Yummy with a secret, or How is collagen sausage casing used?

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

Who can turn down a delicious juicy sausage that tastes so good? After all, this is an almost universal product that can be consumed in its pure form, build sandwiches with it or fry for breakfast. Unfortunately, a truly high-quality sausage is now becoming rarer, which, of course, is very sad. A collagen casing for sausage is more expensive to manufacture than a film analogue, but the finished product is tastier and better. What's the secret?

The old fashioned way

Usually, in order to make a sausage casing, they use intestines, esophagus and even bladders, that is, all animal products with a film base. There are nuances of processing. In particular, it is necessary to process the intestines immediately after cutting the carcass, since under the influence of itscontents and gastric juice, they deteriorate, lose strength and elasticity.

Home-made sausage in a collagen casing is also in demand. The recipe is not very complicated, but first we will discuss how to cook the old fashioned way. It is better to work on several “fronts” at once; you can take a pig carcass as a basis. First of all, the mesentery and fat must be carefully removed from the intestines. Next, they should be cut into segments and squeeze out the contents. Now the intestines need to be squeezed out and washed in warm water. To turn them out, you need a hook. When the shell softens, it must be scraped off with a blunt knife, washing off the mucus with running water. S alt will help to remove the smell, with which the intestines need to be poured. The final stage of odor elimination is associated with vinegar rinsing. And now the intestines are prepared, which means that for some time they need to be stored in clean water and in a cool room. For homemade sausage, the casing is ready, you can fill it with meat and enjoy an excellent product, which, however, should be smoked first.

For the future

If you stock up on shells for the future, you will need canning. To do this, the intestines should be steeply s alted and kept in the cold. If they freeze, then you can thaw them in warm water. Immediately before use, s alted intestines should be soaked in warm water for several hours, then cooled. If you use the bladder for the shell, then it must be incised, turned out, rinsed and rubbed with s alt. The same treatment is required for the large intestines and stomachs. ATto finish, wipe them with baking soda and rinse.

mince for sausage

Preparing meat for homemade sausage will not work so quickly. It must be separated from bones, cartilage and other elements that only spoil the taste. Approximately 3 percent of s alt will be needed for the entire processed mass. Mix the meat with s alt and refrigerate. Next, the meat must be passed through a meat grinder with spices, spices and garlic. Fat and bacon must also be passed through a large mesh meat grinder. If you use several types of meat, then you need to grind them separately. So that the minced meat does not crumble, it is flavored with skimmed milk powder, wheat flour, mustard powder, starch, corn syrup, and sugar. It is also worth adding chopped bacon. It's time to stuff your guts. But in production, they have long been replaced by a collagen shell. It is also suitable for homemade sausage. By its properties, such a shell is close to natural. It is gas, moisture and smoke permeable.

Collagen "case"

So, what's good about collagen-cased sausage? The recipe will be no more difficult than a homemade counterpart. The basis of such a shell are natural fibers, and therefore it is edible. The process of its creation is not very complicated, but it includes chemical and mechanical processing, as a result of which the ballast is removed and the structure is softened. After all the procedures, the collagen casing for the sausage becomes thin, but strong. In addition, it is almost completely free of pathogenic microorganisms. Diameter may vary. By the way, the shell itself is very easy to clip. The final product can be stored for a long time, but with strong heating it becomes unstable. Therefore, in semi-finished products, accumulations of broth are possible.

How to work with collagen?

Actually, making collagen-cased sausage is even easier than other recipes. Before applying the shell, it must be soaked for 15-20 minutes in warm water to give elasticity. Then we stretch it and start stuffing it with minced meat with a syringe. Air bubbles must not form in the shell, otherwise liquid will accumulate in them. When the "case" is full, the ends are tightened with twine or a harsh thread. Especially densely it is necessary to fill the sausages prepared for smoking.

After heat treatment

The collagen sausage casing stuffed with minced meat must go through the cooking stage. In several places you need to make punctures to let the air out. Sausages need to be hung for 6 hours. Now you can bake, boil or fry them. Experienced chefs recommend using the meat of adult pigs and bulls from the shoulder part of the carcass for such sausages. For more flavor, the collagen sausage casing can be moistened with Madeira or cognac. If you bake sausages, then you can use one secret for easy washing of the mold. Put the potato halves in a mold and mix them with sausages. Put everything together in the oven for 40 minutes. Ready sausagescan be even tastier if eaten with herbs and vegetables. The shell, as was said, does not need to be removed, it is edible and tastes good. Bon appetit!