Tub of pups….

Here’s part of a 25 pound batch of hot dogs, venison of course. I did them slightly different this year. Instead of smoking and then finishing in hot water bath I cool smoked these and any they’ll now go right into vacuum bags and get sealed. I’ve always tried to get the temp up enough to cook these to 160 degrees and them give them a hot water soak. This takes a ton of time and so often the hot dogs can get dry when grilling. I slid a few of these out of the lug and grilled them for my lunch and they are about as juicy as one could want and the flavor is out of sight.

I leave the links attached as much as possible when packaging….just an old lazy habit really but I also think it helps keep their shape a bit better. I pack mine in 5’s since its just Ma and I.

This is the end of the venison from this fall. I still have several pork shoulders to bone out for bratwurst a bit later into the winter and I’ll be doing breakfast sausage then too. Today is a dedicated dog day though.

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Those look delicious! I am sure there are plenty of folks around here that would gladly help you and “Ma” put a dent in them.

lol

Ma took a bite of one and just smiled….always a good sign. Probably won’t need any help with these dogs.

Looks Great Tom!! We started cold smoking ours a number of years ago, and then right into the vacuum seal bags as well. We figured we are cooking them anyway when they would come out of the freezer why cook them in a water bath before we freeze them? We also do the same with our ring baloney. Cold smoke and into the vacuum seal bags. Saves a ton of time. I could get the temp up in the smoker if I wanted to finish them in there but I figure what for if we a cooking them anyhow. Seems to have worked fine for us for many years. Our next smoke will be January 18th – 20th. Snack sticks and hotdogs.

I’m doing 20 pounds of deer “snack sticks, meat sticks, spice sticks) whatever you want to call em’ – sticks, that are stuffed through 19mm casings hung in the smoker @ not more than 160 to 180 degree cabinet temps tomorrow. (Stuffed them today and will puff some smoke on to them tomorrow.)

One thing that I found out this year for sure is not to use leftover collagen casings from the past years as they are very brittle! The old ones were noticeably not as nicely stuffed and blew out quickly. Man I hate it when I blow a hole the casing, the meat is getting so sticky and I have to do a reload after trying to clean it out!