Post
by Chuckwagon » Sun Aug 26, 2012 10:49
Casings And Stuffing
For years, I used a push-type horn stuffer complete with a lever-driven piston, and I often invented new and exciting, colorful, adjectives and nouns. From the onset, it became evident that adding moisture to the meat mixture was necessary just to be able to press the meat mixture through the *!#*! device into casings. Most of the time, the sausage (with too much added water) turned out mushy and many times just pulling the handle down required the assistance of three men and a boy! Impressing no one with my vibrant vocabulary, and finding my marriage in jeopardy, I eventually purchased a hand-cranked, geared, vertical model stuffer from Rytek Kutas during his "early days" - one of the best investments of my lifetime. I still have it and it works just fine.
Today, like many home sausage makers, I use a motorized grinder and never add moisture to sausage with the exception of a little finely crushed ice to cool the blade and of course, just a bit of water to make the "soup" containing the cure and spices. Stuffing casings right out of the grinder is poor practice, yet innumerable people believe it is proper practice. Although it is possible to remove the blade and plate from the grinder, add a "spacer", and attach a "stuffing horn" complete with a few yards of casing ready to be stuffed, I was never able to see the wisdom in this type of setup as it is incredibly slow and frustrating! If you must process sausage in this manner, please grind the sausage into a container placed inside a bowl of ice. Mix the ground meat well to develop the myosin, cool the mixture until it nearly freezes, then pass it through the grinder again without using the blade and plate, being sure to use a "spacer" - a plate having only two large apertures, eliminating much of the resistance of trying to push the mixture through multiple holes.
Commercially made sausages are nearly always stuffed into synthetic, collagen, plastic, or other man-made casings by motorized and geared stuffers. Most often, natural casings are not used commercially since they vary in diameter and volume, making it difficult for companies to provide a consistently uniform product. Regardless of the type stuffer you choose, you should be aware that meat mixed with salt, especially combined with soy protein concentrate, will set up like cement if you don`t expedite the process a bit and get the meat into casings immediately.
Small batches of homemade sausage are best stuffed into natural hog or lamb casings being completely rinsed of packing salt inside and out. Soaked casings are placed upon the nozzle of your kitchen tap then flushed with water to remove the salt inside them. Natural casings used for your favorite sausages, are made from the submucosa collagen layers inside the intestines of sheep, hogs, and cattle. Flushed, cleaned, turned inside out and scraped with knives, they are finally salted and shipped in a saturated salt solution. They have historically been the ideal container for the world`s first "convenience food". Moisture and heat make casing more porous and tend to soften them, explaining why smoking, cooking, and humidity must be carefully controlled. The secrets of the old mom-and-pop "wurstmachers" over hundreds of years, have been developed into a most efficient and safely consumed product today, although now, there aren`t enough to go around! As a consequence, commercial sausage makers now use plastic, cellulose, and collagen casings almost exclusively.
Hog casings (upper intestines) are sold in 91-meter lengths cut into "hanks" 1 to 2 meters long and gathered into bundles called "shorts". Their average diameter is about 35 millimeters and may be used for cooked sausages, pepperoni, Italian sausage, Kielbasa, Kishka, larger franks, and a host of other stuffed sausages. Hog middles (middle intestines called "chitterlings") are curly in appearance and cut into one-meter lengths, sold in bundles of nine or ten. They are available in wide, medium, or narrow calibers, determined by the location of the item within the animal. Middles are ideal for Braunschweiger, liver sausages, dry salami, and Italian salami. Hog bungs (called "fat ends") are the intestine`s extreme southern end of a north-bound pig. Bungs are sold individually and are used primarily for liver sausage and Branschweiger, Genoa salami, Thuringer, and summer sausage. Diameters vary from 55 to 90 millimeters.
Measured by diameter in millimeters, small breakfast sausages require 29-35 mm. casings. Use 35-38 mm. casings for Polish sausage, and 38-42 mm. for summer sausage and larger Polish or liverwurst sausages. For small batches of sausage, use a partial "hank", replacing leftover casings inside their salt solution in an airtight refrigerated container.
Sheep casings are more delicate, used for the best sausages, are smaller in diameter, and high in quality. Available in 18-28 millimeter diameters, they are often used for frankfurters, fresh pork sausages, cabanosa, Bockwurst, Chipolata, and slim-jim beer sticks.
Sheep Casings - 1 Hank
Diameter:____ Capacity:
16-18 mm......33-36 lbs.
18-20 mm......38-41 lbs.
20-22 mm......47-52 lbs.
22-24 mm......55-60 lbs.
24-26 mm......60-64 lbs.
26 + mm........64-70 lbs.
