Central Texas 'Hot Guts' & Crackers Board
Chapter 2 — The Meats
In the punishing heat of late-nineteenth-century Texas, immigrant butchers didn't invent sausage to win barbecue ribbons—they made it to survive. Ground from fatty beef trimmings, aggressively peppered, and stuffed into natural hog casings to defy the climate, this is a gloriously coarse, snappy link colloquially known as Hot Guts. Served purely utilitarian on brown butcher paper with saltines, raw onions, pickles, and a thin splash of pickle-juice hot sauce, it is the uncompromising soul of the meat market, brilliantly engineered to be replicated right in your backyard.
Before you start
Chill your grinding and mixing equipment.
Place your meat grinder attachments—throat, auger, blade, and coarse die—and a large mixing bowl in the freezer for at least one hour before beginning.
Semi-freeze the cubed meat.
Place the cubed beef and pork on a rimmed baking sheet and freeze for 45 to 60 minutes, until crusty and firm on the edges but not completely frozen solid in the center.
Prepare the natural casings.
Flush the soaked hog casings with cold running water, opening the end and letting the water run through the entire length to remove residual salt and check for tears.
Ingredients
- Beef Chuck Roast3 1/4 lb
- Boneless Pork Butt3/4 lb
- Morton Coarse Kosher Salt2 1/2 tbsp
- Coarse Black Pepper2 tbsp
- Whole Black Peppercorns1 tbsp
- Cayenne Pepper2 tsp
- Smoked Paprika1 tbsp
- Garlic Powder1 tbsp
- Mustard Powder1 tsp
- Pink Curing Salt1 tsp
- Non-Fat Dry Milk Powder1/2 cup
- Ice-Cold Domestic Beer1/2 cup
- Natural Hog Casings1 large
- Saltine Crackers1 large
- White Onion1 med
- Dill Pickle Chips1 cup
- Dill Pickle Brine1/2 cup
- Distilled White Vinegar1/4 cup
- Texas-Style Hot Sauce1 tbsp
- Liquid Smoke1 1/2 tsp
Method
- 01
Whisk the dry ingredients together.
In a small bowl, combine the kosher salt, coarse black pepper, smashed peppercorns, cayenne, smoked paprika, garlic powder, mustard powder, curing salt, and milk powder.
- 02
Grind the semi-frozen meat.
Run the chilled beef and pork through the coarse plate of your grinder, alternating pieces to ensure an even distribution of fat.
- 03
Emulsify the mixture by hand.
Transfer the coarsely ground meat to your chilled mixing bowl, sprinkle the dry spice blend evenly over the meat, and pour in the ice-cold beer; aggressively mix and knead for 3 to 5 minutes until the mixture is highly sticky.
- 04
Stuff the natural hog casings.
Load the tacky meat mixture into a sausage stuffer and fill the casing until plump, leaving a 2-inch tail at the end to prevent bursting.
- 05
Link the sausages and prick any trapped air bubbles.
Pinch the long coil every 6 to 8 inches and twist gently, alternating directions with each twist, then prick any air bubbles with a sanitized needle.
- 06
Rest the linked sausages overnight to form a pellicle.
Place the sausages on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and refrigerate uncovered for 12 to 24 hours to cure and dry the exterior.
- 07
Smoke the sausages using Texas post oak.
Establish a clean, thin blue smoke at 135F to 150F, smoke for 1.5 to 2 hours, then gradually increase the pit temperature to 225F until an instant-read thermometer registers exactly 160F.
- 08
Shock the hot guts in an ice bath.
Immediately plunge the links into ice water for 5 to 10 minutes to violently halt the cooking process and shrink the casing against the meat, guaranteeing a massive snap when bitten.
- 09
Bloom at room temperature to set the color.
Remove the sausages from the ice bath, wipe off any soot, and let them sit out for 1 to 2 hours until they deepen to a dark, ruddy mahogany.
- 10
Assemble the traditional cracker board.
Whisk the pickle brine, vinegar, hot sauce, and a dash of cayenne to make the dip; slice the warm sausage on a bias into hot rounds and serve on brown butcher paper with saltines, sliced onion, and pickles.
Notes
The kettle charcoal snake method alternative.
If you don't have a stick burner, build a half-circle snake of unlit briquettes around the edge of a standard kettle grill, place post oak chunks on the first half, and light the beginning with a few ashed-over coals. Cook indirectly at 225F until the sausage hits 160F.
An honest kitchen oven workaround.
For apartment dwellers, add 1 1/2 teaspoons of liquid smoke to the ice-cold beer during mixing; bake the rested links on a wire rack at 250F until they reach 160F, then finish under the broiler on high for 60 to 90 seconds per side to mimic a snappy, slightly charred casing.
Respect the golden rule of temperature control.
Sausage making forgives nothing when it comes to heat. Keep the meat nearly freezing during grinding, and never let the smoker overshoot; a strict 160F internal prevents a fat-out that would leave you with a casing full of dry, crumbly beef and rendered grease.
From Cook BBQ at Home.