Collagen casings for salami?

[nicola]

Hi!

I've been making sausages for a few months (mostly semi-cured French style and fresh ones), and have enjoyed it immensely. I decided to graduate to salami a couple of weeks ago. I've used a recipe from Jane Grigson's charcuterie book and it smells great... I was just wondering if using collagen casings was a mistake? There's no sign of mould on them, but they have already dried out a great deal and are pretty tough already. They're in a low-humidity, cool and draughty atmosphere.

Has anyone here used collagen for salami? Were the results the same as natural casings? How long is it likely to take, given that collagen casings are very thin compared to the ox runners most people seem to use?

I don't object to using ox runners, but won't use the piggy ones 'cos I'm funny about the free-range thing and haven't found any free range casings.

I have some bits of deer arriving on Friday so am going to have a go at making venison salami


Nick

[aris]

I've not made salami, but I have made dried sausage using collagen. it works fine - just that the casings peel off quite easily which is not necessarily something you want with dried sausage, but might be something you want with salami.

[Spuddy]

The first Salami (more like Salamini) I ever made were with collagen casings and they turned out OK. They were easier to peel as Aris said. They didn't develop a very good bloom and their long term keeping ability was reduced by about half.
Overall they were still very good (I've bought worse) so I wouldn't discourage their use, although a higher humidity environment might be better as they tend to dry out more quickly than with natural skins so you may end up with some case hardening in your low-humidity environment.