"Shorts" - 3 to 6 ft. lengths.
18-20 mm......34-36 lbs.
20-22 mm......40-45 lbs.
22-24 mm......45-50 lbs.
24 + mm........50-54 lbs.
The three most used beef casings are "bung caps", "beef rounds", and `beef middles". The caps are used with capicola, large Bologna, and cooked salami. Beef "rounds" derive their name from their characteristic "ring" shape, and are used for stuffing ring Bologna, ring liver sausage, Mettwurst, Polish sausage, blood sausages, and Polish Kishka and German Holsteiner. Beef "middles" are used for Leona sausage, all types of Bologna, Cervelats, cooked salami, and veal sausage. Beef middles are sold in "sets" of 9 and measure 18 meters in length (30 feet). Beef bladders are the largest diameter casings acquired from cattle, are oval and used for Mortadella and other specialty sausage.
Whenever using fresh hog or lamb casings, prepare them by soaking and flushing them with fresh cold water. As they soak, rinse the packing salt from their insides by placing only one at a time, inside a bowl of water beneath the tap in your sink. Open one end of the processed, cleaned, and salted intestine, slipping an inch or more of it over the water tap. Flush cold water through the casing for a few minutes, to remove any remaining salt. As you remove the casing from the tap, allow a bubble of water to remain inside then gather the full length of the casing over a stuffing tube first lubricated with water. Never attempt to lubricate the stuffer with butter or any other lubricant other than water, as this will affect the cooking-smoking of the skin later on. Stuff the entire casing firmly before linking uniform lengths by pinching off a desired amount, holding each end using both hands, then twisting each new link by flipping it forward in a circular motion twice. Many folks tie lengths using 100% cotton string although fingers become sore if there is much sausage to be linked. It is important to immediately remove any air pockets in the sausages by pricking the links with sterile needles in multiple locations along the entire length of the sausage. I use a piano tuner's "voicing tool" with a spiffy hardwood handle and four needles. Trapped air, if not removed, becomes the ideal breeding ground for bacteria. Don`t be concerned about the small holes made in the sausage. The tiny holes will seal themselves almost immediately and natural casings will shrink equally with the meat while being cooked or dried.
Generally, smaller casings allow about half the volume of meat to be stuffed into them as when using those of a little larger diameter, and there is now a trend for sausage makers to stuff even simple breakfast sausage into 32-35 mm. hog casings instead of the traditionally smaller lamb casings. As with all natural casings, unused portions may be replaced into their original containers of saturated salt solution and may be stored for an indefinite period of time when refrigerated.
Synthetic And Fibrous Casings
Each year, in the United States alone, there are billions of pounds of sausage produced. Livestock simply cannot produce enough casings to wrap all the luncheon meats and sausages we devour annually. Today, about 80% of the sausage sold in your local market is stuffed into synthetic casings. Thank goodness for cellulose and plastic! There is an array of colors - red for Bologna, white for liverwurst, and clear-colored for salami and an assortment of other favorites. Some have a coating of protein inside which causes the casing to shrink along with the meat as it dries. Fibrous casings have the added strength of fibers running lengthwise through them, giving them added strength, allowing packers to stuff them more tightly eliminating air pockets. This casing is actually porous enough to allow the absorption of smoke.
Collagen Casings
Where was this stuff fifty years ago? Collagen is not synthetic, as most people seem to believe. It is the insoluble fibrous protein in connective tissue in cattle and other vertebrates. Upon prolonged heating, it yields gelatin and glue used in many products. In the sausage-casing industry, it is simply the flesh-side, corium layer of cattle hides, swelled in an acid, then sieved and filtered before being extruded into sausage casings. It`s wonderful stuff, fully digestible, not erratic in size, does not need to be cleaned, flushed, or even pre-soaked, and remains fairly strong for stuffing, yet is most tender to the tooth. It is shipped to you inside sanitary containers, ready to be stuffed onto the horn without additional washing, soaking, or handling. The only single drawback with using collagen casings is they cannot be twisted into links and have to be tied with string. Collagen casings are ideal for smoked or dry-cured sausages. In smaller diameters, breakfast sausages don`t even have to be linked; simply cut them to length with scissors after stuffing. Whenever making 19 m.m. snak-stix, collagen casings can`t be beat.
Collagen casings come in two types. The lighter-colored collagen casing is thinner and often will not withstand the hanging pressure in a smokehouse. Although this casing can split and break more easily, it creates a more tender bite. The darker, smoked casing is thicker and made to withstand the hanging pressure when smoking. There`s no preparation necessary; just slide them on a stuffing tube and stuff them.
