Casings are necessary for the production of sausages; they allow the product to be shaped and protect it from environmental influences.

Sausage casings must be strong, dense, elastic, non-hygroscopic and resistant to microorganisms; they must withstand the pressure of minced meat and the effects of temperatures during heat treatment of sausages.

Technologies for the production of sausage and sausage casings do not stand still. However, sausage packaging remains the most conservative and retains many of the traditional methods that remain in demand among consumers.

Each type of packaging has its undoubted advantages, and each has its adherents.

What are sausage casings made from?

The most common types of sausage casings are natural (from the organs of domestic animals), artificial (using natural materials - collagen, cellulose, fibrous) and synthetic (from polyamide, polypropylene, EVOH, etc.).

Initially, when making sausage, only natural casings were used to fill it with minced meat.

With the increase in demand for sausages, the production of artificial casings began to actively develop.

Classification of sausage casings and requirements for them

Sausage casings can be classified according to a number of technical and consumer properties.

The most common classification is based on two parameters: the material from which the sausage casing is made, and the level of gas and vapor permeability (see diagram). These factors are interrelated.

Natural shells and artificial ones, made from natural materials, are characterized by a high level of permeability to water vapor and gases. Artificial shells can be permeable or impermeable.

By creating an artificial shell, the developers sought to preserve all the best properties of the natural one, but at the same time eliminate its shortcomings.

In this regard, requirements for shells were formulated. They must have:

• uniformity of caliber (same diameter)
• resistance to microorganisms
• meet increased hygiene standards
• high mechanical strength, elasticity
• the ability to prepare for use without much labor
• a certain level of vapor and gas tightness
• heat resistance and moisture resistance
• the ability to automate the process of filling and forming sausage loaves
• Possibility of marking

In general, artificial casing meets higher requirements than natural casings.

Natural casings for sausages

Intestinal membranes have good moisture and smoke permeability, they are elastic, and retain their properties when wet.

Considering that natural casings have a protein composition close to the composition of meat, they can withstand all the changes that minced meat undergoes during technological processing.

Under the influence of smoke and hot air, natural casings acquire strength and resistance to microorganisms.

The shelf life of meat products in natural casings is up to 5 days if the temperature is maintained.

Artificial shells

Manufactured from high-grade raw materials obtained from the middle layer of cattle hides. Such shells can be edible or inedible.

The shelf life of finished products in a protein shell, subject to temperature conditions, is from 3 to 5 days.

The main advantages of protein shells:

• natural appearance
• good taste of the product due to the permeability of the shell
• consistency of sausage loaf caliber

Cellulose casing (“cellophane”) has high permeability. Manufactured from natural cellulose material.

The shelf life of finished products, subject to temperature conditions, is from 2 to 3 days.

These casings are cheaper than protein and natural casings, which makes it possible to reduce the cost of products while maintaining the required quality, because The cellulose casing is highly permeable.

This makes it possible to pack in such a casing not only boiled sausages and frankfurters, but also boiled-smoked and semi-smoked sausages, sausages, and bacon.

Fibrous casings - permeable membranes that allow air, smoke and moisture to pass through well.

They can be compared to “tea bags”, but of a more complex design. The fibrous casing is characterized by the fact that the viscose fibers in it are reinforced with cotton-based paper. Has average permeability properties.

The product in such casings can be smoked; they are suitable for almost any type of sausage.

To give fibrous casings barrier properties, a polymer coating is applied to them (on the inside or outside), which increases shelf life (used especially for boiled sausages).

The shelf life, subject to temperature conditions, is from 15 to 120 days.

- shells of the 21st century. Polyamide heat-shrinkable casings belong to a wide class of barrier casings.

The material for their manufacture (polymer film) has high mechanical strength, puncture resistance, heat shrinkability, low oxygen and moisture permeability, bacterial purity, etc.

Polyamide, used as a raw material for the manufacture of barrier shells, is a hygienically clean material. And the shells themselves are safe for contact with the product.

Given their impermeability properties, polyamide casings protect meat products from oxidation and microbial spoilage.

Undoubtedly, it is polyamide shells that open up the widest possibilities in terms of implementing the flight of design ideas when applying markings.

The shelf life, subject to temperature conditions, is from 15 to 60 days.

