Homemade Hot Dog Recipes

HOT DOG SAUSAGES

Steps:

• Place ground beef, ground pork, salt, paprika, black pepper, granulated onion, granulated garlic, smoked paprika, and ice water in a bowl. Mix together with fingers until well blended and mixture is dense and solid, about 4 minutes. It's okay to overmix. Wrap dough in plastic; refrigerate at least 2 hours or overnight.
• Place a sheet of plastic wrap on a work surface. Have a bowl of ice water nearby to keep your hands wet and cold. Place 1/4 of the mixture on the plastic wrap. Roughly shape meat into a thick roll and wrap with the plastic. Shape into a thinner roll about as long as a hot dog bun. You can unroll the plastic and "fine tune" the sausage shape after wetting your hands in ice water. Rewrap in plastic and place on a dish; repeat for the remaining sausages. Refrigerate until ready to cook.
• Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat and lightly oil the grate.
• Carefully place sausages on grill and let them cook undisturbed for about 2 minutes to seal the bottom edge. Gently turn completely over to brown the opposite side; cook until brown, about 2 minutes. Brown all surfaces, turning carefully to avoid breaking the sausages, about 5 minutes more. Remove sausages from grill and serve on toasted hot dog buns.

HOMEMADE HOT DOG

Steps:

• Prepare the casings (see instructions below).
• In a blender or food processor, make a puree of the onion, garlic, coriander, marjoram, mace, mustard seed, and paprika.
• Add the pepper, egg white, sugar, salt, and milk and mix thoroughly.
• Grind the pork, beef, and fat cubes through the fine blade separately.
• Mix together and grind again.
• Mix the seasonings into the meat mixture with your hands.
• This tends to be a sticky procedure, so wet your hands with cold water first.
• Chill the mixture for half an hour then put the mixture thorough the fine blade of the grinder once more.
• Stuff the casings and twist them off into six-inch links.
• Parboil the links (without separating them) in gently simmering water for 20 minutes.
• Place the franks in a bowl of ice water and chill thoroughly.
• Remove, pat dry, and refrigerate.
• Because they are precooked, they can be refrigerated for up to a week or they can be frozen.
• Preparing the Casing.
• Snip off about four feet of casing.
• (Better too much than too little because any extra can be repacked in salt and used later.) Rinse the casing under cool running water to remove any salt clinging to it.
• Place it in a bowl of cool water and let it soak for about half an hour.
• While you're waiting for the casing to soak, you can begin preparing the meat as detailed above.
• After soaking, rinse the casing under cool running water.
• Slip one end of the casing over the faucet nozzle.
• Hold the casing firmly on the nozzle, and then turn on the cold water, gently at first, and then more forcefully.
• This procedure will flush out any salt in the casing and pinpoint any breaks.
• Should you find a break, simply snip out a small section of the casing.
• Place the casing in a bowl of water and add a splash of white vinegar.
• A tablespoon of vinegar per cup of water is sufficient.
• The vinegar softens the casing a bit more and makes it more transparent, which in turn makes your sausage more pleasing to the eye.
• Leave the casing in the water/vinegar solution until you are ready to use it.
• Rinse it well and drain before stuffing.

HOT DOG BUNS

Steps:

• In a large bowl (the bowl of a stand mixer if you're using one), stir together 1 cup of flour, sugar, yeast and salt.
• Add water and butter and stir until combined.
• Add two more cups of flour and stir until combined.
• Place bowl in stand mixer, and gradually add remaining 3-4 cups flour, 1/2-1 cup at a time. As your dough gets closer to finishing, reduce the amount of flour you add at once so that you don't add too much. You can make this dough by hand as well -- just stir in flour gradually until you can no longer use a spoon, then knead it in by hand, just until a soft and smooth dough forms. We want to stop adding flour when our dough is just past the sticky point.
• Cover and place dough in a warm spot for 1.5 hours or until doubled (I like to turn my oven on to preheat for a few minutes, then turn it off before placing my dough inside). Punch dough down.
• Uncover dough and divide into 4 even sections. Divide each section into 5 equal sections so you have 20 pieces. Keep remaining pieces covered to prevent drying out while you roll each bun. (For smaller hot dog buns, divide each section into 6 pieces, for a total of 24 buns)
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll each piece of dough into a smooth ball, pinching the seams in the back and rolling until smooth. Place ball on the counter and roll back and forth with both hands to make a cylinder that is roughly 5-6" by 1-1.5". For hot dog buns that are not as thick, press down to flatten slightly. Line up on baking sheets about 1-1.5" apart.
• Once your hot dog buns are all rolled, let rise for 45-60 minutes until doubled again.
• Bake at 400 degrees F for 15-20 minutes, until light golden brown. Optional: brush wth melted butter upon removing from the oven.
• Let cool to room temperature before slicing and serving.

