Frankfurter is a German emulsified sausage originating from the town of Frankfurt. If the hot dog has a more sophisticated older brother, this would be him. The flavor’s from this frankfurter are delicate and sublime.
This sausage is cased in a small diameter sheep casing which gives it a beautiful “SNAP” when you bit into it. As far as cooking goes it can be poached and/or smoked and is absolutely delicious with potato salad, warmed sauerkraut, or a nice beer.
If you choose to poach your sausage you might want to think about getting this handy tool. It’s called a DOT from Thermaworks and comes in incredibly useful when monitoring the temperature of your poaching liquid. I also use it when frying to keep my oil temperature in check.
The real challenge in this sausage though is the emulsification part. If made correctly this sausage has a smooth, springy texture that’s an absolute joy to eat. The easiest way to achieve this is with a food processor. I use a commercial grade food processor called a Robot Coupe. If you want to make this at home you’ll want to make sure the blades on your food processor are sharp and the motor is strong enough to handle chopping semi-frozen mean and fat. the last thing you want to do is burn you food processor out trying to make an emulsified sausage.
If you don’t want to bother with the emulsified part of this recipe you can always grind your very chilled meat and fat several times, ending on a fine plate. Then mix it till it’s nice and sticky. This won’t give you the same smooth texture but it’ll be close enough.
Follow basic emulsified sausage preparation practices when making this sausage.
- Clean and Sanitize all of your equipment.
- Keep your meat and grinder parts super cold (below 34F)
- Grind your meat and fat separately.
- Season the ground meat with salt and cure and refrigerate overnight
- When it comes time to chop, chop the meat first till smooth
-keep temp under 40F - When you add the fat add the rest of the seasonings and binders
-keep temp under 55F - Add ice in 1/3 increments to maintain a low temperature
-during the chopping of the meat
-during the addition of fat
– towards the end of the chopping process - Chop till farce is smooth – fat and meat particles are no longer visible and everything looks homogenous
- Stuff the farce into sausage casings and prick out any air pockets
- Cook by poaching in 176F water for 1 minute for every “mm” that your casing is wide.
-20mm sausage will poach for 20 minutes
Here are a few things you might find useful when making sausage
- High Quality Natural Casings (AA Grade)
- Iodophor Sanitizer
- MK4 Thermapen (Accurate Thermometer)
- Chef Knife – KOTAI
- Boning Knife
- Sausage Pricker
- Iwatani Professional Chef Torch
- Insta Cure #1
- Potato Starch
- Non Fat Dry Milk Powder
- Meat Grinders
- Meat Mixers
- Sausage Stuffers
- Smokers
- Bella’s Cold Smoke Generator
Enjoy the video and the recipe. If you have any questions feel free to ask away. If you make this at home I’d love to hear about how it came out!!
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Frankfurter
Ingredients
- 350 g lean pork
- 350 g lean beef
- 300 g pork back fat
- 18 g kosher salt
- 2.5 g Insta Cure #1
- 3 g sugar
- 3 g garlic powder
- 3 g onion powder
- 5 g smoked paprika
- 2.5 g coriander
- 1.5 g white pepper
- 1 g nutmeg
- 20 g Nonfat dry milk powder
- 200 g crushed ice
- sheep casings 22-24mm
Instructions
- Clean your meat of any silver skin, sinew, arteries and cut into small strips or cubes. Place in the freezer for an hour or until the temp reaches 32f – 34F.
- Grind your very chilled meat and fat separately 2 times. First on a 10mm plate then on a 6mm plate. Be sure that you meat and fat are very cold during this process and keep them separate. Have your meat in one bowl and your fat in a different bowl.
- Add the salt and the cure to the meat only and mix well to combine. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Place the fat in the fridge as well.
- The next day prepare all of your seasonings and clean and rehydrate your sheep casings
- Take your meat and fat out of the fridge and rechill it. Once your meat gets to 32F place the meat only in your food processor. Chop your meat for 60 seconds. Half way through add 1/3 of the ice and continue chopping for another 20 seconds. The end result should be a smooth farce (batter) During this step we want our meat's temperature to remain under 40F
- Once your meat has been properly chopped add the fat and another 1/3 of the ice and continue to chop on high. Run the food processor for 60 – 75 seconds till you achieve a smooth paste again then add the rest of the seasonings, the nonfat dry powder milk, and the rest of the ice. Chop for another 60 seconds or till everything is well incorporated. During this step we don't want our meat to exceed 55F
- Stuff your mince meat into the sheep casings, link, and prick out any air pockets and let rest in the fridge overnight.
