Best sausage casing... that won’t burst in the pan.

[willowbank]

Chaps... new to sausage making and looking for a heads up on casings, not recipes but the casings.
Also what difference does the diameter make ( if any) to possible bursting.

WB

 

[User00056]

I use natural salted sheep casings myself. I find hog casings just a wee bit too large, and they can be quite tough. Can't get on with synthetic casings at all

 

[takbok]

I use beef collagen casings and put up with them splitting because they're easy to use.

Natural casings won't split.

 

[Andrewslater]

See

I use natural salted sheep casings myself. I find hog casings just a wee bit too large, and they can be quite tough. Can't get on with synthetic casings at all

In my limited experience i have also found these to be good.

 

[sauer]

Hog casing I found too chewy / rubbery no matter how I treated them
Natural sheep casings are good but I prefer for convenience collagen casings and they work well in frying pan

Paul

 

[User00056]

Hog casing I found too chewy / rubbery no matter how I treated them
Natural sheep casings are good but I prefer for convenience collagen casings and they work well in frying pan

Paul

Lemon juice while soaking helps with hog casings, but it can be a bit hit or miss. I like the classic sausage curve sheep casings give though, and I grill my sausages so bursting in the pan is never really an issue for me

 

[Freightdog]

I'm certainly no expert, only been making sausages the last two seasons.

I've used natural hog and sheep casings and I've found these caused bursting;

too much water in the mix,
Filling the cases too much,
Leaving air pockets (prick them out with a pin),
Not leaving them to bind overnight,
Cooking at too high heat.

You only really have three choices of casing, sheep, hog or synthetic, from a few different suppliers. So won't take long to try them all.

Last piece of advice, make notes on your recipes, suppliers, techniques etc. It will save you wasting time and ingredients in the future.

 

[MattW]

Good evening,
Have made a few (30 years experience in a butchers shop) sometimes the temperature can be too hot and cause cases to split.
However once made if you have the space to hang them in links so they can take in the flavour will definitely help.
That’s what all old fashioned butchers always did and for that reason.
If they are cooked to fresh they will split, lamb or hog casings will definitely. (As said thicker)
Can’t help on collagen as wouldn’t ever use them.
If anyone is having trouble with natural skins put them in cold water over night or 12 hours before they are going to be used they will be much easier to use.

If you are buying in seasoning follow the recipe but adding some pork fat to venison will definitely also help and stop sausages being a dry as a quick guide we always add 20% pork fat to any venison mix.

Hope this helps

 

[willowbank]

Keen to order some casings but which ones and diameter? So many choices.....

WB

 

[alun1960]

28mm sheep casings i use my preffered size .

 

[Freightdog]

Keen to order some casings but which ones and diameter? So many choices.....

WB

So I go with hog casings for fat sausages and sheep for skinny. The last ones I bought were 34/38mm hog and 24/26mm sheep. I don't think it makes a lot of difference, they're either fat breakfast size or thin chipolatas. I get the home user packs on the tapes as they are a bit easier to handle and come in shorter lengths. I've used Tongmaster & Butchers Sundries, can't tell any difference.

 

[willowbank]

So I go with hog casings for fat sausages and sheep for skinny. The last ones I bought were 34/38mm hog and 24/26mm sheep. I don't think it makes a lot of difference, they're either fat breakfast size or thin chipolatas. I get the home user packs on the tapes as they are a bit easier to handle and come in shorter lengths. I've used Tongmaster & Butchers Sundries, can't tell any difference.

Thanks for the info, used Butcher Sundries often so will look into that.

WB

 

[Klenchblaize]

Interesting thread.

No idea on the best way for the Op to proceed but my one - of many - "angry old man" frustrations with shop purchased sausages is the skins are always a serious disappointment and oft' ruin an otherwise tolerable filling.

K

 

[tattie]

Tried Hog casings and found them a bit tough (grilled) and then on to the sheep casings but as MattW said better to soak them overnight.

Recently tried collagen casings, they were ok but I got another lot of sheep casings for my next batch.

Cheers

 

[brandon]

The main issue for sausages bursting is not so much the casing, but more to do with being stuffed too tight. Natural casing taste better in my opinion.