Hog casings?

lennyluminum · Sep 25, 2013

I did my first batch of sausage this weekend and everything went great. My question is about cleaning out the casings.

I got a hank of hog casings from sausage maker and let them soak for over an hour and washed them out one time. After I was done stuffing the sausages i fried up what was left in the stuffer and the tube and it tasted great. I also fried up a small link and it was much saltier than the unstuffed sausage i fried up. Did I not let the casings soak long enough or not rinse them out enough?

junkcollector · Sep 25, 2013

never had that issue personally. i usually soak at least a hour, i also add a shot of vinegar to em. seems the longer the soak, the easier they are to work with **to me**. When rinsing mine out, I usually run water through em for a minute or longer too. to rinse them easily, i slip one end of the casing onto a funnel, hold it and turn the water on as fast as it will go through and just let it run.

boykjo · Sep 25, 2013

If they are packed in pure salt I would soak them for several hrs changing the water every hr. You need to get them soft to the touch, some times it will take 24 hrs of rinsing and washing. I only use casings packed in salt solution......

lennyluminum · Sep 25, 2013

They are in a salt brine

junkcollector · Sep 26, 2013

dumb as it sounds, being your first time doing up sausage, is it possible you didn't mix the spices in good and just got a link heavy on spice?

smokinhusker · Sep 26, 2013

junkcollector said:
dumb as it sounds, being your first time doing up sausage, is it possible you didn't mix the spices in good and just got a link heavy on spice?

That's a valid question - I've had that happen before.

I rinse mine right out of the package, then run water through them and soak several hours with a shot of vinegar, changing the water nearly hourly. Just before I'm ready to stuff, I rinse them again under warm water, then run water through them and finally I turn them inside out and back into a bowl of warm water with a shot of vinegar.

Here's the thread for turning them

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/63026/inside-out-pig-casings

chef willie · Sep 26, 2013

I usually rinse well then soak for about an hour....no vinegar used in case I don't use all I've soaked. Then back into a Mason jar with a 50/50 salt & water slurry and into the fridge with the remaining casings. I have a newer bag to finish up and then I'd like to switch to the pre-flushed and tubed casings just because I'm basically lazy

ribwizzard · Sep 26, 2013

So...who sells the best quality?

junkcollector · Sep 26, 2013

i've bought from syracuse in years past but have gotten them from butcher-packer more recently. never had bad from either one.

ribwizzard · Sep 26, 2013

"butcher-packer"... do you mean a local butcher, or is that a store? I was thinking about ordering from Syracuse, but before I waste more money, I'd like to know how the quality is. And they advertise the pre=tubed ones, but on order page it does not say which ones are or are not. I would think it would be worth the extra money..anyone have any opinions on that?

junkcollector · Sep 26, 2013

butcher-packer is a online store, add .com after that for the web site. i've always gotten good quality from both BP and syracuse. as far as pretubed, well, i had em once and their not for me. i'd rather wrestle with a hank rather than FIGHT with pretubed. thats just me though, im sure there's secrets to using the tubed and have smooth sailing, i just never did. besides, when i ask my 5 n 10yo girls if they want to help me clean pig guts for brats or hotdogs, their facial expressions are priceless. once they see how fun it is, all i say is now is, "girls, time to clean guts", and their ready to go!

ribwizzard · Sep 26, 2013

Well, I only have four batches under my belt so far, On the first two, the LEM casing were o/k, I did notice that they turned out kind of salty, so on the 2nd batch I soaked them for about 3 hours changing water every 1/2 hour or so, then I rinsed very well and soaked a lil bit longer. On the 3rd batch and 2nd pack of LEM casings, the casing had a lot more "hairs" that were tangled around the casings and they took twice the effort to unwrap them , and the diameter and lengths were all over the place. On the forth batch, I ordered sheep casings and hog casings from Franks outdoors on Amazon, The sheep where actually LEM and the hog just said "Hog Casings" packaged in Mexico. The LEM sheep casings were a mess, I spent well over an hour untangleing them because all the little hairs tieing them together in a huge knot. After soaking for 3 hours and rinsing, I still could not get them on my 3/8 stuffer tube with them splitting holes into the casings. The first two packs were from Bass pro and were only $9.99, but the 2nd two were $20 bucks a pack (advertised able to stuff 15lb) plus shipping. So I really feel I wasted $50.00 on those two. With Syracuse selling the bigger packs at $40 to $50 bucks a pack, I'd rather be safe and ask around before ordering again.

chef willie · Sep 27, 2013

Butcher & Packer get pretty good reviews from some of the heavy sausage makers on here. I agree with you....hate spending a LOT of $$ for something you're not sure about quality wise. I understand the 'home packs' are pretty much just short pieces needing to be unloaded. I recently bought just a small bag of hog casings at the local hunting supply to get me through until I can decide on the pre-tubed and flushed casings. They turned out to be pretty Ok with not a huge amount of hairs and no holes yet so I'm feeling lucky.

ribwizzard · Sep 30, 2013

well, this is what I ended up ordering, hope they are allright.

fish killer · Sep 30, 2013

I might be a little late for the game but I've never been disappointed with anything I have ordered from Butcher and Packer.

ribwizzard · Oct 2, 2013

Well, Im highly dissapointed, what was advertised was above, here is what I received! Once again wasted good money on crap!

fish killer · Oct 2, 2013

Sorry to see your loss. Try Butcher and Packer. You won't be sorry. I use them a lot and never had any problems. I was vey happy with last batch of casings properly packed and clean. No stinky smell that you sometimes get with other brands.

boykjo · Oct 2, 2013

Sorry to hear that RW......that s#cks.... How far are you off of 95... I am heading to the south florida gathering in a month.. would be more than happy to drop you off a hank of quality casings.. I can get wolfsons here and they are awesome...

Hog casings?

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