The Russian sausage casing market is characterized by the high importance of polymer materials, the share of which in the packaging of cooked sausages and frankfurters reaches almost 80%.

Protein and natural casings are approximately equally important in the production of smoked sausages. The scope of application of cellulose and viscose-reinforced casings is much narrower. We are talking mainly about the production of boiled-smoked and semi-smoked sausages.

Which casings are suitable for which types of sausages?

1. According to the method of heat treatment.

All sausage casings can withstand heating up to 75-80C. But for higher temperatures - for example, when grilling or baking in the oven, natural casings (guts) are more suitable.

Here are the heat treatment methods and suitable shells for them:

• frying, baking sausages (in a frying pan, grill) - pork intestines, beef casings, lamb casings
• cooking sausages - polyamide casing, collagen casing, cellulose casing, natural casing
• hot and cold smoking of sausages - natural casing, collagen casing, cellulose casing
• drying and curing sausages - natural casing, collagen casing, fibrous casing

2. By type of sausage:

• boiled sausages - natural (blue, krug, bubble), artificial (collagen, polyamide, fibrous, cellulose). Distinctive features - the caliber of these sausages is usually more than 40 mm
• sausages - lamb casings, sausage collagen casing (straight and ring), cellulose casing, polyamide casing. Distinctive features - the diameter of the sausages is from 16 to 28 mm
• sausages - narrow pork casing, beef casing, collagen casing, polyamide casing, cellulose casing. Distinctive features - the diameter of the sausages is from 28 to 45 mm
• semi-smoked and boiled-smoked sausages, cervelat sausages, salami - usually a collagen casing, from natural ones - beef round, lamb blue (for Okhotnichye sausages - lamb and collagen sausage casing), fibrous casings, recently new types have appeared - polyamide permeable shells that become permeable for smoking only when heated to 45-500C. Distinctive features - the diameter of the shells is usually from 40 to 80 mm
• dry-cured and raw smoked sausages and sausages - natural, collagen, fibrous sausage casings. Diameter from 14 to 100 mm
• liver sausages, pates, brawns and saltisons - natural (beef and lamb blues, pork bladders, beef circles), artificial (polyamide, cellulose casings). Diameter - from 40 to 140 mm.

Typically, intestines, esophaguses and bladders are used for sausage casings.

The intestines, under the influence of their contents, enzymes and gastric acids, quickly deteriorate, lose strength and elasticity. Therefore, they need to be processed immediately after cutting the carcass.

First of all, carefully remove the mesentery and fat from the intestines so as not to tear their walls, then cut them into several parts and, taking each part by the middle, quickly squeeze out the contents. Then the intestines are squeezed out several times and washed thoroughly in warm water (40-50 °C), after which they are turned out using a long round stick and soaked in warm water (40-45 °C) for 1 hour.

The softened shell is carefully scraped out with a dull knife, constantly washing off the mucus with clean water. Then the intestines are sprinkled with salt and gently rubbed with your hands. To completely get rid of the smell, the intestines are rinsed in water and vinegar. Intestines prepared in this way can be stored for some time in clean cold water (up to 10 ° C) or suspended in bunches in a cold room.

To preserve the intestines, they are salted and kept in the cold. If they freeze, they can be thawed in warm water. Before use, salted intestines are soaked in warm water for 2-3 hours, then cooled.

The bladder is slightly incised, everted, cleaned and washed several times with salt. Then it is carefully rubbed with soda and rinsed thoroughly. Large intestines and stomachs require just as much work.

Minced meat for homemade sausage

One of the main stages in preparing homemade sausages is preparing the minced meat.

To prepare minced meat, meat is separated from bones, cartilage, large tendons, films and fat, cut into pieces of 200-500 g and salted (salts take approximately 3% of the mass of meat). The meat is mixed well with salt and kept in a cold room (up to 10 ° C) for 1-2 days. Then the cold meat is passed through a meat grinder, spices, spices, and garlic crushed with salt are added. Lard and fat are passed through a coarse mesh meat grinder or cut into cubes of 3, 5 or 7 mm - it depends on the type of sausage.

If sausage is prepared from different meats - beef, pork, lamb - then each meat is ground separately and then mixed in the required proportions.

