Make the sausages

• Measure your spices and seasonings carefully, especially the curing salt. Set them aside. 
• Place the cubed meat in one layer on a parchment-lined sheet pan in the freezer for 20–30 minutes, until firm and stiff on the outside. Also freeze your grinding equipment. 
• Grind your beef through a grinder with a fine or medium plate into a bowl set in a larger bowl of ice. 

• Combine the ground meat with the seasonings and curing salt. Mix with your hands until the spices are evenly distributed. 
• Add half of the mixture to a large food processor along with half of the crushed ice. Process until the meat is very pasty, very sticky, and well-emulsified. It will look a lot like hotdog meat! As you process, stop every 5–10 seconds to temp with your Thermapen ONE and make sure the mixture is at or below 40°F (4°C).

• Move the batch to a bowl and process the second half, also verifying the temperature. 
• Mash the two batches together and mix with your hands to combine them. 
• Load your sausage stuffer with your casings and stuff, trying to avoid air bubbles. (Pierce any bubbles with your Thermapen ONE.)
• Link the sausages to lengths you want. We did 7.5″  to match our buns. If using collagen casings, we find that using butcher twine for the first and last tie-off is helpful. 

• Place the stuffed sausages, uncovered, in the refrigerator overnight to cure. 

Smoke the hotdogs

• The next day, preheat your smoker to 180°F (82°C). Use your Smoke’s air probe to monitor the pit temp. 
• Place your linked sausages in the smoker with a 2.5″ needle probe inserted into one of them. Close the lid and cook, about 45 minutes, until the high-temp alarm, set to 145°F (62°C), sounds. 
• Verify the internal temperature of a few hotdogs using your Thermapen ONE. 

• If they are at temp, remove them from heat, snip them apart, and either grill them immediately or give them an ice-water bath to cool them quickly and then store them. 
• You made hotdogs from scratch! Get your favorite condiments out and serve them up!