[Huskyhunter]

I want to make some hot sausage this year, probally 50/50 deer/pork. I checking some stuff out yesterday and saw the natural hog casings 'pig intestines' they have them salted on the shelf and have ones in the cooler. The thought of intestines kind of grosses me out. Is the sausage you buy from most meat markets in natural hog casings?

 

[*Moose]

Yes it is. And I use the hog intestine casings every year (just butchered my moose this week) and they are easy to use and really strong. I hear there are also synthetic casings available but the real thing works so well I wouldn't change. But the sausage you buy in the store does come in hog intestine.

 

[Woodywoodduck]

I want to make some hot sausage this year, probally 50/50 deer/pork. I checking some stuff out yesterday and saw the natural hog casings 'pig intestines' they have them salted on the shelf and have ones in the cooler. The thought of intestines kind of grosses me out. Is the sausage you buy from most meat markets in natural hog casings?

Well,
Moosemike is Right and Wrong on what you asked...

First off, what age group are yo in?

If your in your mid 30s and above, most likely you when you have eaten sausage bought from the store or from a butcher shop years ago, you were eating sausage stuffed in Pig Intestines or Sheep intestines!

Can not remember the exact date, but sometime back in the late 70s they started using the Collagen....some places went to them and other places kept on using either the pig or sheep intestines.....

now today, it is something like a 60-40 usage... 60% Collagen caseings 40% pig or sheep intestines used by the big packing houses that make sausage sold in the stores....


If you look at sausage in packets, you can most of the times tell if it is Collagen or intestines... the intestine casings have somewhat of little lines throuhout the casing....it is the connective tissue runing thru the intestines...the Collagen casings are just smooth and have no lines running thru them...

Most likley, You have eaten pig intestines many time over when eating sausage!

I've used both when making sausage and snack sticks... I'd rather use the pig or sheep intestines over the Collagen casings!

 

[Falcon Four]

We've tried both but always go back to the natural casings. Weren't happy with collagen.

We do a 50-50 pork/venison for our sweet sausage and it's a real treat.

Not many people make homemade sausage anymore I had trouble finding casings and seasonings this year.

 

[*Moose]

Thanks for the correction Woody. Now I learned something new too.

 

[Huskyhunter]

Yep I quess if i have been eating them before and didnt know it then i might as well try them, how to they clean the waste out of them anyway?

 

[Woodywoodduck]

Yep I quess if i have been eating them before and didnt know it then i might as well try them, how to they clean the waste out of them anyway?

They are cleaned up nice and good....they get scraped and also flushed...Some go for use as sausage casing and others go to be sold to make Chitlins!


When you get them, they will either be packed in a salt water solution or straight salt...

Soak them for about 1 hour, then place the 1 end over a facet and flush with water... then keep them in water till you are ready to use...

IF you flush to many, simply take the remander and repack in Salt...Make sure it is NON iodized Salt!

keep them in the fridge and they will last pretty much For Ever!

Knight50cal and I just got done doing 5 pounds of snack sticks, 10 pounds of sausage and 30 pounds of bologna... we had extra pig and sheep casings left over... what was left over did not get pitched.... they went right back in the container and had extra salt added to them!

 

[Woodywoodduck]

Thanks for the correction Woody. Now I learned something new too.

Some still think that it is still just pig intestings......

but the truth is, more are using Collagen...BUT, some are still using the pig and sheep intestines.....


Collagen casings to me just seem to Bust to easy once you start cooking the sausage...But, the pig intestines hold up nice and normally do not bust off the meat and let it fall apart!


Johnsonville Brawts and sausage, if you look at those, you can see the conective tissue in the casing...which shows they are still using pig intestines....

Like I said above, I've used both pig and sheep intestines and the Collagen Casings.. I have had more Collagen casings bust on me while stuffing then I have had sheep or pig intestines!

I'd rather use the natural intestines to stuff sausage or snack sticks...and it does seem those intestines add an additional flavor...

I'd love to find an OLD Indian that knew how things were done years ago and learn how to use the deer intestines from the deer I shoot to make snack sticks and sausage.....just something else that would not go to waste!

 

[*Moose]

Woody, could you tell me how to make snack sticks?

 

[Woodywoodduck]

Woody, could you tell me how to make snack sticks?

Sorta along the lines of making sausage or Bologna...


What you want is the small diametor sheep casings or the Collegen casings...20-22MM Sized


Get yourself a good snack stick recipe and mix the meat up with the spices.... stuff using either a stuffer or grinder with a stuffer attachement on it..

Lay the filled casings over a dowl or on a rack in a smoker and smoke/cure until internal temp hits 165 degrees..

Isn't anything hard to it!

If you have made sausage or Bologna, you can make snack sticks!