Has anyone here ever made their own hot dogs? My husband’s doctor told him to eliminate as many preservatives/additives from his diet as possible, and to never eat processed lunch meat, hot dogs, sausages, etc. again. Most of this isn’t too bad. I’ve made my own breakfast sausage, my own bread, etc. (thanks to recipes I’ve gleaned here), but it’s headed towards fall and he absolutely loves chili dogs. I’ve seen him drooling over the wieners in the grocery store. I’d like to find an alternative so that once again he can be in chili dog heaven. I’ve searched the web and have seen several recipes, but I want one that I know will be good…every recipe I’ve tried on here has been wonderful, and I’ve tried a ton of them! Can anyone help???
Homemade Hot Dogs
Sep
11
11
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Suzanne McMinn says:
Wow, I had never thought about making your own hot dogs. I googled around about it and it looks like they’re made similar to sausages. I haven’t tried any of the recipes, but it sure looks like they’d be a lot better for you than store-bought hot dogs, even if you weren’t under doctor’s orders!
On September 12, 2010 at 9:30 am
CindyP says:
Oh, this would put John in absolute heaven!!! If you could create a hotdog, you could create bologna (it’s just a different shape 🙂 ) …. I’m going to search!
On September 12, 2010 at 11:37 am
Tow Lady says:
After looking at recipes until my brain hurts, it seems that the main argument is whether or not to use the pink curing salt. Some do, and say that there’s no other way to make sure they’re safe, and then some don’t…they say the curing salt is bad for you. Most of the recipes seem to be pretty close in ingredients, they just vary in amount used. Seems like this might be a good time to try making both and see which ones we like best!
On September 12, 2010 at 2:41 pm
CindyP says:
Hmmm, I found quite a few recipes earlier online, but I didn’t see pink curing salt. The ones I found you cook (I guess like par boil) after the casings have been stuffed or shaped, then you can freeze them or put in the fridge. The issue I was finding was using casings (I don’t have any).
On September 12, 2010 at 5:00 pm
Tow Lady says:
I found the casings at a local Farm/Ranch store that sells everthing from baby chicks to cowboy boots, canning jars to hardware, etc. The main sites I found that used the pink curing salt were the die-hard sausage makers. I did a little more research and found out that the pink curing salt is sodium nitrate, and that it has been linked to several cancers, including prostate. I’m going to make some this week, sans the pink salt, and parboil them like it says. Keep your fingers crossed that they’re actually good!
On September 12, 2010 at 8:04 pm
CindyP says:
The pink curing salt is everything we’re staying away from… It’s great you came looking for requests and now you’re going to be the guinea pig! LOL!! Take pictures of the steps…would make a great community member blog post ;)…serious!!!
On September 12, 2010 at 8:35 pm
Dede ~ wvhomecanner says:
another thought:
http://www.applegatefarms.com/Products/ProductDetail.aspx?id=2496
On September 12, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Laura says:
I am looking forward to the follow up on this one!!
On September 14, 2010 at 5:55 am
Tow Lady says:
Thursday is D-Day…my daughter is coming over to help, and chili dogs are on the menu for that night! She’s a little squeamish about the casings…kind of funny since she works in Pathology/Histology and handles body parts all day long. We’ll see how they turn out. If they’re nasty, it’s off to the local whole foods store for the ones that Dede posted in her link.
On September 14, 2010 at 11:21 am
CindyP says:
Oh, I want these to work! It may be WHY she’s squeamish…I just tend to not think of casings. 🙂
On September 14, 2010 at 4:16 pm
LauraP says:
I can’t wait to hear how these turn out. I miss chili dogs, too. I’d love to make my own hot dogs and link sausages and haven’t worked myself up to trying it yet.
On September 15, 2010 at 10:59 am
LK says:
I have two recipes that I have used in the past. I will post both in the recipes section as long as my internet connection co-operates!
I too need to watch the additives and preservatives for members of my family. Nitrates and nitrites are nasty things too…and all they are really there for is to make and keep the meat pink of all things!
This put me on a search for hot dogs too, just like you. So many people have asked us for wiener roasts, and we could never attend unless we brought our own meats. My kids have never (read, never) even roasted one hot dog. I would really like them to have this fun. I have made these up as meatballs just to see if we would like the taste before I went to the bother of making the official ones up. Next time we butcher, guess what we are making?!
To make the hot dogs smaller, they suggest using sheep casings instead of the usual pig ones.
The hot dogs are really easy to make. One is quite simple in ingredients and the other has more ingredients. I found that I like the latter much better. But to each his own!
On September 16, 2010 at 2:32 pm