Preserving natural cased sausage?!?

[bulldog42]

I am very very new to making my own sausage and I have done some research and can't find the answer to my question. If I use natural casings for sausage making and want to save some for a long time how can I do this. I am wanting to make some deer brats for grilling and use natural casings but it is my understanding that you can't freeze natural cased sausage so how do you preserve sausage?

 

[daveomak]

I vacuum pack and freeze Andouille in natural casings, no problem.... Probably the best way is to pre freeze on a sheet pan, then vac-pack and put in the freezer.... Pre freezing will stop any liquid from squeezing out during the vac packing process.... I also usually wrap with a single layer of plastic wrap so they easily separate, when frozen, for just taking a few out of the vac bag.......

Dave

 

[mchar69]

it is my understanding that you can't freeze natural cased sausage so how do you preserve sausage?

Dave said it - no probs freezing natural casings..

 

[bulldog42]

Alright thanks!!! This really helps out a ton. I work at a farm and home store where I can get both natural and collagen casings and since I wasn't sure I got collagen casings for now to make some brats. Will these work fine for my first try? They are the LEM smoked collagen casings and I figured on just stuffing them and tying them off. Any advice for using these casings?

 

[daveomak]

If they are the edible collagen casings, no problem... If they aren't edible, you will have to peel them off and have skinless brats... no problem.... This whole process thing from smoking, curing, sausage, etc. is a long learning process... At least you get to eat all your tests and find your favorite.....:biggrin:

Dave

 

[bulldog42]

Thanks again!! I tried my hand at summer sausage with some deer meat and they turned out wonderful so I figured I will try my hand at some brats tomorrow, just wasn't wanting to get natural casings since I wasn't sure about freezing them. I will definitely be using natural casings next time. Also, if you have already soaked natural casings but don't use them all, how do you preserve these and save them for later? Appreciate all of your help!

 

[papap]

I just put salt with casing in a container and freeze leftover casing. Been doing this for years.

 

[bulldog42]

Do you just use normal salt? And how much?

 

[daveomak]

Pickling or Kosher salt.... non iodized.....

 

[bulldog42]

Alright thanks!! Do you just eyeball the amount? Also would it be smart to air dry them a bit before freezing them

 

[papap]

I use just normal salt and never had a problem.

 

[daveomak]

Excess pickling or kosher salt to kill the bacteria.... Table salt is not recommended.... I put them in a zip bag and in the coldest part of the refer..... Dave

 

[mchar69]

Soak, then rinse in warm water,

They are usually in like 4 -6' lengths.

So open them up under the spout, and I run water thru them -

mostly to get out the salt.

Some say soak in OJ,  (?)

but I've only done a soak and warmer water rinse.

My sausages are great with these casings.

 

[bulldog42]

Does anybody have a good brat recipie by chance? I tried my first batch today for deer brats and they weren't bad, just didn't have that strong flavor and super juiciness like I like.

 

[andy riley]

I made some last week end from a recipe posted by Woodcutter for Wisconsin brats. They were very good. You might check them out.

Also, I did a search for brat recipes just typing brats in the search bar. I made mine with 50% pork and the rest deer meat.

 

[bulldog42]

What website was the recipe posted on?

 

[andy riley]

Bulldog, It was on this forum. I don't recall which sub forum, but it should come up in the general search. You might have to scroll through a lot of titles to find it. I just did a search and it came up as Wisconsin style brats.

It's in the pork sub forum. There are several recipies  listed in the thread.

 

[chef jimmyj]

It's in this thread...JJ

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/132152/wisconsin-style-brats

 

[bulldog42]

Thanks guys!!