Texas hot guts smoked sausage

Cube the meat and fat and chill it hard in the freezer; cold meat grinds better and will not smear or start rendering from the friction of the grinder.

Weigh out kosher salt at 2 percent of the total meat and fat weight.

Add pink curing salt at 0.25 percent of the total weight, needed because the sausages are cold smoked below 140F for an extended period.

Add the flavour spices: ground mustard, granulated garlic, black pepper, paprika and cayenne.

Add high temp milk powder as a binder at 4 percent of the total weight and mix the seasoning together.

Grind the chilled meat through a coarse die for a coarse ground Texas style sausage.

Load the ground meat into the mixer, add the spices and mix a few minutes to incorporate them evenly.

Add water at 10 percent of the total weight and mix about five minutes more, until the surface is tacky and sticks to the hand, which shows the bind.

Pack the meat into the sausage stuffer, patting it down so no air bubbles get in, since bubbles rupture the casing.

Flush the soaked casings with water to clear the salt and reveal any holes, load a casing onto the horn, tie it off and snip the tip.

Stuff with steady back pressure, holding the casing at the end so each link fills plump without popping, then twist a link and repeat, keeping track of the direction so the previous link does not untwist.

Prick any links that trapped air with a sausage pricker.

Cold smoke over a small layer of coals with a heavy piece of wood on top for thick smoke, keeping it to 150F maximum so the fat does not render, to colour and dry the casings.

Shock the sausages in an ice bath to stop the cooking, tighten the casings and help them bloom for colour.

Finish on the pit at about 275F for 30 to 45 minutes until cooked through and plump.

Serve with mustard, or in a bun.