What Is A Hot Dog?

Hot dogs, frankfurters, wieners, or whatever name you are familiar with…Is just a sausage with a very small meat particle size, typically emulsified to where the fat and lean particles in the meat are basically indistinguishable from one another. Hot Dogs can be made from beef, pork, chicken, poultry, wild game, or a combination of meats. Another staple feature of hot dogs is to make a skinless product. This is usually done by using a cellulose casing, and then stripping it off of the final product, but this is not a requirement and collagen casings or natural casings can still be used.

Meat Block

25lb 80/20 beef trim

Additives

1 package Excalibur Hot Dog Seasoning
1oz Sure Cure (packet included with seasoning)
6oz Sure Gel Meat Binder
2oz Smoked Meat Stabilizer¹
2 to 3 lb High Temperature Cheese (optional)
26mm Cellulose Hot Dog Casings
1 Quarts Ice Cold Water ¹

Process

Grind the meat 3 times. 1st through a 3/8in (10mm) grinder plate, then the 2nd and 3rd grind will be done with a 1/8in (3mm) grinder plate.
Always use a sharp grinder knife and plate to help retain a better particle definition, color, and help prevent any smearing of the meat.

Meat Mixing

Using a meat mixer is preferred to hand mixing when making hot dogs. Many other products like a fresh bratwurst can be adequately mixed by hand, but we need to make sure we get a lot of protein extraction for hot dogs. That is a bit more difficult to achieve in hand mixing but still a possibility to do if you don’t have an actual meat mixer. We are going to mix for about 8 minutes in total. When you start the mixer, just start adding all the ingredients, except the High Temp Cheese. This last ingredient can be added in the last 45-60 seconds of the cycle, or just long enough to evenly disperse. Over mixing the cheese can lead to smearing and loss of shape. When you are done mixing the product should be extremely sticking, which means you are getting a lot of protein extraction.

Sausage Stuffing

Load your sausage stuffer and be careful not to create air pockets. Begin stuffing until the casings are full with a smooth exterior. Stuff into as long of ropes as possible, and then you can cut them to length when you are ready to place them in a smokehouse or oven.

Processing Notes

Whenever possible, try to separate the lean meat from the fat prior to grinding and mixing. Mix all of the seasoning in with the half of the lean meat and don’t add the remaining lean meat and fat until the second half of the mixing cycle. This will give you a temporarily higher salt content in the meat which will help with the emulsification of protein in the meat and the binding of the rest of the meat, fat, and water in the final product.
(If you do not use a cure accelerator like Smoked Meat Stabilizer, then hold in a refrigerator for approximately 12 hours or overnight before cooking)

Thermal Processing

Either hang on smoke sticks or lay on racks in your smokehouse or oven. Just be sure to leave a slight gap between the snack sticks. A simple cooking schedule you can follow is here:
120F for 15 minutes
130F for 30 minutes
140F for 30 minutes
150F for 30 minutes
175F until internal meat temp of 150F and hold temp for 5 minutes (or 160F)
(keep humidty as high as possible; add water pan to smokehouse)

Cooling & Stripping Casings

To help prevent wrinkling we need to shower the hot dogs when they are done cooking or put them in an ice water bath. It should only take around 10-15 minutes to get the temperature to drop down. After they are cool, you can easily strip the cellulose casings off the hot dogs. Then, we’ll let them set out for about 1 hour before moving to the refrigerator/freezer. After we are totally done with the cooling process, then we will package in vacuum pouches for longer term storage.

Wrap up

Walton’s has everything you need (except the meat) to make great hot dogs at home, plus we have the knowledge to help you perfect your own processes. If you have any questions or need help in your process, please share your questions or comments below.

Other Notes

1. For Home Processors 2 Qts Will Make Stuffing Easier (Return to text)
2. If you do not use a cure accelerator like Encapsulated Citric Acid or Smoked Meat Stabilizer, then after it has been stuffed into its casing hold in a refrigerator for approximately 12 hours or overnight (Return to text)
Place a small pan of water in the bottom of smokehouse during entire cooking cycle to help increase humidity
If your smoker, smokehouse, dehydrator, or oven cannot reach temperatures as low as 120F, just start as low as possible and slowly increase the temperature over time

Watch WaltonsTV: How To Make Homemade Hot Dogs

Shop waltonsinc.com for Cellulose Sausage Casings

Shop waltonsinc.com for Collagen & Natural Casings

Shop waltonsinc.com for Hot Dog Seasoning

Shop waltonsinc.com for Sausage Stuffers