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I have Eileens book but want further opinions.....the goal is to make our own hotdogs.....Our main ingredients are pure ground venison and pork butt..and we are quite fussy about the trimming and care of the venison.
I like the hot dogs the larger size.....roughly a quarter size in diameter....not the nickel size so often found. We have a fairly large size grinder and mixer and can grind course or fine but prefer course ground hotdogs. Last year we made about 400 pounds of polish and other sausages but farmed out the hot dogs as we just wasn't sure what to do to get great stuff.

There are six kids under 12 that love the stuff and so we have a good time making this type of meats.

What say you......what recipe for hot dogs is your favorite?

Oh....BTW.....We also would like ideas on how to make skinless hot dogs.

Hi Vapodog,
Muledeer's wife answering. I'm leenie3freezers on Campfire, but have forgotten my password.... That recipe in Sausage Season. It uses ground big game meat with pork fat, though you can also use pork butt very easily. The easy answer to size of the hot dogs is to use pork casings. They're the quarter-sized casings--as long as you fill them up. (And these days I don't use the dried-in-salt version. I'm using 'home packs' which are pork casings in brine, so you don't spend time soaking them etc. Plus the quality is better.)
As for caseless hot dogs--you don't have to case anything if you don't want to. The important part is to get the texture right. Some pork butt is treated with enough salt, prior to selling it, that all you need to do is mix the sausage ingredients together with your hands and it will bond--after 24 hours--providing that texture. But if you use just pork or beef fat with your ground venison (which is a lot less expensive), the bond comes from mixing it more. Not a lot. Six minutes on low in a KitchenAid mixer is enough for a 3 pound batch. If you're making more, the same 6 minutes in a hand crank 12-15 pound meat mixer works as well.
Lots of details/photos on that in Sausage Season. As well as proper temp for mixing. Lots of books say the mix should be 'sticky' but that's not enough. You should be able to grab a pound or so of sausage with one hand and not have bits fall to the floor. And that's both when you case and don't case. The texture is important. Either way.

Thanks Eileen.....I'll see if I can work that in.

vapodog,
I've been turning venison into sausage for over 3 decades since discovering that this makes it possible to happily go through a lot of venison over the course of a year.
My preferences are much like yours in that I use pork butts and prefer a "courser" grind in my sausages, including hot dogs.
I have taken a close look at a pile of sausage cook books over the years, but use only 2. Sausage Seasoning, from Eileen Clarke, and Bruce Aidell's Complete Sausage Book.
Aidell has a recipe for Chicago style hot dogs that has become the favorite hereabouts.
Both books have recipes that can make you famous. Clarke's Bright Eyed Breakfast Sausage is primarily responsible for getting me invited back to a brook trout fishing camp several times. I'm pretty sure it wasn't my sparkling personality.
Aidell's recipes for Yankee Sage sausage, Brats, Kielbasa, and Hot Dogs make his book equally indispensable. His book does not specifically use venison, but I been able to substitute it into his recipes with nothing but success. His recipes often use a few more spices than Clarkes version. In the recipes I mentioned, Aidell's version makes a subtly better flavored sausage.
Your posting is timely in that I am headed to Michigan next week. There is a great source for spices and cases there, called Butcher & Packer. I normally mail order my supplies from them. Plan on visiting them this year, so it's time to get my list together.
Drew a tag for a Maine moose next month, so I'm going to need some extra stuff....with a little luck.
Good hunting.

Wow, 30 decades? Let us know what kind of vitamins you're taking.

Caught me. Oops!

Sounds good.

respect your elders!

Whatever the hot dog recipe is that Indian Valley Meats uses. That's some good schitt.

Which Eileen Clarke cookbook?

I'm really going to go out on a limb and suggest that the cookbook just might be Sausage Season.

LINK to the book

John

Yep, that would be it--as leeniethreefreezers mentions in her post.

. I’m an Ol Phart ........it was near the end of a 12 hr shift.......I had soap in my eyes.....

Thanks Ol Buddy