Hog casings bursting while stuffing

[TorontoJoe]

Hey

I've been making capocollo and Sopressata for a long time... I use beef middles as they're tough.... I actually used to make cacciatore over soppressaa as I find it more portable, but I gave up because I was fed up with natural hog casings. No matter how well I prep the casings lubricate the stuffing horn.... No matter how gentle I was, I can't seem stuff them without them bursting all the time..... I have quality equipment as well...

Now, I want to make some fresh sausage and of course I can't do that with beef middles.... I have to go back to 40mm hog casings (I don't like collagen or cellulose) but I'm trying to figure out how to do it without banging my head against the wall for all the bursting.... Even when I did manage to get a length of hog casing stuffed, I didn't dare try and link them as they'd break even more. So there I was string-tying sausage after sausage.... it was ridiculous.

Can anyone suggest what I may be missing here? I've searched up and down for YouTube videos or other instruction but I can't seem to find much of anything other than people effortlessly, linking sausage

Thanks all!

[NCPaul]

Welcome to the forum. Where are getting the casings from? How are you preparing them?

[TorontoJoe]

Hey.... sorry for the slow reply.... My notifications don't seem to be coming in.

I've tried casing from 4 local places. 2 of which, old school Italian shops and the other 2 big wholesalers... always the same result

I'm soaking the casings for maybe an hour or two in water and fresh lemon juice... then putting them on the horn and crossing my fingers.

I don't blame any of the suppliers... I'm clearly just missing something

As far as prep.... Perhaps I'm missing something there?

[TorontoJoe]

Also, @NCPaul.... Thank you for the kind welcome....

[TorontoJoe]

Oh... BTW... I wanted to share what I did this weekend



Four butts... I did four Capocollo and 12 kg of Soppressata and Spianata... Just that darn, fragile sausage casing causing me grief!

[herjac]

hi Joe,

Another Ontario member here. Haven't been by lately. Making sourdough bread these Covid days...

I suggest using a smaller hog casing for fresh sausage, 32 -34mm, and a longer soak before using. I quit using vinegar and lemon juice in the soak as they can make the casing weak and were mainly used by people who didn't like the smell of fresh casings (from the farm). I heard this technique all the time from the ethnic community when I first started sausage making and I haven't done this in years as the commercial casings are good to go.

Don't stuff the casings too firm and when making the links you should be able to squeeze them tight before making the link. Works for me.

Herb