How to handle natural casings

[boykjo]

They look darker in the later picture....I'm sure its just the lighting when the picture was taken. My assumption is when casings are packed in salt over a long period of time the salt draws out the moisture and gets replaced by the salt crystals. The salt crystals act like sand paper or razor blades damaging the fibers of the casing permanently and wont allow them to become smooth, soft and silky again......

When casings are packed in a salt solution there are more water molecules to keep the casings lubricated and the salt crystals are smaller and smoother

I'm not a scientist but I did stay at a holiday inn express once.......

My 2 cents

Thanks for the experiment with the salted casings DS. Another learning experience for all of us.............

 

 

[gary s]

Good Info for those of us who are still learning

Gary

 

[grabber]

Just a question.  Did the casings have a expiration or use by date on them.  They look like they have freezer burn.  Seems they were put in a freezer, left and got dried out. 

 

[boykjo]

I don't remember seeing an expiration date on the lem sheep casings I bought a while back

 

[lngliv3]

Good post I am getting ready to do over 100# of kielbasa soon I will order mine sausage maker

 

[isitdoneyet]

 Would anyone care to chime in on if you treat beef middle casings the same way?

Going to make some dried summer sausage salami and it calls for beef middles for casings. I purchased these from the sausagemaker also. Would you handle preparing these the same way? 

 

[foamheart]

I use 46MM+ natural pork casings for my andouille. No need for middles there.

 

[JckDanls 07]

Sorry guys,,,been having alot of irons in the fire,,, this has been 4+  weeks since I started soaking the salt packed casings as earlier in the thread

View media item 455015 View media item 455016


As you can see not hardly a difference since I opened the pack.. I rinsed these every night for 3 weeks the last week or so was same water,, but you could not smell any salt in the water so I know they were rinsed well.

As far as I conclude these are going to get chucked,, I will keep them for the next couple of days if anyone has some input let me know and I will give it a try. 

Thanks, Joe you have been great in this little project guiding me along. I asked Joe about the vinegar and he advised against it,, he already tried that trick and did not work. 

A full smoker is a happy smoker 

DS

I have to agree with mummel... these pics look to be the same... same newspaper in background.... I'm confused... :dunno

 

[daveomak]

 
 Would anyone care to chime in on if you treat beef middle casings the same way?

Going to make some dried summer sausage salami and it calls for beef middles for casings. I purchased these from the sausagemaker also. Would you handle preparing these the same way? 

Check to see if they are cleaned....  I'm sure they are...  but...  in the event they aren't, this is very good information....    I have some beef middles I haven't opened yet...   sorry...  I've been meaning to..  I'm planning on making fermented Summer Sausage also....

http://www.fao.org/docrep/010/ai407e/ai407e20.htm

 

[jhend]

Great article Dave thanks for posting.

John

 

[driedstick]

DS, I was wondering if you flushed the inside out with water. To me it seems to speed up the process of softening them.

Dam I did not flush them,,,I thought with as many water changes I would have been good,,After this long I would have thought they would have softened up by now.

 
Thats weird.  Were they refrigerated?  They should turn silky white after a week or so.  Not sure what happened there.  Were they submerged?

Yes in the fridge the whole time,,, This was a salt pack,,no water solution at all... Hard as a rock when I got them 

 
Actually those photos look identical.  Where is the before and after photo?

I have to agree with mummel... these pics look to be the same... same newspaper in background.... I'm confused...

Mummel and Jack,, Sorry I was trying to get a different angle and thought I did,, ya little angle not much,, Sorry for the confusion 

DS

 

[driedstick]

 
They look darker in the later picture....I'm sure its just the lighting when the picture was taken. My assumption is when casings are packed in salt over a long period of time the salt draws out the moisture and gets replaced by the salt crystals. The salt crystals act like sand paper or razor blades damaging the fibers of the casing permanently and wont allow them to become smooth, soft and silky again......

When casings are packed in a salt solution there are more water molecules to keep the casings lubricated and the salt crystals are smaller and smoother

I'm not a scientist but I did stay at a holiday inn express once.......

My 2 cents

Thanks for the experiment with the salted casings DS. Another learning experience for all of us.............

 

Joe,, thanks for your support and guidance in this project,,,And starting this thread.. 

DS

 

[dward51]

The first time I bought natural casings, they were the LEM hog casings.  Did not have problems like this though.  I'm not a huge fan of LEM products as it seems what's in stock at most local retailers has been on the shelf since Nixon was president (it's not a fast moving item).

I've started buying my casings a day or two before use from a local butcher shop.  He said they are from "The Sausagemaker" and they are their tubbed casings.  My logic is the butcher goes through more casings in day than I do in a year.  He reorders every couple of weeks and buys in bulk. He will also sell me a single tube if I want (the hog casings he stocks will do about 15 pounds per tube).   So I'm confident they are fresh and I have not had a single issue since I started buying this way.  He said he only soaks them about 30 minutes when he uses them.  I've only had one blowout with those casings and it was clearly my fault.  I'm going to get some sheep casings from him next time to see how they do with snack sticks.

I had to call a few butchers to find one who would sell me just casings.  So, it may be worth a couple of phone calls to see if you have someone local who will also sell smaller quantities (some grocery butcher departments will also sell casings).

 

[hoity toit]

Great tutorial. I follow all your posts ! let me share a tip I use also:

After soaking, and if I have time, I turn my casings inside out by inserting the casing into itself then apply water pressure and the casing will turn itself inside out. Another method I use for final rinse after soaking is to slide the end of the casing over the faucet and rinse the inside with hot water. The warm water adds to the elasticity of the casing. I also see I have replied to this thread before..,sorry for the redundancy.

HT

 

[loggie]

Thanks for all the information

 

[driedstick]

bump for all the sausage making going on right now 

 

[pugsbrew]

I just bought hog casings from Butcher & Packer.  Their directions say to soak in luke warm water for 20 mins.  What am I missing here?  I'm new to this hobby, for me, and really like the way the casings look from Boykjo's technique.  

Can one over soak casings???  Remember, I'm a rookie.

 

[pc farmer]

 
I just bought hog casings from Butcher & Packer.  Their directions say to soak in luke warm water for 20 mins.  What am I missing here?  I'm new to this hobby, for me, and really like the way the casings look from Boykjo's technique.  

Can one over soak casings???  Remember, I'm a rookie.

I don't follow the directions on the package.   I soak for 4-5 days most of the time.

The longer you soak the softer they get, to a point they are too soft?      Maybe.   A week is no problem thou, I know for sure.

 

[pugsbrew]

 
I don't follow the directions on the package.   I soak for 4-5 days most of the time.

The longer you soak the softer they get, to a point they are too soft?      Maybe.   A week is no problem thou, I know for sure.

Perfect!!  Thanks

 

[grabber]

Just change the water every so often to remove any salt that comes out.  I even run water thru them before stuffing.  Open up one end, put on faucet and rinse them out.  Hope this helps.