I have tried rusk, homemade breadcrumbs, and store bought breadcrumbs ... the rusk certainly has its place but my favourite by a long shot for sausage making is Japanese panko breadcrumbs. I'd suggest you give them a try if you are going the breadcrumb route.
Hi. Made another batch of Cumberland last night using hog casings purchased from this site's shop. One question: I soaked more than I used; can the casings I didn't use be stored for long e.g. in heavily salted water?
In that case, I'd drain them, dry them on paper towels, and then chuck a lot of salt on them. In effect, restore them to how they came.
But they don't tend to store 'overly long'. I use them if they're OK after this, but chuck them if they've turned the very dark colour that they seem to go when they 'ain't right'!
Don't worry too much, when your friends find out about the sausage, you'll be making them more often!
If you heavily salt, and I mean heavily salt..... you can store casings for a long time after you have rinsed them and used them. Be sure you clean any meat that may have contaminated the casings in the stuffing process from the remaining casings, as this can cause the casings to spoil.
I've used casings that were cleaned and salted months later with no issues whatsoever.