To bind the moisture contained in the minced meat and stabilize it, skim milk powder, wheat flour, mustard flour, starch, corn syrup, sugar, carbohydrates and some other products are usually added to the minced meat. All of the above components are mixed well with the minced meat. Then add chopped bacon (lard), and it is necessary to achieve uniform distribution of lard in the minced meat, without subjecting it to prolonged mixing.

The filling (minced meat) prepared in this way is placed in the intestinal membranes. For this operation there is a special syringe for stuffing sausages. When filling the syringe with minced meat, you must ensure that no air bubbles form in it, otherwise similar voids into which liquid will collect will end up in the sausage.

One end of the intestine is tied with a strong thread or twine, and the other is pulled onto the shank of the syringe. The filling is moved into the intestine by pressing the plunger of the syringe. It is not recommended to stuff the minced meat into the casing too tightly, as it may rupture due to the expansion of the minced meat during heat treatment. (Sausages that are subjected to smoking are stuffed more tightly, during which their volume decreases.) The casings filled with minced meat are tied, and then, pulled together in a circle, the ends are tied. Large diameter sausages (loaves) are best tied around the circumference with twine.

During heat treatment, air and vapors escape from the sausage, so the casing is carefully pricked in several places, without disturbing the integrity of the intestine, with a thin awl or needle.

The sausage loaves and circles are hung for some time in a clean, cold (about 0 °C), dry, ventilated room to settle. Sludge is the process of self-compaction of the contents of loaves and circles under the influence of their own weight and the elasticity of the shell. The settling time depends on the thickness of the loaves (the thicker the sausage, the longer the settling), as well as on the type of sausage. Fried and boiled sausages are aged for 2-3 hours, semi-smoked - up to 6 days, raw smoked - 7-20 days.

Making fried sausage at home

This sausage has many different names: fried, baked, homemade, Ukrainian, Belarusian homemade, etc. It is quite easy to prepare. This is how they prepare it. The meat is cut into pieces of 5-7 mm, salted (2.5% salt by weight of meat), black pepper, garlic are added, granulated sugar can be added (1 teaspoon per 10 kg of meat). You can also add a little starch (2 tablespoons per 10 kg of meat) and water (2 cups per 10 kg of meat). All components are thoroughly mixed, then cut into 3-5 mm cubes is added. lard and distribute it evenly.

The shell is filled with the meat mixture, tied and hung for 0.5-1 hour to settle. Before this, the shell must be pricked with a thin awl or needle.

Then the sausage is fried or baked in fat in frying pans or baking sheets in a Russian oven, oven or on the stove. You can cook sausage in water or steam. The processing process must be monitored so that there are no blisters, the casing does not tear, and the sausage does not burn and acquires an appetizing crispy crust. Readiness is determined by piercing the loaf with a sharp wooden stick: if light, transparent (without blood) juice flows out of the sausage, then it is ready.

In order for the sausage to “reach” - become saturated with fat and soften - it, while still hot, is placed in a wide saucepan with a lid and left to bake in a Russian oven or other not too hot place, where it gradually cools down.

The finished sausage is hung in a clean, cold, ventilated room or placed in glass or enamel containers. You can also pour hot fat over the sausage and store it in the refrigerator, periodically checking its quality: the sausage may spoil; therefore, this method is not intended for long-term storage of the product.

Making boiled sausage at home

Boiled sausages are a very tasty product, but cannot be stored for a long time. They are prepared like this. Meat for minced meat is cut into pieces of 100-200 g, salted (2.5% salt by weight of meat), mixed thoroughly and kept in a cold room for one or two days. Then the pieces of meat are passed through a meat grinder with a fine mesh several times until a homogeneous mass is obtained. The meat of different animals for minced meat and the minced meat itself are prepared separately.

To get 10 kg. minced meat you will need: 6 kg. minced beef, 3 kg. minced pork, 1 kg. lard, 1 tbsp. a spoonful of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper, a head of garlic mashed with salt, 1 cup starch, 2 cups water. All components are thoroughly mixed, then chopped into 3-5 mm pieces are added. lard

The syringe is tightly filled with minced meat, making sure that no air voids are formed; the intestinal membrane is put on the shank, tied with twine on the other side. It is better to syringe sausage loaves up to 50 cm long. Instead of a syringe, you can also use a meat grinder. To do this, you need to make a tip for it, on which the shell will be put, and cut several large holes in the grille. In this case, the cross-shaped knife is removed from the meat grinder.

