Question for my Sausage Stuffers

[Piomarine]

I am pretty new to making (stuffing) and cooking fresh sausages and have not had much luck and I'm hoping some of you have some answers that can help me out. I tried making a batch of bratwurst and the flavor was spot on, but when I cooked them as directed with low heat and a little water, the casing (32mm fresh collagen) came untied on the ends and rolled up with all of the texture and flavor of an overcooked rubber band.

What am I doing wrong?

I am not opposed to trying natural casings, but everything I had read ahead of time strongly recommended collagen for a first foray into sausage stuffing. To keep this legal for this thread I would like to smoke some in the future (there, now it's BBQ relevant lol).

 

[midwest_kc]

Collagen casings do not hold a twist, which is what you experienced. I would assume that you could tie them off to keep them in shape, but I'm not sure as all I have ever used are natural for fresh sausages.

 

[SMOKE FREAK]

I don't even like collagen casings for snack sticks.

I use sheep for sticks and hog for regular size sausage.

Get ya some hog casings and try again. Night and day. :thumb:

 

[thirdeye]

I use the fibrous casings for my bologna, and for all other 'stuffed' sausages including hot dogs I use natural casings. And I buy good casings, my current favorite supplier is Syracuse Casing. I figure with all the meat prep, mixing of seasonings, handling etc., I want a good casing.

That said, I would concentrate on getting 4 or 5 formulations dialed in and eat them in bulk form first. Then move into stuffing later. You can enjoy sausage patties, sausage burgers, or hand rolled skinnies or fatties. Bulk can also be used in meatloaves, Italian food, meatballs and the like. There are some kinds of sausage I never stuff.