINKS
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Nutrition
Calories: 117kcalCarbohydrates: 3gProtein: 17gFat: 4gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0.01gCholesterol: 46mgSodium: 931mgPotassium: 354mgFiber: 0.5gSugar: 2gVitamin A: 240IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 50mgIron: 1mg
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