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Sausage Making 102 - Casings

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RuralNc:

--- Quote from: freedumb2003b on April 03, 2023, 07:41:52 PM ---I thought this was about legislative processes.

--- End quote ---

 :lmao:

Similar. But with this, you get the result you actually want. So... theres that.  :-)

freedumb2003b:

--- Quote from: RuralNc on April 03, 2023, 07:52:42 PM --- :lmao:

Similar. But with this, you get the result you actually want. So... theres that.  :-)

--- End quote ---

Fair enough!  I would love to do it so I will see if it is something I can accomplish:)

RuralNc:
Stuffing the Casings

Welcome back. Got everything prepped and ready? Perfect. The next step is surprisingly one of the trickier. Loading the casings onto the Stuffing Horn. It can be maddening at times. And other times? Its your lucky day. Thats all I know.

Stuffing Horn. Just to clarify for the uninitiated, the Stuffing Horn is a pipe (plastic or metal) that attaches to either your grinder or stuffer. Its like a funnel. The casing slides over the horn, and thats about it. These do come in a variety of sizes, relative to the casing that you're using.

Once you have the appropriate Stuffing Horn on your stuffer or grinder, apply a thin coat of veggie oil to the pipe. Just a very thin layer. You can use your finger to spread it around. Just a couple drops is all you really need.

Hog Casings. Bring your bowl of soaking casing to the stuffer. Pick out a casing, stretching open the end, and sliding it over the horn. If its resists, if the opening isnt large enough try the other end of the casing. It should fit, and the casings are fairly elastic. Slide the entire casing onto the horn. If you have a couple short sections, you can probably fit more then one on the horn.

Synthetic/Collagen. These casings slide on to the tube pretty easily. Mostly because they are already compressed in such a way that they just slide right on. In my experience, these are always a slightly looser fit then natural casings.

Pre-Tubed. This is fairly new to the market product. New at least compared to the other products. The casings come with a tube inserted. You slide the entire bit onto the horn, then pull the tube out. Supposedly these are simpler to load. I have no idea. Have never used them. But I can definitely see an advantage.

Stuffing. From here going forward, the stuffing procedure is straight forward. It just requires practice.

If you have a stuffer, you just load it up with meat. 5 pounds, 10 pounds, whatever. If you are using something like the Kitchen Aid, then you will feed meat slowly into the hopper, allowing the machine to push the sausage into the casing.

Allow the sausage to just begin coming out of the tube. Shut off the machine. Any extra that spills out of the tube, toss back into the hopper. Pull about 4 inches of casing forward, you want to tie a knot in the end. Then push the casing back taut to the end of the exit. If an air bubble shows up, prick it with a sharp knife. Keep that knife right there with you. Most likely, it wont be the only one that pops up.

Turn the machine back on, and start feeding very cold sausage into the hopper. Using one hand, keep a gentle grip on the casing that is on the horn. Your thumb and index finger should be making an "o" shape, right on the end of the Stuffing Horn. Using this hand, you are controlling the speed and fill of the casing. Lighten your grip, skinnier looser sausage. Tighter grip,  plumper sausage. The other hand will be feeding the hopper, and helping to move the cased sausage out of its own way.

I cant emphasize enough, stuffing sausage takes practice. You will get better with every attempt. 

Sausage Links. Shaping up your links is easy. Theres 2 methods. Actually, theres probably more, but im going to describe the 2 I know.

1. As the casing is being stuffed, you pinch the casing with your right fingers, and use the left to spin the sausage around and around. Usually 2 to 3 spins is good enough.

2. After you have stuffed the entire sausage casing, you then  pinch and shape the sausages. This is the method I prefer. For no particular reason. This is just how I learned.

Important Note About Small Sausages. Small links, such as Breakfast Links are often cut off instead of being linked. Once you stuff the entire casing, refrigerate for an hour or so, then cut the links at the desired length. The links are so narrow, spillage is usually not a concern.

Regardless of which method you use to link your sausages, always spin the sausages in opposite directions. The first sausage I spin forward. The second sausage backwards. Then forwards, backwards... rinse and repeat. This will prevent the casing from unraveling.

Freeze or Cook. At this point you can either freeze or cook your Sausage Links. You can leave the links together or cut apart. Your choice. I prefer to keep the links together, until cooked. Then just snip apart.

Thats that. Stuffing sausages takes practice. I recommend you start with synthetic, then move to natural casings once you are comfortable with your equipment and recipes. 

Dblhaul:
Thank you! I will start making in the coming year. !!

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