Have you ever tried making your own sausages? It can be a gratifying experience once you taste your homemade sausage, delicately crafted with the perfect amount of carefully selected seasoning.
But if you’re running into trouble while making your sausage, it could be because of your casings. Using bad sausage casings can introduce a myriad of obstacles, like not expanding sufficiently to fit the tube of your sausage maker or even ripping apart mid-process.
If you want to know the best way to handle your sheep casings, then keep reading.
Why Sheep Casings?
A good reason to choose sheep casings over other options is that they are the most versatile of all the natural casings. In addition, they are very elastic, so they can be used to make both thick and thin sausages and are ideal for smoked sausage, breakfast links, and snack sticks.
Sheep casings are also the most tender of the casings, yet, due to their elasticity, they don’t break as easily as one might think for a casing as soft as sheep.
Additionally, sheep casings are edible, unlike some beef options like you would find on a salami.
Preparing Natural Sheep Casing for Sausage
If you’re aiming for the highest quality sausage, you need to prepare it for stuffing correctly, for which there are three main steps: rinse, soak, flush.
Packed in Salt
- Rinse your casings well under fresh water to remove salt
- Place hanks in fresh water and gently massage them to separate the strands and remove any dry areas
- Soak in water (at approx. 70ºF) for an hour (soak dry salt-packed casings for twelve hours or more)
- At the stuffing table, place hanks in slightly warmer water (this renders the fat a little, which helps when sliding from the stuffing horn)
- Finally, allow water to run in one end and out the other to pre-flush the casings
Pre-Flushed Wet Pack
Pre-flushed wet packs typically have less salt, so they don’t require all the steps like casings packed in salt. So only apply steps 4 and 5 here.
Pre-Flushed in Solution
Again only steps 4 and 5 apply here as casings pre-flushed in a solution require no soaking.
Tubed Casings
Instructions on how to soak tubed casings can vary depending on their condition; however, it’s recommended to soak in water overnight because it can take longer for the tubes to rehydrate.
Preparing to Stuff Sheep Casings
While all types of casings can be handled in the same manner, there are a few differences that make a difference when preparing your natural sheep casing for sausage.
Steps to Prepare Casings Before Use:
- Rinse with fresh water
- Soak in 85ºF-90ºF water for 30min
High-Quality Natural Sheep Casings Suppliers
Knowing how to correctly handle and prepare your sheep sausage casing is imperative to good quality sausage, but purchasing a high-grade casing is just as important.
We at World Casing offer A-, AB-, and BC-grade quality sheep casings and specialize in New Zealand and Australia sheep stock, which are preferred to their strength and durability.
If you’re looking to purchase high-quality sheep casings, visit our website to find a rep in your region.