Smoked Portuguese Sausage

Firstly, thoroughly rinse the fatback and soak it in warm water for 30 minutes before cutting it into small pieces.

Next, heat some olive oil in a small pan and sauté the garlic for 30 seconds to 1 minute, being careful not to let it turn brown. Remove the garlic from the pan and place it in a large bowl. Then, add the chopped fatback, pork butt, wine, paprika, milk, vinegar, salt, sugar, liquid smoke, marjoram, white pepper, black pepper, and red pepper to the bowl. Mix everything together until it's well combined.

Cover the bowl with a lid and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight.

To check the flavor of the sausages, take a small piece and fry it in a pan. Taste it and adjust the spices if necessary. Put the sausages back in the refrigerator, covered, for another 2 hours.

Now, take some hog casings and rinse them thoroughly. Run water through the casings to remove any impurities, then soak them in warm water for 30 minutes.

Attach the sausage stuffing attachment to your KitchenAid mixer and remove any excess water from a length of casing. Tie one end of the casing in a knot, then roll it onto the sausage making fitting like a condom. Turn on your KitchenAid mixer at medium speed and feed the cold sausage mixture into the funnel a little at a time. Use one hand to keep the casing tight and the other to feed the meat mixture. Twist off links as you reach your desired length. Repeat this process with the remaining hog casings and sausage mixture.

To smoke the sausages, add a few handfuls of hot coal to your smoker to get it started. Let the temperature die down to around 140 degrees F (60 degrees C). You want a cold smoke, so the sausages don't cook and the skin doesn't get browned.

Once your smoker has reached the right temperature, add some hickory wood chunks. The temperature will spike again, so let it cool back down to 140 degrees F (60 degrees C).

Using toothpicks, hang the sausages in the smoker as far away from the direct heat source as possible. Try to maintain a temperature of 140 degrees F (60 degrees C) as best you can. It's not always easy, but don't worry if the temperature spikes - just open the smoker door and let the heat escape accordingly.

Smoke the sausages until they're deep red and their skin is starting to firm, about 1 1/2 hours.

Finally, remove the sausages from the smoker and let them rest for 30 minutes. Then, cook them like any other sausage before serving.