Best kind of sausage casing?

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5lakes

Meat Mopper
Original poster
SMF Premier Member
Mar 12, 2010
252
15
Fairmont, MN
Greetings to all!

I have played with the idea of making my own sausage for quite some time. I have kind of a plan for a smoke sometime next month (more on that later). I've found a breakfast sausage recipe I like (but if anyone has one to share, I'd love to see it). I started with the breakfast sausage for my "grand plan" since that is the part I want to highlight with this meal.

I made the recipes and fried the sausage as patties trying out several recipes and making adjustments to get the flavor I want. Next week, I'll be doing the same for either Italian sausage or perhaps a jalapeno version.

I will be buying a stuffer to make this whole thing work. Here's my plan:

1. Pork loins... cure one as Canadian Bacon, one as a maple/brown sugary ham kind of thing.
2. Make the sausage and smoke for an hour or two using only maple wood.
3. Stuff the sausages into their respective pork loin (breakfast into ham, Italian or jalapeno into Canadian Bacon).
4. Smoke them with maple and apple woods.
5. Slice at some point... Sandwiches or just meat on the plate?

They will need to be prepared the night before the meal (at noon, which is dinner to me and lunch to most). I'm thinking it would be easiest to make them 12 to 18 inches long and making a couple of each.

So my questions are thus:

What would be the best casing to use, considering they will be stuffed into the pork loins?

If you were offered the choice, would you want this served as a sandwich or just sliced on the plate? There will be sides, but that's up to others, I'm only doing the meat. Perhaps on hamburger buns?

I made Jeff's sauce for this crowd before and they used every drop. I'm thinking of having that as an option also. Thoughts? I had a request to make it hotter. I might do that separately.

Well, I've rambled on long enough and had to log back in a couple of times now as I preview the post. It's getting long, but I need your help.

Many thanx, for your patience and help.
 
This is certainly thinking outside the box!

Since you're only smoking the sausage separately for an hour or two, I would use sheep casings or collagen to get a small diameter and more surface area for smoke penetration. Then serve the final product sliced on hamberger buns.

Let us know how it turns out!
 
I didn't even consider the size of the casing. Great catch there, Tim, I really appreciate that.
 
Interesting idea 5lakes. I'd go with something larger then a sheep's casing just for presentation purposes, plus you'll get a good ratio of loin to sausage in your bite. Maybe a 30mm hog or collagen casing? I really can't say if the casing will be tough, but if you're slicing it it shouldn't be a problem.
Is the sausage cured? You'll need to cure it if you are going to cold smoke it for a couple hours and then cook it inside a loin.
 
I'm waiting for some Prague #1 I ordered. I'm hoping that won't change the taste much. I have Tender Quick, but that is far too salty for this. Any other ideas/thoughts/concerns would be greatly appreciated.
 
A guy I know does that and I have wanted to try it. He uses smoked sausage so I would guess a 32 - 35mm or even a 38mm would be fine. Here is a pic of one of his:
 
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