The shells filled with minced meat are tied, then the ends are pulled together to form a ring. It is better not to bend thick loaves, but to tie them around the circumference with twine. The finished loaves are hung in a cold room to settle for 1-2 hours and pricked in several places with an awl or needle.

Then the loaves are placed in a large pan and boiled. But to obtain the best color and aroma, it is recommended to fry the sausage for 1.5-2 hours in smoke at a temperature of 60-80 ° C before cooking. The water temperature during cooking should be about 80 °C. The duration of processing depends on the size of the loaf: thick ones are cooked for up to 2 hours, thin ones - 40-60 minutes. Readiness is determined by piercing the product with a sharp wooden stick: the liquid that flows out should be clear or white (without blood).

The finished loaves are quickly cooled to a temperature below 10 ° C and stored for 2-3 days in a dry, cold room or in the refrigerator. Sausages become more flavorful and resistant to spoilage if, after cooking, they are smoked a little (about 1 hour).

Cooking semi-smoked sausage at home

Minced meat for semi-smoked sausages, as well as for boiled ones, is prepared from the meat of various animals. To get 10 kg. minced meat you will need: 4 kg. pork, 3 kg. beef, 3 kg. lard, 1 tbsp. spoon of sugar, 1/2 teaspoon of pepper, head of garlic, salt (up to 3% by weight of meat).

Loaves for semi-smoked sausages are stuffed more tightly than for boiled ones, tied up and hung in a cold room for 4-5 hours to settle, pricking the casing with a needle or awl.

Then the loaves are smoked in hot smoke (70-90 °C) for an hour and boiled for another hour at a temperature of 80 °C. The boiled sausage is smoked again for one hour at a temperature of about 40 °C.

After this, the loaves are dried for 4-6 days in a clean, dry, cold (up to 15 ° C) room. The resulting semi-smoked sausage can be stored for 1-1.5 months in a dry, cold room or in the refrigerator.

Making raw smoked sausage at home

Raw smoked sausages have excellent taste and a long shelf life, which more than pays for all the costs and difficulties of preparing them at home.

For such sausages, it is better to use meat from adult pigs and 5-7 year old bulls, taken from the back and shoulder parts of the carcass.

The meat must be thoroughly cleaned of veins, cut into pieces of 1-1.5 kg, salted (3.5% salt by weight of meat) and kept for 5-7 days in a cold place (0-3 ° C). Then the meat is passed through a meat grinder with a hole diameter of 4 mm in the nozzle.

To obtain 10 kg of minced meat you will need: 3.5 kg. beef, 3.5 kg. pork, 3 kg. lard, a head of garlic, 1/2 cup sugar, 30 g sodium nitrite solution, allspice and black pepper (for some types of sausage you need a glass of starch and a glass of Madeira or cognac).

All components are thoroughly mixed (starch, Madeira or cognac are added if necessary), then cut into pieces of 3-5 mm, cooled to 0 ° C, fat-containing raw materials (lard, beef fat, fatty pork) are placed and carefully evenly distributed over minced meat. The resulting minced meat is laid out in an enamel bowl in a layer 20-25 cm thick and kept for a day at a temperature of about 0 °C.

Then, using a syringe, the minced meat is tightly stuffed into the intestinal membranes, tied with twine and in some places pricked with a needle or awl. The finished loaves are hung in a dry, cold (0-3 °C) room for precipitation for 5-7 days.

After this, the loaves are 2-3 days (about 20 ° C) with dry smoke (relative humidity 75-80%).

Smoked sausage is dried for a month in a clean, dark, ventilated room at a temperature of about 10 ° C. The moisture content in raw smoked sausage should not exceed 30%, otherwise it will quickly deteriorate. During drying, a white dry coating may appear on the surface of the sausages, which is not a drawback.

The shelf life of raw smoked sausages in a dry room at a temperature of 10 °C is 4 months. If the temperature is lower, the storage duration increases.

Making fermented sausages at home

When preparing such sausages, lactic acid starter is specially added to the minced meat. At home, they use yogurt for this (preferably factory-made). Enzymes formed during the fermentation of sugars by curdled milk microorganisms act on meat products, giving them a sour taste and a peculiar aroma.

Bon appetit!

