Texas Hot Links – Hot spicy smoked treat
- Type
- Cooked sausage
- Level
- Easy
- Rating
- Rate this recipe
Today I’m going to show you how to make Texas hot links yourself. They are simple and super fast to make. For the preparation you need a smoker.
Texas hot links are simply irresistible and a highlight due to their spicy, smoky aroma. It’s also known as ” Hot Guts”.
Originally, this sausage was grilled, giving the outer skin a charred, almost burnt appearance. Nowadays it is prepared in different ways, whether by grilling, baking or smoking.
But now enough talking…
Here you can find the complete Texas hot links recipe as a video or to read through.
Have fun and good luck making it!
Table of Contents
Texas hot links – What do you need to make it?
Ingredients per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| pork belly | 600 g | 60 % |
| beef Your meat portion should have a maximum of 30% fat content. | 400 g | 40 % |
Spices per 1 kg
| Ingredient | Grams |
|---|---|
| salt | 15.5 g |
| black pepper | 5 g |
| garlic powder | 5 g |
| onion powder | 5 g |
| paprika powder | 5 g |
| mustard seed | 4 g |
| Cure #1 | 2.5 g |
| cayenne pepper | 2.5 g |
The equipment to make Texas hot links
Sausage stuffer, grinder attachment or funnel
Use a sausage stuffer to fill the mixture into its casing. A stuffing attachment for your meat grinder or a hand funnel also works when you are starting out.
A meat grinder cuts the meat into small pieces so it can be mixed with the seasoning. Cut the meat into pieces that fit the feed tube before grinding.
Smoker
You need the smoker to smoke your Texas hot links.
Natural casings
The Texas hot links is stuffed into natural casings. I recommend you to use pork casing caliber 28/30.
Make Texas hot links – Step-By-Step Instructions
Cut the meat into pieces suitable for mincing. You can vary the 2. size depending on how big your meat grinder is.
Put the meat and fat pieces in the freezer for 1-2 hours. This will help you later with the mincing and ensure that the mass does not get too warm.
Now you can grind the meat. Depending on how coarse or fine you want your Texas Hot Links, you can use different perforated discs. To be honest, this is completely a matter of taste. Personally, I use the medium perforated disc. But as I said … It must taste good to you!
Add the spices to the meat mixture.
Mix the ingredients. You can do this by hand or with a hand mixer. Make sure you mix the sausage meat for 4-5 minutes, so that it gets a good binding.
Now fill the sausage meat into the intestine. I use a pork casing caliber 28/30. Hold the casing tightly on the filling spout and let it slowly fill up. This part takes some practice. Don’t worry if it doesn’t work 100% right away. Important: Do not fill the casing too tightly or it will burst later during frying.
Now you turn off the heat. You can decide for yourself how big your sausage should be. To do this, press the sausage to the desired length with two fingers on each hand and rotate it forward a few times. Then leave out one sausage length and repeat the process.
Put the Texas Hot Links in the smoker for 20 minutes at 50 °C (122 °F) to dry, without smoke.
You can then increase the temperature to 60 °C (140 °F). The Texas Hot Links should now be smoked for 2 hours.
Your Texas Hot Links are ready😄. Enjoy it.
Frequently asked questions
What makes a Texas hot link a hot link?
What makes a Texas hot link a hot link?
A hot link is a barbecue sausage, and in Texas it belongs on the barbecue. What puts it there is the list above: pork and beef together, and a hard seasoning built on cayenne with garlic, onion and mustard seed around it. That heavy hand is the point of the recipe rather than something to tone down, and it is why step 4 tips the whole spice mix in at once.
The rest of it is the fire. The nickname the intro gives it, “Hot Guts”, comes from the same tradition, and the smoke in step 9 is how this recipe gets there. Originally the sausage was grilled instead: it went straight over the fire and came off with a skin that was charred, almost burnt, which is the appearance the intro describes. Frying one is still a way to eat it, and that is why step 6 is so insistent about not filling the casing too tightly – a link that goes back over the heat needs room to swell without splitting.
How long is the shelf life of the Texas hot links?
How long is the shelf life of the Texas hot links?
The Texas Hot Links have a shelf life of several months. However, they will gradually lose more moisture and eventually dry out completely. Therefore, it makes sense to store them vacuumed in the refrigerator.
I have loved in Texas for over 45 years, in Dallas/Ft.Worth. Houston, Austin, and San Antonio. I spend a lot of time in the Texas Hill Country exploring Sausage and Wurst recipes and traditions. I have also spent a great deal of time in Germany learning brewing and wurst making. And I have never head the term "Hot Guts" used in any way shape or form in the state of Texas. Definitely not in references to sausages or hot links. The first time I heard this as from a TV cooking show (produced in California). Now maybe some local butcher/sausage maker is calling his particular recipe Hot Guts. But it not a recognized term in Texas. I think this is a term created by some media marketing people to stir up interest in products being called Texan for sale outside of the sate of Texas.
Also, The recipe you show here is not for Texas hot links. Your recipe would be sold here as "smoked sausage". A kinda of generic term for any sausage recipe that contain both beef and pork and is pre-smoked before grilling. Texas Hot Links are probably the cheapest type of sausage known to man. Inside the bright red casing, the cooked "meat" is more often as not grey in color. They only just barely meet the health and sanitation standards in order to be sold in the state they are made. They often contain a large quantity of grain fillers. Natural casings are rare and rather difficult to find unless ordered from out of state. Thus natural casing are reserved for higher quality meats. So I have never seen hot links in natural casings. Also the traditional Texas Hot Link contains a great amount of scrap animal fat from unidentified animals and often are heavily spiced to cover up the true quality of the "meat" being used. Hot Links are usually the last choice any Texan would make to serve to guests at a gathering. Unless they are extraordinarily cheap people. Even store bought chicken hot dogs would be preferred to hot links.