- The next day bring a pot of water to 176F. Poach the sausages for 1 minute for every "mm" that your casing is wide. If you used 22mm – 24mm casings then poach for 22-24 minutes. Make sure the temperature does not exceed 176F
- Once poached, cool the sausages down and refrigerate or freeze. To eat simply heat back up by grilling, deep frying, or poaching. Serve with a side of chips (french fries)
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It worked! And really well! And really delicious! I really appreciated the very detailed instructions. Note that I used turkey instead of beef, and also some of the turkey skin as part of the fat. Also I looked up what was meant by “crushed ice”, and so I crushed it quite small (almost slushy-like) using a t-towel and a mallet. I think next time I will try to make it without the InstaCure, which always makes me a bit nervous to use – healthwise that is. Thanks very very much!
Brilliant recipe, Made ten pounds of it and turned out spectacular, huge hit with family and friends. Used my electric smoker for cook and no issues.
Thank you Very much.
Tony N
Sweet!!! Great to hear!
Did not work for me. Fat separated during poaching.
LOL. Fat separating has nothing to do with the recipe it has to do with your technique. In essence you are giving your technique 2 stars… The recipe is spot on. My best guess is that your blades on your food processor are not razor sharp (brand new). In addition to that, I would guess that your temperatures were not closely monitored. If you follow this recipe to the letter you will get the exact same results. Emulsified sausages are some of the most technically challenging sausages to make. Lots of rules to observe to make this sausage happen. Don’t give up though. It takes many failures before you learn how to make it right….
I just made this recipe and the flavour is amazing but the texture is really light and fluffy. Why would that be. I poached them and stuffed in plastic hotdog casings. Not sure if that would make a difference. Any feed back would be great. Thanks
If the texture was fluffy it generally means that the knives on your cutter were not as sharp as they needed to be and the farce was whipped rather than chopped. This incorporates air into the batter which will give it a fluffy almost pillowy texture
This is such a fantastic recipe, we’ve used it several times and it’s just amazing every time. Thank you so much for all the time I’m sure went into perfecting this, and for sharing! My husband is from Slovakia, takes his cased meat very seriously, he is absolutely obsessed with these
Thank you!!!
This comment is rather long, but for the people that don’t have the fancy equipment to make this, I have posted an alternate method to achieve similar results.
Knackwurst (Pillers brand) has been a go-to quick meal for my family for many years. However, the links have been getting smaller, and the price keeps going up. More recently, it has not been available in stores.
I have made many sausage recipes from this site but haven’t tried an emulsified sausage because I don’t have a powerful food processor enough. After watching the Kosher Hotdog video, I decided to give this try using my stand mixer. Of course, the fat doesn’t get fully emulsified, but I was willing to give it a try..
Because I knew I wasn’t going to get a fully emulsified product, I used a 60% Brisket flat and 40% pork loin for the meat and fat. The first grind was on a course plate; I then added the spices and milk powder and ground two more times on the fine plate, chilling in between each grind. As mentioned, I used the stand mixer with the paddle attachment in batches on medium speed to get maximum protein extraction. I added ice-cold water as I mixed. Because I was making Knackwurst, I used 32-34mm hog casings letting it dry and cure uncovered in the fridge overnight. I cold smoked to an internal temperature of 155 Deg F and then ice-bathed. I was very pleased with the final product. The flavour was spot on. The texture was pretty close and didn’t mind the very small fat particles.
I forgot to mention to get the Knackwurst flavour, use this exact recipe but add 1.5g/1000g of mace to the spice mixture.
Great tip!!
Eric,
I just finished stuffing my German Frankfurters, as I was cleaning up, I was thinking about the process I just completed and I started to question myself if I put the instacure #1 and salt in the meat last night before I put it in the fridge. Should I be concerned if I didn’t, I know I weighed it out, I’m just not sure if I put it in the meat last night or tonight.
LOL. I’ve been there. No worries. This morning taste a little piece (the cure would have converted by now). If you added cure the meat should retain its pinkish color and it should taste properly salted.
hey Eric!
i must put insta cure for this recipe?
nope. The instacure just preserves the color and add a little flavor but it’s optional
Eric,
I am new to sausage making but would love to make a hot pickled sausage. Would this be a good sausage to add to a brine? Thank you and I love your videos!
yes