So I'm a relative newb to sausage making, but I've made a few batches to date which I have been relatively pleased with. For now, I'm focusing strictly on your standard Texas BBQ house style sausages and just two main flavors at that, all beef "Texas Hot Guts", and Beef & Pork Jalapeno Cheese. As far as the recipes and flavors, while I'm still tweaking them to dial them in I'm about 90% there and pretty satisfied. These are a slow smoked type of sausage using cure #1, not a fresh sausage.
My problem, and where I need some help is with the casings, and more specifically the texture of the finished product as something seems off, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it. Long story short once the sausages have gone through the entire process from prep, to stuffing, linking, smoking etc., the casings seem overly tough. One thing about this type of sausage is they say the casings should have a nice "snap" to them when you bite in to them etc. Now, to be 100% honest and tell on myself a little here, I'm in California, and I've never even stepped foot in Texas or tried any of these sausages from an authentic source, so I can't say with 100% certainty that mine are "wrong", but they just seem overly tough and therefor not as enjoyable as they should be. So I guess I'm wondering if "tough casings" are common etc. and if not how can I fix that.
My recipes and process is based on those from a well known BBQ Youtuber Bradley Robinson a.k.a. Chud's BBQ who is from Leroy & Lewis BBQ in Austin Texas, who took the #5 spot on Texas Monthly magazine's famous Top 50 BBQ spot list back in October. For anyone not familiar with Chud, he is puting out some of the best BBQ related content on Youtube, especially for anyone trying to emulate authentic Texas style BBQ from spot's you'd find on the Texas top 50 list, like Franklin BBQ etc. I will link a couple of his videos below, but overall here is a summary of my process.
I am using 32-35MM natural hog casings (I have found I prefer just regular, NOT Pretubed as I'm making pretty small batches and it's just easier for me this way).
All my meat is trimmings off of my briskets and pork spare ribs which get me right around the 70/30 meat to fat ratio you want for good sausage.
Casing prep:
My casings are stored in a container that has them covered with water, and plenty of salt.
When I'm going to make a batch, I take the amount of casings I need out, rinse them gently with cold water to get any excess salt off, then sit them in a bowl of fresh cold water for a couple hours, switching the water out for fresh cold water about every 30 minutes. Then I run some cold water through the casings to make sure there is no salt on the inside, and then back into the bowl with new fresh cold water with the ends draped over the edge of the bowl while I get my stuffer loaded and ready to start stuffing.
Once the sausages are stuffed and linked, they go in to the refrigerator, uncovered over night. Based on Chud's videos, this is to help dry out and form a "pelical" on the casings, which will help the smoke stick, and will also contribute to the casings having the proper "snap".
After the overnight rest, they go in to the smoker at roughly 150 degrees to cold smoke for about 4-5 hours, although it's really more of a warm smoke as the smoker is just up out of the danger zone, but the recipe also has the proper amount of cure #1 in it just to be on the safe side.
After 4-5 hours in the smoke they come out, and go straight in to an ice bath to stop the cooking process, and according to Chud, this is also another essential step to getting the proper "snap". They are then removed after about 30 minutes, and dried.
At this point the sausages are ready to go. They can either be vac sealed for storage in the refrigerator or freezer, or put back in the smoker (or an oven) to bring the internal temp to 165 and eat immediately.
Any ideas on what I could try to fix my issue with tough casings? Any idea and feedback is greatly appreciated.
Here are a couple of Chud's videos on his sausage recepees/process. MIght as well link his videos to the same ones I'm doing, the all beef, and the jalapeno cheese.
My problem, and where I need some help is with the casings, and more specifically the texture of the finished product as something seems off, and I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong or how to fix it. Long story short once the sausages have gone through the entire process from prep, to stuffing, linking, smoking etc., the casings seem overly tough. One thing about this type of sausage is they say the casings should have a nice "snap" to them when you bite in to them etc. Now, to be 100% honest and tell on myself a little here, I'm in California, and I've never even stepped foot in Texas or tried any of these sausages from an authentic source, so I can't say with 100% certainty that mine are "wrong", but they just seem overly tough and therefor not as enjoyable as they should be. So I guess I'm wondering if "tough casings" are common etc. and if not how can I fix that.
My recipes and process is based on those from a well known BBQ Youtuber Bradley Robinson a.k.a. Chud's BBQ who is from Leroy & Lewis BBQ in Austin Texas, who took the #5 spot on Texas Monthly magazine's famous Top 50 BBQ spot list back in October. For anyone not familiar with Chud, he is puting out some of the best BBQ related content on Youtube, especially for anyone trying to emulate authentic Texas style BBQ from spot's you'd find on the Texas top 50 list, like Franklin BBQ etc. I will link a couple of his videos below, but overall here is a summary of my process.
I am using 32-35MM natural hog casings (I have found I prefer just regular, NOT Pretubed as I'm making pretty small batches and it's just easier for me this way).
All my meat is trimmings off of my briskets and pork spare ribs which get me right around the 70/30 meat to fat ratio you want for good sausage.
Casing prep:
My casings are stored in a container that has them covered with water, and plenty of salt.
When I'm going to make a batch, I take the amount of casings I need out, rinse them gently with cold water to get any excess salt off, then sit them in a bowl of fresh cold water for a couple hours, switching the water out for fresh cold water about every 30 minutes. Then I run some cold water through the casings to make sure there is no salt on the inside, and then back into the bowl with new fresh cold water with the ends draped over the edge of the bowl while I get my stuffer loaded and ready to start stuffing.
Once the sausages are stuffed and linked, they go in to the refrigerator, uncovered over night. Based on Chud's videos, this is to help dry out and form a "pelical" on the casings, which will help the smoke stick, and will also contribute to the casings having the proper "snap".
After the overnight rest, they go in to the smoker at roughly 150 degrees to cold smoke for about 4-5 hours, although it's really more of a warm smoke as the smoker is just up out of the danger zone, but the recipe also has the proper amount of cure #1 in it just to be on the safe side.
After 4-5 hours in the smoke they come out, and go straight in to an ice bath to stop the cooking process, and according to Chud, this is also another essential step to getting the proper "snap". They are then removed after about 30 minutes, and dried.
At this point the sausages are ready to go. They can either be vac sealed for storage in the refrigerator or freezer, or put back in the smoker (or an oven) to bring the internal temp to 165 and eat immediately.
Any ideas on what I could try to fix my issue with tough casings? Any idea and feedback is greatly appreciated.
Here are a couple of Chud's videos on his sausage recepees/process. MIght as well link his videos to the same ones I'm doing, the all beef, and the jalapeno cheese.
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