Huskyhunter said:
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!