HOW-TO: HOMEMADE BEEF HOT DOGS

Steps:

• Untangle casings and remove the necessary amount. Place remaining casings back into package and store in refrigerator or freezer. Rinse salt from casings and soak in warm water for one hour. 
• Cube chuck roast into inch pieces, then place on a sheet tray, cover, and freeze for 30 minutes. Keeping your meat cold (but not frozen) will make grinding easier and ensure optimal shelf life of your finished product. 
• Compared to bratwurst, hot dogs have a finer texture that comes from the reduced coarseness of the fat. To get this texture, you may have to grind 2-3 times before your meat is ready for mixing. We recommend grinding the first pass of chuck roast through a 3/8" plate.
• Feed meat back into the grinder and pass through a 3/16 inch plate twice. With each pass, you'll see the fat pieces become small and smaller. 
• Place meat in a plastic bowl, tub or any large, non-metallic container. In a glass measuring cup or bowl, mix the cure with 1/4 cup of water, then pour over the ground beef. Mix by hand until distributed. 
• In a separate bowl, whisk together the seasoning, binder flour, and remaining ice water. The binder flour will add protein value to your mixture and will absorb and hold water, leading to less shrinkage in the smokehouse. Pour seasoning mixture over the meat. 
• Continue to mix by hand for 5 minutes, until the meat is tacky. The texture should be sticky and pasty with the seasonings mixed well throughout
• When ready to stuff, find the end of your casing, and run your sink head over it and let water run through. Thread onto a 1/2-inch stuffing horn and gently thread on the rest of the strand. Tie a knot at the end of the casing once it's fully on the stuffing horn.
• Place a metal sheet tray underneath the nozzle of the stuffer. Add 1-2 tablespoons of water to the bottom of the sheet tray so that the sausage slide away from the stuffer without sticking to the bottom.  
• Slowly stuff the casings, making sure to not overstuff (test your fill weight by making a small link at the end of the casing, it should easily twist without bursting or creating large air pockets).
• Once the casings are filled, twist off into desired lengths, about 6-6.5" long. To twist, grab one end and pinch a divot to make a sausage that's about 6-6.5" in length. Grab the first pinch with your left hand and pinch another 6" down with your right hand so you have two links. Twist forward and repeat the process until you've linked all your strands. You can twist forward or backward or alternate as you go--whatever is the most natural to you. Refrigerate overnight.
• Preheat your grill or smoker to 130° F. Hang wieners on smoke sticks, or from stockinette hooks hanging from racks to avoid links touching. 
•  Run with dampers wide open for 30 minutes. Place ¼ pan of moistened sawdust on the burner. Increase temperature to 150 F. Set top damper ⅛ open, bottom damper ¾ open and smoke for 45 minutes. Increase temperature to 170 F and smoke until an internal temperature of 155 F is reached.
• Once internal temperature reaches 155° F, immediately place in a cold-water bath for 20 minutes until internal temperature reaches 100-110° F. Dry at room temperature then grill, boil, roast

BEST HOT DOGS

Steps:

• Add hot dogs to cold salted water and bring them up to a boil. Turn them off and keep them warm in the hot water. Serve warm.
• For an added kick of flavor try splitting the boiled dogs almost all the way in half. Open them up and add to a hot pan which a little olive oil has been added. Cook over medium heat until brown on both sides.