Sausage Casings 101: A Guide to Choosing the Right ...
Sausage Casings 101: A Guide to Choosing the Right ...
Sausage casings play a crucial role in sausage making. When examining what sausages consist of, we notice three main components: the meat stuffing, the seasoning, and the casing. A sausage isn't truly a sausage without something to encase it. Sausage casings not only hold the filling but also contribute to the flavor, texture, and even cooking process of the sausage.
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The choice of casing is often based on tradition but can also depend on the processing method, ingredients, and size of the sausage. Most casings are either natural, collagen, or fibrous, each available in various sizes and applications.
But what exactly is the casing on a sausage? Is it edible? What are sausage casings made of? Professional chefs from PS Seasoning provide answers to these common questions.
What is the Casing on Sausage?
The sausage casing is the material that holds the sausage filling. Natural casings are typically made from animal intestines, while others are made from collagen or cellulose materials.
What are Sausage Casings Made of?
Generally, sausage casings are made of beef or sheep intestines, collagen, or cellulose. Although rarer, some casings are made from plastic, such as those used for lunch meat and bologna.
Types of Sausage Casings
Natural sausage casings come from the submucosa of the small intestine, which contains naturally occurring collagen. This traditional method of sausage making has been used for centuries and is renowned for the "snap" it produces when bitten. Natural casings are flexible, tender, and easy to stuff, making them durable for smokehouse processing. They are often used for fresh sausages, smoked sausages, snack sticks, and brats.
Hog casings are the standard for link sausages like bratwurst, Italian sausages, and kielbasa. They are also common for smoked Polish sausages, ring bologna with small diameters, and landjäger.
29-32 mm: Small Brats, Link Sausage, Landjaeger
32-35 mm: Brats, Italian Sausage, Rope Sausage
35-38 mm: Polish, Kielbasa
38-42 mm: Bologna
Sheep casings are the most tender amongst natural casings. Their smaller diameter makes them ideal for small link sausages like breakfast sausage, hot dogs, and snack sticks.
20-22 mm: Breakfast Sausage, Small Snack Sticks
22-24 mm: Breakfast Sausage, Snack Sticks
24-26 mm: Small Hot Dog, Wiener
26-28 mm: Large Hot Dog, Wiener, Landjaeger
Beef rounds are named for their round shape. They have minimal fat and are great for fresh, cooked, or smoked sausages such as Ring Bologna, Polish, Mettwurst, Holsteiner, and Blood Sausage. Beef middles are straight, long casings with a thicker texture, making them suitable for dry and semi-dry sausages like Salami, Liverwurst, Bologna, and Summer sausage.
Beef Bung Caps
Beef bung caps come from the end of a cow's large intestine. These large-diameter casings are typically used for large bologna, headcheese, souse, capicola, and mortadella.
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Collagen casings are processed and edible, made from collagen in the hides, bones, and tendons of cows or pigs. While they lack the natural "snap" of natural casings, they are affordable and provide uniformity in weight and size. Packaged in sheets around a tube, they require no soaking before use. They come in two types:
Fresh Collagen Casings
Fresh collagen casings, as suggested by the name, are used for fresh sausages like bratwurst and breakfast links. They are more tender and cannot withstand smokehouse hanging.
Smoked Collagen Casings
Smoked collagen casings are tougher and thicker, suitable for the processing schedule of the smokehouse. They are ideal for making snack sticks, ring bologna, hot dogs, or wieners. Available in clear and mahogany colors, they come in various sizes:
19 mm: Small Snack Sticks (Smoke, Mahogany)
21 mm: Small Breakfast Sausages (Fresh, Clear)
21 mm: Snack Sticks (Smoke, Clear or Mahogany)
23 mm: Large Snack Sticks (Smoke, Clear), Small Pepperoni
26 mm: Hot Dogs (Smoke, Clear), Wieners
30 mm: Brats (Fresh, Clear), Link Sausage
40 mm: Ring Bologna, Liver Sausage, Kielbasa (Smoke, Clear)
43 mm: Ring Bologna, Liver Sausage, Kielbasa (Smoke, Clear)
Learn more about collagen casings on our website.
Fibrous casings are inedible and made from a form of cellulose material. These casings, derived from the Abaca tree, are strong yet flexible and are commonly used for sausages like pepperonis, summer sausage, bologna, and liverwurst. They need to be soaked in warm water before use for at least 25-30 minutes. Afterward, squeeze out excess water before stuffing.
1": Thuringer, Pepperoni, Salami, Cracker-Sized Sausages
2-2.5": Traditional Summer Sausage
4": Large Summer Sausage, Hard Salami
8": Olive & Pimento Loaf, Mortadella, Deli & Sandwich Meats
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What are the benefits of using natural casing when making ...
If you plan to smoke your sausages, natural casings allow for better smoke penetration than many non-natural alternatives without imparting any strange flavors to the meat. Although natural casings may have a strong smell initially, letting them air out in the fridge will resolve this issue.
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