Casing Problems
Natural casings are shipped packed in a salt solution inside sealed containers. It is most unlikely they will decay. However, infrequently gas builds up and its odor will cause you to believe either the contents have spoiled, or that someone has buried a body in the basement! Simply wash and use the casings, packing any left over in saturated, uniodized, kosher salt solution. Casings on fresh sausage may be tough if the product is cooked at too high a temperature for too short a period of time. Casings may also be tough if not soaked long enough before being stuffed. If smoke will not penetrate casings, they have not dried properly. In some cases, smoke may penetrate the casing but will be deposited on the meat`s surface, permitting separation. On the other hand, if casings are over dried, smoke will be deposited upon the surface with very little flavor penetration.
Collagen casings must dry a bit before they are able to handle the weight of their contents while hanging them in your smoker. If the humidity is too high in the smokehouse, they may fall. If casings wrinkle, they may have been too dry before stuffing, under stuffed, or improperly cooled. Following cooking inside a smokehouse, sausages should immediately be showered with cold water, hung at room temperature for an hour, then removed to a cooler overnight.
Problems With Sausage Texture? Let`s Review The Rules
If the texture of your sausages tastes and looks like sawdust, it is time to review the basic rules. It is important to keep the meat absolutely cold during the entire sausage making process, capturing every opportunity to place it back into the refrigerator if for only a few minutes. Ground meat will have a better finished texture if it is initially prepared by cutting it into inch-and-a-half chunks, spreading them onto a baking sheet tray or large plate, and placing the chunks into a freezer ten minutes, until they almost begin to freeze. It`s also a good idea to place the grinder`s blade and plate into the freezer at the same time. As these parts begin to heat up quickly as they are used, keep them cooled by adding soft crushed ice or ice water to lubricate the meat during grinding. As the ground meat leaves the grinder, allow it to collect in a non-reactive metal bowl or container placed on top of another bowl full of ice. Never try grinding solid frozen, whole ice cubes inside your meat grinder. Refrigerate the ground meat as quickly as possible, even if it must be done in batches every few minutes. Again, never miss a chance to refrigerate the meat, though it may be just a few minutes.
As a grinder`s blade revolves against it`s plate, friction creates heat and fat will begin to liquefy in minuscule spots, "smearing" as the temperature actually approaches 160 degrees (F.) in places, where it separates from muscle rather than achieving a good emulsion by remaining solid. As the heated "spots" of fat cool being surrounded by ground meat and cooled fat, it will solidify anew, especially having exited the grinder - into unappetizing, greasy, awful-tasting, clusters scattered throughout the meat!
In addition, whenever cased sausage is heated too quickly during the smoking procedure, the fat will invariably liquefy and separate. This is called "breaking" the fat, and leaves behind lean, rancid-tasting, dehydrated, meat having the texture of sawdust. Rather than having sausage containing locked-in, tasty, solid fat, you`ll end up with sausage leaking orange, greasy "ninety-weight", all over the floor as it cooks. Without gradually raising the smokehouse temperature - no more than a few degrees each half hour over a prolonged period, you`ll end up tossing the entire batch.
After grinding, the simple task of producing a "sticky meat paste" becomes essential for proper texture in the finished product. Whether its by hand or by using a mixer, the meat must be agitated well enough to develop the protein myosin. Once again, as this occurs, the ground meat mixture will become "sticky" and develop peaks when pulled apart. Without developing myosin in the ground meat, the texture of your sausages will be inferior. For some reason, knowing this, beginners tend to overlook this critical step in the sausage making process. Finally, be careful not to add too much water to the mixture, as the sausage will become mushy, eventually shrinking, becoming flattened and wrinkly in appearance as the excess moisture evaporates.
Reviewing Sausage Sense & Secrets
Sorry, but there is just no such thing as a low-fat sausage. Did you know that the USDA allows 50% fat in "fresh" type pork breakfast sausage? Have you noticed how they shrink as they cook, leaving a pool of grease in the frying pan? Good sausage needs only 25 to 30% fat content to keep it lubricated. Without it, your sausage, even made with the finest meats, will feel dry as you attempt to chew it. Sausage must be made with chilled or frozen fat to avoid "smearing" as it is minced. Once the sausage is stuffed into casings and hung in your smoker, it must not be cooked too quickly or at too high a temperature. You just can`t hurry the process! If the fat in the mixture "breaks", (at about 170°F./ 77°C.), it becomes liquid and usually flows all over the floor of your smokehouse. When this happens, there is no salvaging the entire batch. Its texture will resemble that of sawdust and the now orange, re-solidified fat tastes just awful. Throw it out. And don`t you even dare give it to your dog as he just might turn on you with bared teeth!
