Texas Smoked Beef Sausage

Ingredients

• 3 pounds beef chuck, cubed
• 2 pounds pork butt, cubed
• 2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 tablespoons coarse black pepper
• 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
• 2 teaspoons mustard seed
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon pink curing salt no. 1
• 1 cup ice water
• 10 feet hog casings, 32 to 35 mm
• 4 chunks post oak wood

Before you cook

• Rinse the hog casings inside and out and soak them in warm water for 1 hour.
• Cut the beef and pork into one-inch cubes and spread them on a sheet pan.
• Freeze the cubes for 30 minutes until the edges are firm but not solid.
• Chill your grinder parts and mixing bowl in the freezer at the same time.
• Toss the cold cubes with the salt, pepper, granulated garlic, mustard seed, cayenne and curing salt.
• Grind the seasoned meat through a coarse plate straight into the chilled bowl.
• Add the ice water and mix with your hands for 2 minutes until the grind turns sticky and holds together.
• Fry a small test patty, taste it, and adjust the salt or cayenne in the batch.
• Stuff the mixture into the casings without packing them too tight, then twist into six-inch links.
• Refrigerate the links uncovered overnight so the surface dries to a tacky skin.

Steps

1. Bring the smoker to 225 degrees Fahrenheit with two chunks of post oak burning clean.
2. Hang the links from a rod or lay them on the grate with an inch of space between them.
3. Smoke for 2 hours, keeping the fire small so the fat does not render out too fast.
4. Raise the pit temperature to 250 degrees Fahrenheit and add another wood chunk.
5. Continue smoking until the internal temperature of a link reads 155 degrees Fahrenheit, about 1 1/2 hours more.
6. Fill a large bowl with ice water and set it next to the smoker.
7. Plunge the sausages into the ice water for 5 minutes to set the casings and stop the cooking.
8. Hang the links at room temperature for 30 minutes to bloom, and watch the color deepen to mahogany.
9. Warm the sausages briefly over the coals just before serving to crisp the skin.
10. Cut them into thick coins and serve on butcher paper with saltines, raw onion and pickles.