Parksider I do use a temperature probe in the meat yes. I’m going to do another batch again soon and try and perfect it, I will for sure try and do a smaller batch and see what I can do to improve it. Should you always smoke the dogs first or could it go right into a sous vide?

Do you guys mind sharing the cook schedule when finishing in water?

Tagging along, as I had the same issue yesterday

Jonathon I agree. I’m going to buy a new cooker and hopefully that solves a lot of my problems. I thought the sous vide was going to be perfect for the hot dogs but I was really surprised it “fatted out” or whatever the term is. I should have probably started at 120 or so and worked up but for some reason I spaced out. I’ll be curious how your turn out and what kind of schedule you use for the sous vide

Jonathon I mixed it for 10 minutes with a meat mixer, it was mixed really well and very sticky, so I don’t think that was the issue. I think its likely my cooking schedule, my traeger will only go up to around 130-140 on smoke, then I have to go up to 180 which often spikes up as high as 230, which I figure is high enough to render the fat out. I kept an eye on it and kept turning it down but probably still got too hot too fast. My oven will go pretty low on “keep warm” but it acts weird and I think its possibly getting hotter at times also, but that I don’t know for sure as I didn’t have a temperature probe in there, only in the meat. Then I also had a batch in the sous vide at 150, it cooked REALLY fast and probably just got too hot too fast, I’m guessing. But I know it never got over 150

I made 25lbs this weekend, using the polish seasoning. 30% pork fat to lean venison. The flavor is great, I do like it a lot more than the regular hot dogs I made last time but I messed something up, as the fat cooked out of the meat and essentially boiled the little dogs in fat, leaving me with a mess when I took the casings off and some pretty ugly looking dogs. Last time this was such a simple process and they looked really great. Any ideas what I did wrong? I used sure gel and mixed the meat really well with good protein extraction, maybe cooked too hot too fast? I don’t have a great cooker that starts low and can gradually go up in temp as the recipe suggests so I’m wondering if thats where I went wrong

Jonathon Yes I am going to use the 26mm cellulose casings. I wish you sold smaller quantities of the 28mm so I could get them a little thicker but like I said Im going to try and just make really sure I get the casings good and full. Those casings are so easy to use and remove, it sure makes making hot dogs a breeze. The sausage linker would sure be handy, that was about my only frustrating part last time was twisting links and having them end up coming undone. Chili dog does sound like a really good one to try also, as do hot link or german, thats where I’m struggling here

Last year I made a batch of hot dogs out of some deer meat and we really loved them. I wished they were a little larger in diameter, they were a little skinny and seem to dry out easily, but I have a couple things I’m going to tweak this time, along with making sure I really stuff the casing full and also ice bath them well. My main question is the seasoning. I used the hotdog/ bologna seasoning pack, flavor was fine just a normal plain tasting hot dog but I’m looking for a little more flavor this time, thinking maybe polish? What have others used? I’m going to make a couple flavors of brats also, and I want these to definitely be more along the lines of a hot dog than something fancy, just looking for something with a touch more flavor.

Any help or tips are really appreciated

I’m going to make some hot dogs and bologna this weekend using the hot dog and bologna seasoning, am I understanding it right that I can mix the whole batch up the same and stuff some into hot dog casings and some into the bologna chub? I’ll be using venison, should I add 15% beef fat?

Thanks for the help,
Chad

How big of a batch are you making?

I’d like to try making bologna from some deer meat I have, so I can more easily use it up by making sadwiches etc but I don’t see many articles for this. Can someone help me out with a recipe and what all I need to do this?

I have really been struggling with making snack sticks, with several failed attempts to the point I’m almost ready to give up.

My issue isn’t flavor, its look and texture. I cannot get that tight, lightly wrinkled look of a snack stick. My meat just doesn’t seem to bind to the casing like it should. The casing always ends up kind of loose, and when you bite into it or try and break a piece in half, the casing and meat separate which is pretty unappetizing.

I am using wild game meat, and I have been experimenting with fat ratios, some batches I know I have done too lean.

I haven’t been adding the protein binder, or citric acid (I am not sure why, not reading the recipe correct I guess) but this next batch I plan to use it and see if that helps, if I fail again though I’m ready to throw in the towel, its getting frustrating so I’d love some help and input. Snack sticks are a great way to eat up ground wild game but it sure is kicking my butt so far.