Hey guys! I believe this is the first time I have posted. I made 27 pounds of venison hot dogs this past weekend and am not pleased with the result. I’m sure you guys will be able to tell me what went wrong, so here is what I did.

I followed the Bearded Butchers recipe from YouTube. I used 22 (due to the amount in the bags selected) pounds of clean venison and 5 pounds of pork fat. I mixed in 12 ounces of Bearded Butchers Original Seasoning, 4 ounces of Hickory Smoke powder, 4 ounces of minced garlic directly to the meat prior to the first grind. Ground it a total of 5 times through my Waltons #32: first time through 3/8" plate, 2nd - 5th through 1/8" plate. I added 2.5 pounds of ice in the mix for grind #5. Grinder handled it awesome. Moved it to the 50# mixer attached to the #32 grinder. Added 1 ounce of sure cure (Waltons) and 16 ounces of water. Mixed it for 4 minutes, added another 16 ounces of water, mixed for additional 4 minutes (total 8 minutes of mixing). Loaded up the Waltons 11 pound stuffer and stuffed Waltons cellose 26mm hot dog casings. European -style linked. Refrigerated for about 20 hours. Cooking was done with the Traeger Ironwood 885. First 2 hours at 165 degrees. Then, 1 hour at 185, then turned it up to 205 and cooked to internal temperature of 165. Pull them out at 165, placed them immediately into an ice bath for 1 hour. Pulled them out and dried them off.

The issue is… it looks like most of the fat came to the outside of the meat and the dogs seem kind of dry (even though you can see the meat is moist) and the texture is grainy.

Where did I go wrong and what is the solution?

Thanks in advance.

Crown Royal all the way!! Peach Crown and tea when I can get it. Apple Crown and Squirt is refreshing. Beer - There’s always Modelo (Especial or Negro) in my beer fridge, but any dark amber will work. Don’t get me wrong. I will also drink “Yours”. You know, whatever you have in hand and are offering.

I did not. I was following their recipe. I have Sure gel, but didn’t add any. Should I have used it?

Thanks Guys!! This was the first attempt with the new equipment. I will have to try another round.