Homemade sausage is a favorite dish in almost every home. This is a great option for breakfast, a hearty main course for lunch, or a delicious snack during a break from work. Homemade chicken and rabbit sausages are suitable for baby food and for those on a diet. Hearty homemade sausage with fat will quickly feed a hungry man, smoked sausages will be a good snack, and raw smoked or golden-brown fried sausages will decorate the holiday table.

When buying ready-made sausages and frankfurters in a store, people usually don’t even realize that they can make them themselves at home, without any special equipment or special skills. The main thing is desire and a little time to study the intricacies of the technical process. You only have to try once to make sausages or sausages in accordance with your tastes, and the desire to “sausage” in the kitchen will arise regularly. After all, what could be tastier than the freshest homemade sausage?

Having mastered the intricacies of the technology and tested your strengths on basic recipes, you will subsequently be able to fantasize about the sausage theme as much as you like. But first you need to master the technology of the process, think through and prepare the necessary equipment, materials, tools and ingredients.

Selection of raw materials, features of the technological process for preparing homemade sausages.

To prepare homemade sausages, only the best and freshest meat and meat products are used. It is especially important to consider this if homemade sausage is intended for long-term storage. In addition to pork, beef and veal, lamb, horse meat, venison, poultry and wild poultry, and others are used. The meat can be either fresh or frozen. However, you should not use frozen meat for long-term storage sausages. Also in this case, it is better to avoid ingredients such as lard, lungs, heart, liver, intestines, pork skin, pork head, cheek, fresh blood.

They take meat only from healthy animals, and not too young ones, since young meat does not have sufficient density and rich taste and the sausages will turn out slightly watery. If only the meat of young animals is available, it must be dried well before use or, in pieces and sprinkled with a third of the total amount of salt, kept in a cold place for 22–26 hours.

Lard for making sausage should be elastic, but not frozen. It is best suited for the neck or back part, which is pre-aged for 2-3 days in a cool room. It is better to take intestines for sausage immediately after slaughter, but you can buy fresh ones at the market or purchase specially processed, calibrated and packaged intestines in a store. If desired, you can purchase collagen casings, as well as twine, nets, ham pots and everything necessary for the production of sausages at specialized outlets or on the Internet.

For housewives who value time and do not want to risk the health of loved ones by purchasing a product on the market, the quality of which is difficult to check, without having the proper experience in this matter, buying a ready-made casing or collagen casing of the required diameter is an excellent way out of the situation. If you plan to buy sausage intestines at the market, then you need to immediately decide what kind of product you will prepare and select the raw materials accordingly.

Beef intestines are used to make almost all types of homemade sausages, but they are especially good for those intended for long-term storage, since they are thicker and stronger than pork intestines. Pork intestines are usually used to make homemade sausages with various fillings. From beef and pork, from pork alone, from chicken, from rabbit, nutria, as well as for sausages with fillers, liver, blood, porridge, etc. Lamb intestines are best suited for making thin sausages or hunting-type sausages. Of course, the intestines must be undamaged, thoroughly washed and cleaned.

Choosing meat for making homemade sausage.

Choosing meat for homemade sausage requires certain knowledge. As already mentioned, young meat is less suitable due to its high liquid content. Older, denser, and even slightly tougher meat will give a richer flavor and lower shrinkage, meaning it won't shrink as much when cooked.

All meat from the back half of a beef carcass, with the exception of the shanks, is the best prime meat for making sausages. The front meat is less valued and is used for lower grade sausages or mixed with other types of meat. Frozen meat, before deboning it, must first be gradually defrosted, but not brought to complete softening.

Pork for sausage is chosen differently. The fillet cut from the back is used for fillet sausage. Meat cut from the neck is also salted in whole pieces and used to make ham sausage. First-class sausage is made from the meat removed from the shoulders, brisket and sides, while the intercostal meat and flanks are used to make lower-grade sausage. If the animal is a meat breed or not fat enough, then all parts of the carcass are used to prepare sausage mince.

When the meat for sausage is divided into pieces, it is advisable to separate it by grade and trim it. Using a sharp knife, remove veins, tendons, membranes, large vessels, as well as those parts that reduce the quality of the sausage and, when cooked, form jelly or glue). The more thoroughly the meat is cleaned of these parts, the more tender, tastier and more nutritious the homemade sausage made from it will be.

