Chicken Sausage

-Cut the boneless, skinless chicken thighs in half for easier grinding. Place the chicken thighs, chicken liver, and cubed pork fat in the freezer to chill while you prepare the spices.

-In a bowl, combine kosher salt, granulated garlic, granulated onion, black pepper, paprika, mustard powder, dried parsley, and milk powder. Mix well to create the spice blend.

-Remove the chilled chicken from the freezer and place it in a shallow hotel pan. Sprinkle the spice blend evenly over the chicken and use your fingers to disperse the mixture, ensuring a nice even coating. Add some ice on top of the chicken to act as a liquid.

-Set up a meat grinder with a 10 mm coarse diameter plate. Pass the seasoned chicken through the meat grinder. Knead the ground chicken for a couple of minutes to ensure even mixing.

-Take a sausage stuffer and pack the ground chicken mixture tightly into it. Start stuffing the chicken sausages into standard 32 mm hog casings, linking them together while avoiding air pockets. Once all the sausages are linked up, set them aside.

-Fire up the pit to 150 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celsius). While waiting for the pit to reach the desired temperature, you can set up a fan pointed at the chicken sausages to help dry out the casings a bit.

-When the sausages have dried out and the pit is at the proper temperature, place the sausages on the pit. Smoke them for approximately 2 hours, then flip them over and smoke for an additional hour.

-After smoking, remove the sausages from the pit and immediately transfer them to an ice bath to stop the cooking process. Once cooled, you can vacuum-seal the sausages for storage or proceed to cook a few for immediate consumption.

-Increase the temperature of the smoker to 275 degrees Fahrenheit (135 degrees Celsius). Place a few sausages on the pit and crisp them off for about 20-30 minutes, or until the internal temperature reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit (74 degrees Celsius).

-Remove the cooked sausages from the smoker and slice them. Serve and enjoy your homemade smoked chicken sausages!