Follow basic smoked sausage preparation practices when making this sausage.
- Clean and sanitize all of your equipment.
- Keep your meat and grinder parts super cold (below 34F) at all times
- Any liquid that is added to the mince needs to be ice cold
- Mix your very chilled meat and seasonings till the mince becomes very tacky
- Stuff the mince into sausage casings and prick out any air pockets
- Refrigerate your sausage overnight to allow the cure to work
- The next day follow a low and slow smoking schedule.
- Cook sausages low and slow to an internal of 145f
- Once the internal temp has been reached place the sausages in a cold-water bath to cool down and let them bloom at room temperature for 3-4 hours
Here are a few things you might find useful when making a smoked sausage
- New Mexico Chili
- Ancho Chili
- Guajillo Chili
- Digital Smokers (I use the model 4D WiFi)
- Bella’s Cold Smoke Generator
- Kamado Ceramic Grill
- High Quality Natural Casings (AA Grade)
- MK4 Thermapen (Accurate Thermometer)
- Chef Knife – KOTAI (for 15% off use discount code – 2guys )
- Sausage Pricker
- Meat Grinders
- Meat Mixers
- Sausage Stuffers
- Stuffing Horn Cleaner
- Butcher Twine & Dispenser
- Small accurate Scale for spices
- Large Capacity Scale (33 pounds)
- Drying rack and tray
- Custom Cutting Board
Enjoy the video and the recipe. If you have any questions, feel free to ask away.
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Texas Bowl of Chili Sausage
How much do you want to make? 1000 grams
Ingredients
For the bone broth (if you plan on making it yourself)
- 1000 g beef bones
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 113 g onion rough chopped
- 2 tsp peppercorn
For the Chili Paste
- 34 g Dried Ancho Chili stem and seeds removed
- 17 g New Mexico Chili stem and seeds removed
- 17 g Guajillo chili stem and seeds removed
- 438 g beef bone broth
- 27 g roasted garlic
- 6 g salt
- 5 g baking soda
- 3.5 g MSG
- 2.2 g cumin powder
- 1.3 g Mexican Oregano
For the Sausage
- 500 g Lean Pork
- 250 g lean beef
- 250 g pork back fat
- 12.5 g salt
- 2.5 g insta cure #1
- 5 g black pepper
- 4 g chili powder
- 3 g cumin powder
- 1 g Mexican Oregano
- 2 g onion powder
- 3 g pepper flakes
- 150 g cheddar cheese cut into small cubes
- 130 g chili sauce you can add more or less to your taste
- 30 g Non Fat Milk Powder
- hog casings
Instructions
Prepare the casings
- Rehydrate your casing the night before you need them. Rinse off the salt and flush the casings with some cool water. Place the cleaned casings in some fresh water with some baking soda in it (I use 1 tsp per quart of water) and place in the refrigerator. If you let your casings soak for at least 12 hours, they will be nice and tender by the time you use them.
Prepare the Bone Broth
- In a pot add beef bones, the rest of the broth ingredients (garlic, onion, bay leaves, peppercorn) and enough water to cover by an inch. Bring to a simmer and cook for 4-6 hours. Add more water as necessary. Once finished, strain out the broth and set to the side. You want this ingredient to be hot when you use it (you can use store bought bone broth just make sure it's unsalted).
Prepare the Chili Sauce
- The weight of the peppers in the recipe above is without seeds and stems. So, once you remove the seeds and stems, weigh the dried peppers and place them in a bowl. Add the amount of HOT beef bone broth that the recipe calls for, the roasted garlic, and the spices (including the baking soda) to the dried peppers. If the bone broth is not hot, place it on the stove top and bring to a simmer. This will help rehydrate your peppers better. Cover with cling film and let the peppers rehydrate for 30 minutes.
- Next blend your pepper mix (everything in the bowl) until you have a smooth paste. Set to the side to cool.
Prepare the Meat
- Clean meat from any silver skin and arteries. Chill the meat and the fat so that the temperature is below 34f (1.1c)
- Grind chilled meat and fat on a medium course plate. Rechill. Keep the temp under 34f (1.1c)
- Combine the rest of the ingredients (spices, binder, chili paste) and mix till the meat turns into a sticky batter. The meat mixture will stick to your hand when you grab a small handful of it and turn your hand upside down.
- Stuff mixture in your casings and link them to your desired size. If you notice any air pockets, be sure to prick them out
- Place the sausage in your refrigerator overnight so that the cure can do its job
- The next day, smoke the sausage using incremental adjustments in temperature to slowly bring the sausage up to a core temperature of 145F (62.7c).
If you have a digital smoker this is a great cooking schedule:
- 1.5 hours at 100f (37.7c) – this dries out the sausage (leave the dampers wide open)
- 1.5 hours at 125f (51.6c) – this is when I start applying smoke
- 1 hour at 155f (68.3c)
- 1 hour at 175f (79.4c)
- then I bump up to 200f (93.3c) until I reach an internal of 145f (62.7c)
If you are cooking on a pit or offset here’s a different way:
- on indirect heat start smoking sausages while the pit is at 150f (65.5c) and smoke for 3 hours.
- Increase the temperature to 200f (93.3) and cook till you get to an internal of 145f (62.7c)
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how would you suggest reheating it and would it be something you’d eat in say a hoagie roll like sausage and peppers?
I usually heat it up in the oven at 275f till th internal reaches 145-150f. I eat these in a hoagie with mustard, but veggies sound great!!
Just finished making a batch. So good! Thank you!
Glad you liked it!!! I’m making more this weekend!
I tried it this weekend and it tastes fantastic but unfortunately the casing is too chewy. I followed steps to keep water cold but not ice cold and left only to cool for about 5 min. 28mm/30mm casings. But very tasty. Trying it again tomorrow with yellow mustard and white onions for lunch.
FYI, I don’t know if this was a mistake on my part but I ended up with a lot of left over paste.
How long did oyu allow the casings to hydrate and where did you get the casings? Yes. This recipe will make extra chili paste. I just freeze it for later use or add it to ground beef for some really great chili nachos😉
The casing came from The sausage maker. I did rinse casings, applied a little baking powder to the water and then let hydrate for about 3-4 hours in the refrigerator. I know it wasn’t overnight so maybe this is the root cause?
Update, I’ve noticed some are less chewy than others, but I still think its great. I noticed the chewier ones are a little smaller and shriveled up more than others.
I wasn’t sure what to do with the extra paste but now I know for next time.
There are sections of casings that seem to be a little tougher than others. Overnight soaking certainly helps..
Eric, one of the many things I appreciate about you and your channel is that an old guy like myself (who has been making sausage, smoking, charcuterie etc for 40 years) can still learn new tricks. Your content and format are spot-on. Thanks again!
Thank you😀
What’s the best way to add some heat to these? Grind in some jalapeños, substitute a spicy cheese, or simply add more red pepper flakes?
all of the above
Really enjoyed this. So much flavor. Thank you!
Eric, I use a cold smoker on my gas grill that works really well, but I was wondering if you could use a sous vide too cook the sausage thru to the correct tempture and then smoke them. Would they lose there snap? I don’t have a electric smoker that has controlled heat.
I would cold smoke them for 7-8 hours then I would cook sous vide. You’ll have a beautiful sausage with a nice snap!
Hi Eric, thanks for the recipe and all your other videos as well.
I just made a batch of these and the flavour is great but my texture is a bit soft and mushy. it’s almost the texture of nduja or pate. Not sure what I’ve done wrong, so any insight would be appreciated!
I would say the acidity of the past was your culprit. Were you able to measure the ph before adding it to the meat?