When cutting very fatty carcasses, it is advisable to separate the meat as thoroughly as possible from the fat that has grown into the muscles, but - please note - this remark does not apply to pork. When processing it, only fat and rough tendons are removed. Fatty lard removed from a pig carcass is also classified according to quality. Back fat is considered the best, and fat removed from the chest, belly and sides is inferior in quality.

Homemade hot smoked sausage, several simple recipes.

Recipe for making homemade semi-smoked sausage.

3 kg beef, 4 kg lean pork, 3 kg fatty pork belly, 300 g salt, 10 g ascorbic acid, 1/2 tsp. ground black pepper, 1/2 tsp. ground allspice, 1 tsp. sugar, 1-2 cloves of garlic, starch. Cut the meat into pieces, place in a container, sprinkle with a mixture of salt and ascorbic acid, and let stand for 3 days. Grind the salted meat. Pass the beef through a meat grinder once. Bold pork can either be passed through a large meat grinder or cut into small pieces (1–1.5 cm). Cut the brisket into pieces twice as large. After this, mix the chopped beef thoroughly, adding ground pepper, sugar and chopped garlic.

Add chopped pork to the prepared mass and mix the minced meat again until a homogeneous viscous mass is obtained. Add the chopped brisket and mix the minced meat thoroughly again. At the very end, add starch - 180 g per 10 kg of meat. Stuff the prepared minced meat into the intestines and tie them with twine. Hang the tied rings or sausage loaves in a cool place for 4–5 hours.

Smoke the dried sausage at a temperature of 60–90 degrees for 40 minutes. Then immerse it in boiling water, reduce the water temperature to 70–80 degrees and cook the sausage for about 1 hour. Hang it again in a cool place to cool for 3-4 hours. Smoke the cooled sausage at a temperature of 35–45 degrees for 12–24 hours. After smoking is completed, the finished homemade sausage is dried for 2–4 days.

Recipe for making smoked boiled spicy homemade sausage.

2 kg of beef, 500 g of lean pork ham, 1 kg of pork fat, 150 ml of vodka, 2 g of chopped cloves, salt, ground red pepper, 1 tbsp. l. lemon zest. Finely chop the beef and lean pork ham. Chop the pork fat. Mix everything, add chopped cloves, ground red pepper, grated lemon zest and vodka. Stuff the intestinal membranes with the mixture and tie with twine or thread. Place the sausage in cold water, bring to a boil and cook for 50 minutes. Then remove and wipe well. Prepared homemade sausage 24 hours.

Recipe for making boiled-smoked homemade sausage.

7 kg of fatty pork, 800-1000 g of lean pork, 1.5 kg of beef, 1 liter of water, 80 g of salt, 4 g of saltpeter, 1 tsp. sugar, ground black pepper, garlic to taste. Cut the pork into strips 4–5 cm long and pour in brine made from water, salt, saltpeter and sugar. Soak the meat in brine for a day. Separate the beef from fat and tendons and pass through a fine-grind meat grinder twice. Pass the pork through a meat grinder with a larger grill and combine with the beef.

The mass should be soft and elastic. Add enough water to the resulting minced meat to form a viscous mass, mix thoroughly, add spices. Stuff the shells, tie with twine and smoke for 1.5–2 hours at a temperature of 100–120 degrees. After this, homemade sausage is boiled in water over medium heat for an hour.

Recipe for making homemade pork sausages.

1.5 kg lean pork, 400 g fatty pork belly, 200–300 g lean beef, 20 g curing mixture, 2 tbsp. l. pink pepper, 1 tsp. ground nutmeg, 1 tsp. ground ginger, 1–2 tsp. marjoram. Pass the meat through a meat grinder, add salt, spices and mix thoroughly until the mass becomes homogeneous and moderately viscous. Fill the prepared pork casing with minced meat. During the filling process, twist the intestine in several places, dividing it into individual sausages 25–30 cm long. Smoke with smoke heated to 80–90 degrees for 1 hour, then cook the homemade sausage for 30 minutes at a temperature of 65–70 degrees.

Recipe for making homemade pork sausage with tongue.

500 g lean pork, 500 g pork belly with layers of fat, 500 g veal, 500 g boiled bacon, boiled pork tongue (about 500 g), 25 g salt, 20 g curing mixture, 1/2 tsp. ground white pepper, 1 tsp. ground nutmeg, 1 tsp. cardamom, 1 tsp. coriander, allspice to taste. Pass pork, pork belly and veal through a meat grinder with a fine grid.

