Can anyone tell me about buying sausage casings? Our local butcher wants $35 for enough casing to do 80# of sausage. From looking on Amazon that is a pretty good price. Are there any pitfalls to avoid?
Can anyone tell me about buying sausage casings? Our local butcher wants $35 for enough casing to do 80# of sausage. From looking on Amazon that is a pretty good price. Are there any pitfalls to avoid?
There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
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When I was a kid my folks bought half a pig and made most of it into breakfast sausage. I remember my dad using the old meat grinder, and my mom sewing a bunch of of tubes out of fabric. It was sort of an off-white color, so it must have been either a very fine woven cheesecloth, or a light weight unbleached muslin.
I don't remember how they removed the fabric from the frozen sausage, but the slices fried up for breakfast were the best sausage I ever ate in my life.
I don't suppose this would work if you want to make small link sausages.
Carol
BigM, that's we paid this year as well.
My Dad started teaching my sons a few yrs ago. Dad has been doing this forever so we had to convince him to use our recipe and less fat and salt. lol
Martinhouse, thanks for the info on the cloth. We have been thinking about a way to make sausage without casings, due to the cost. Sausage hangs on metal rods and bacon on hooks in smokehouse. Maybe we can put in some racks to hold the wrapped meat and adjust the smoking time.
Our secret ingredient that everyone loves in our cajun sausage and drives my Dad crazy (hard to break a 50 yr old custom):
1 gal Smokehouse Texas Smoky BBQ sauce per 100# pork or deer/pork
Does anyone use cloth and can you share some hints? Would it fall apart if we shape in a roll and lay it on the racks? MM
Maddymae, my folks didn't smoke their sausage, they just put it in the freezer. But I bet you could roll it in cheesecloth, maybe two or three layers, and then just twist or tie the ends to hold it shut. And even another tie or two around the middle, if it's a long sausage?
I'd just want to be sure the fabric and string I used was 100% cotton.
Carol
Hmmm, I'd love to know more about the cloth. I use flat fold diapers for cheese cloths. I bet those would be great for that.
There's a fine line between cuddling and holding someone down so they can't get away.
Follow me on Twitter @BigMx3
Way late to the party here, but LEM and ButcherPacker.com are usually where I go to for casings, primarily ButcherPacker, since LEM's prices tend to be a tad higher.
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Thomas Payne
We get our casing from Waltonsinc.com. Buy in bulk because we usually butcher anywhere from 5-10 pigs at a time.
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