Good sausage also needs a specific amount of salt for a variety of reasons. Fresh-type meat sausages (refrigerated and consumed within three days time), taste best when their salt content is only about 1.5%. The average smoked-cooked sausage requires 2% to 3%, varying in each recipe. In dry-cured products, even more salt content is required and remains constant, although evaporating moisture reduces the weight and intensifies the flavor of the sausage.
Nothing beats the taste of freshly ground or cracked peppercorns in sausage. The most widely used spice of all, (black pepper), comes from the unripened seeds (with the skin left on), of the piperaceae plant. White peppercorns are the ripened seeds with the skins removed. Please don`t purchase pre-ground pepper. Its flavor is gone and there is no telling how long it has been on the grocer`s shelf. Purchase fresh peppercorns from a reliable spice dealer and grind them yourself in a small, inexpensive coffee grinder. Pepper is an indispensable ingredient in sausage making! Use only the fresh stuff and grind it yourself.
A policeman once asked me why I ran a stop sign. I told him that I just don`t believe everything I read! So, when I read someone`s opinion that sugar counterbalances the harshness of salt, it raised my eyebrows. I do not agree completely, and have found that sugar has very little use in sausage other than when it`s placed in some "dry-cured" fermented type sausages. Even then, powdered dextrose (only 70% as sweet as sugar) is used in sausages that do not have the advantage of curing over a period of time. Sugar is usually added to dry-cured products where lactic acid bacteria have more time to work their magic. As a flavoring element, sugar does little to sausage but may sweeten the mixture a bit. Four grams of sugar in a kilogram of meat is too much and noticeably sweet. Although some disagree, I`ve found that adding sugar to a product in which too much salt has been inadvertently mixed, is usually not a practicable option and may even make it taste worse. The ideal solution? Add more ground meat to the mixture instead of sugar. Test a bit of the sausage by frying it quickly in a pan.
Many people at this point hang sausages on smoke sticks to dry them an hour before placing them into a smokehouse. Some dry them in a slightly heated smokehouse of 110° F. (43°C.) opening the dampers fully an hour to allow moisture to escape. No matter how its done, remember, sausages will not take on smoke until they are completely dry to the touch.
Next, gradually cook the meat while smoking it. The word gradually in this step is of highest importance in the process. Most recipes will have you start the cooking-smoking at about 120°F. (49°C.) after pre-heating the smoker to that temperature. When the internal meat temperature (IMT) reaches 120°F. (49°C.), increases in temperature made thereafter must be done only a few degrees each twenty minutes or half hour. An increase of only 2 degrees each twenty minutes will require 5 hours of cooking. Better yet, is an increase each half hour requiring seven and a half hours!
Other folks prefer to steam sausages immediately following light smoking. For larger batches, place a pan of water on the smokehouse burner, turn up the heat, and steam sausages hung on smoke sticks right inside your smokehouse. Note that even though the sausages are steamed with moisture, they must not surpass 160° F. (71°C.) or the fat will "break". The upside? If you allow the fat to break, you`ll have plenty of slingshot ammunition on your hands, as the "sawdust sausages" won`t be fit for anything else.
For steaming small batches of sausages, a large, multi-layered, stackable Chinese bamboo steamer is ideal. Simply use a wok, half-full of water, and a larger diameter bamboo steamer. Be sure to monitor the internal meat temperature with a "constant reading probe thermometer" having an alarm. Whether they are steam cooked or just baked inside the smokehouse, having reached the temperature of 155°F. (68°C.), the sausages must be immediately removed to the ice water to avoid the "carry over effect" where the temperature actually continues to climb. Finally, they are showered with cold water (to reduce shriveling) until their temperature drops to room temperature. As they are wiped off and hung to dry, it is only a matter of a few hours before a beautiful mahogany bloom appears.
Many people are under the impression that once cured, cooked, and smoked, a sausage may be left out of the refrigerator safely. This is a popular misconception and not true. The only type sausage or whole meat muscle that may be safely stored at room temperature is a fully fermented, dry-cured product that has not been cooked during preparation or stored in direct sunlight for long periods. Store all other meats in the refrigerator. If the sausage is semi-dry cured, wrap it in layers of paper towel to absorb moisture as it continues to dry. Store dry-cured sausages and meats in relative humidity below 70% and below 60°F. (16°C.) for best results.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
Last edited by
Chuckwagon on Wed Aug 29, 2012 05:32, edited 2 times in total.
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! 
I was able to pick up some of the needed spice supplies the other day from Penzeys Spices (I could of spent days in that store not to mention hundreds of dollars with the variety that they carry) which leads me to my first question. 