Cut the pre-cleaned tongue and boiled bacon into cubes with sides of 1 cm, combine with the prepared minced meat. Stir the filling so that the lard and tongue are distributed evenly. Add salt and spices, mix thoroughly again. Fill the pork casing with minced meat and tie tightly. Form small loaves. First, boil the sausage for 1 hour in water at a temperature of 70 degrees, and then smoke the homemade sausage at 80–90 degrees for 60–70 minutes.

Recipe for making homemade brain sausage.

1.3 kg pork belly with layers of fat, 300–400 g lean pork, 400–500 g pork brains, 50 g curing mixture, 100–120 g onions, 1 tbsp. l. ground white pepper, 2 tsp. ground allspice, 1 tsp. ground nutmeg. Pass all types of meat and cleaned brains through a meat grinder with a fine grid. Add salt, finely chopped onion, spices and mix thoroughly until the mixture is homogeneous. Fill the prepared casing with minced meat and, twisting it in several places, divide it into sausages 15–20 cm long. First, smoke them with warm smoke (smoke temperature about 70 degrees) for at least 1 hour. Then homemade sausage is boiled in water at a temperature of 80–85 degrees for 30–40 minutes.

Recipe for making homemade horse sausage.

10 kg of fatty horse meat, 160 g of starch, 2 tsp. granulated sugar, 1 tsp. ground black or red pepper, 1 tsp. ground allspice or 1 tsp. ground coriander, 3-4 cloves of garlic. Cut the fattiest parts of the meat into small cubes. Pass the rest of the meat through a meat grinder. Mix the minced meat, chopped meat and spices, add salt, knead everything until the mass is homogeneous. Fill the shells with the prepared minced meat, form into small loaves, and hang to dry for 3–4 hours. Then smoke the sausages at a temperature of 70–85 degrees, let cool for 2 hours. Boil the smoked sausage at a temperature of 70–80 degrees until cooked.

Recipe for making tender homemade sausages with spices.

1.5 kg lean beef or veal, 500 g lean pork belly, 2 tbsp. l. salt, 1 clove of garlic, 1 tsp. nutmeg, 1 tsp. paprika, 1 tsp. coriander, 1 tsp. marjoram. Pass all the meat through a meat grinder with a large grid, mix thoroughly so that the fat is distributed evenly. If the minced meat turns out thick and crumbly, you can add a little cool boiled water.

Add salt, pressed garlic, spices and mix thoroughly. Fill the shell with minced meat, tie the edges with twine, form a loaf or a ring if the diameter of the shell is small. Boil the sausage for 1 hour at 80 degrees, then dry in a cool room for about 3 hours. After this, smoke the products for 1 hour at a temperature of 70–80 degrees.

Based on materials from the book “We Prepare Poultry, Meat, Fish. Smoking, canning, drying, making sausages.”
Kobets A.V.

Sausage prepared at home with your own hands is a tasty, healthy and natural product. There is no doubt about its quality, and the composition of such sausage will not be a secret. But in order to prepare sausages at home, you will definitely need a special casing. It can be artificial or natural; to decide and make a choice, it is better to learn more about each variety.

Natural casings

Such casings are also called natural, and they are made from intestines that have been pre-treated in a special way. The intestines can be pork, lamb or beef. Salting casings made from natural ingredients significantly extends their shelf life. With this method, the shells can be stored for up to two years if the temperature does not exceed +5 degrees Celsius. By the way, you can order from here shop.krastikrab.ru.

There are different types of shells according to grade and diameter. The quality of the product directly depends on the variety, and the diameter is also called caliber. If the sausage is made in a workshop, then the types of casings for different sausages are strictly subject to regulations. By making sausage at home, for yourself, you can allow yourself greater freedom in choosing the casing. Unfortunately, many types of casings can be difficult to find commercially. Of the variety of varieties in home production, shells such as sinyugi and casings are most often used.

