Sausage casings was Re: SC - Food Preservation

[Jeff Botkins]

>From the perspective of someone who used to be in the sausage-making business, Hog
casings are the general rule with most sausages the size of kielbasa and
bratwurst....
Sheep casings are generally used for viennas/hot dogs, that sort of thing.....
Beef bungs are used for big bolognas and such.....
Your summer sausages and cooked salamis generally use a collagen or synthetic
casing.....

In many places, you can buy hog casings in a form commonly referred to as "cup
casings"...these are more or less odds and ends pieces and they are packed in
salt...
Your butcher will generally buy his hog casings fresh packed in salt by the
"hank:...
A hank is about 3 pounds or so and the amount of sausage you can make varies with
the diameter..
You have 4 general sizes of hog casings:
29-32 mm -- used for franks, or link breakfast sausage (country sausage)--makes
90-100 lbs.
32-35 mm -- used for some bratwurst, bockwurst and italian sausage--makes up to
115 lbs.
35-38 mm -- used for some knockwurst, kielbasa (polish sausage), etc.--makes
about125 lbs.
38-42 mm -- largest available (diameter is 1 1/2 - 2"), used for bigger kielbasa,
some summer sausage, liverwurst and ring bologna.-- makes up to 140 lbs.
Sheep casings generally come in 2 sizes:
22-24 mm -- used for pork link sausage--makes 50-60 lbs.
24-26 mm -- used for winers/hot dogs -- makes 60-70 lbs.
Beef bungs are used for big bologna, cooked salami, lebanon salami, etc. --are
approx 4 to 4 1/2" in diameter, and each casing holds 8 to10 lbs.

There's a ton more info I can come up with if anyone wants it, incl info on beef
and hog middles, synthetic casings, collagen casings, etc.
I pretty much get most of my sausage-making stuff mail order from a supplier in
Buffalo, NY (The Sausage Maker)...
I have the phone number and address for anyone who'd like it.....their prices are
pretty reasonable.
They also sell a variety of grinders, slicers, stuffers, smokers and
spices....etc.

Hope this is helpful..

Jeff

Mordonna22 at aol.com wrote:

> In a message dated 9/18/98 8:15:14 AM US Mountain Standard Time,
> mmartines at brighthorizons.com writes:
>
> >
> >  Second, I have the recipe for the sausage, I have a smoker lined up, I
> >  have even ascertained that the Kroger butcher will give me intestines
> >  for casing (althought THAT caused a few lifted eyebrow :) ).
>
> hmmm, a better idea is commercially packaged goat or sheep intestines.  We
> used to get ours from the general store under the Morton's brand (yes, the
> salt people).  These are sold in salt in plastic tubs.  Salting toughens them,
> so they are FAR easier to work with than fresh hog guts.  And they are of a
> size more readily recognizable as "sausage" and more homogenous.  Hog guts are
> so easy to tear that they seldom survive the cleaning process without holes.
> And the guts from one hog can vary in diameter from 1 inch to eight or more.
> We did occasionally use hog guts to stuff the pudding meats, but never for
> sausage.
>
> Mordonna
>
> Mordonna
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