The casings are a shell of small intestines, their diameter ranges from 25 mm to 5 cm. Such intestines can be used for making sausages and wieners, frying sausages (such as shpikachki or kupaty), thin boiled or smoked sausages. For those who have decided to make their own sausage for the first time, or simply do not have enough experience, it is better to choose beef casing. It is more durable than pork and is better for home production.
Lamb blues are large-diameter intestines (from 4 cm to 8 cm), blind. They are well suited for making homemade ham or large boiled sausage. One sinyuga with a diameter of about 65 mm fits about one and a half or a little more kilograms of minced meat. At home, it will be convenient to make two loaves of sausage, 15 centimeters in length, from one such casing.

Artificial shells

There are also several varieties of non-natural casings - protein, polyamide, cellulose, etc.

In the home production of sausages and frankfurters, the collagen casing (protein casing, made from connective tissue) is most often used. It is closest to the natural shell, almost an analogue of the womb. They are made from collagen obtained from split hides, most often beef. Such shells are stored for two years, without making any special requirements for temperature and storage conditions. Protein casings come in various diameters, for large sausages, wieners, and frankfurters. They have thin walls, but are durable. There are straight collagen shells and ring shells. The second option follows the shape and appearance of the casing, has no seams and is ideal for preparing ring, semi-ring and arched sausages.

Shell preparation

To prepare the natural shell, you need to cut it off in the required amount and rinse it under running cold water for 10 minutes. Then soak in warm, but not hot water (no higher than 35 degrees) for a couple of hours, then rinse again.

To prepare the protein shell, soak it for 3 minutes in warmer water (about 40 degrees), adding a tablespoon of salt per liter of water. After this, rinse under running water.

After completing the above procedures, you can fill the shells with minced meat and tie them with cotton twine and cook according to the recipe.

Who would refuse a delicious juicy sausage that tastes so good? This is an almost universal product that can be consumed in its pure form, made into sandwiches or fried for breakfast. Unfortunately, truly high-quality sausage is now becoming increasingly rare, which is, of course, very sad. sausage is more expensive to produce than its film counterpart, but the finished product is much tastier and better. What's the secret?

The old fashioned way

Usually, in order to make a sausage casing, intestines, esophaguses and even bladders are used, that is, all animal products with a film base. There are processing nuances. In particular, the intestines need to be processed immediately after cutting the carcass, since under the influence of their contents and gastric juice they deteriorate, lose strength and elasticity.

Homemade sausage in a collagen casing is also in demand. The recipe is not very complicated, but first we will discuss how to cook it 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, you need to carefully remove the mesentery and fat from the intestines. Next, they should be cut into segments and the contents squeezed out. Now the intestines need to be squeezed out and washed in warm water. To turn them out, you will need a hook. When the shell softens, you need to scrape it out with a dull knife, washing off the mucus with running water. Salt, which needs to be poured into the intestines, will help remove the smell. The final stage of odor elimination involves rinsing with vinegar. And now the intestines are prepared, which means they need to be stored for some time 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 future use, you will need canning. To do this, the intestines should be heavily salted and kept in the cold. If they freeze, you can thaw them in warm water. Immediately before use, salted intestines need to be soaked in warm water for several hours, then cooled. If you use a bladder for the shell, you need to cut it, turn it inside out, wash it and rub it with salt. Large intestines and stomachs require the same treatment. Finally, they need to be wiped with soda and rinsed.

Minced sausage

Preparing meat for homemade sausage is not so quick. It needs to be separated from bones, cartilage and other elements that only spoil the taste. The entire processed mass will require approximately 3 percent salt. The meat must be mixed with salt and refrigerated. Next, the meat must be passed through a meat grinder with spices, herbs and garlic. You also need to pass fat and lard through the large mesh of the meat grinder. If you use several types of meat, you need to grind them separately. To prevent the minced meat from crumbling, it is flavored with dry skim milk, wheat flour, mustard powder, starch, corn syrup, and sugar. It is also worth adding chopped bacon. It's time to stuff the guts. But in production they have long been replaced by a collagen shell. It is also suitable for homemade sausage. In terms of its properties, this shell is close to natural. It is gas, moisture and smoke permeable.

Collagen "case"

So, what is good about sausage in a collagen casing? The recipe will be no more complicated than its homemade counterpart. The basis of such a shell is 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. The diameter can be variable. 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, broth accumulations are possible in semi-finished products.

How to work with collagen?

In fact, preparing sausage in a collagen casing is even easier compared to other recipes. Before using the casing, it should be soaked for 15-20 minutes in warm water to give it elasticity. Next, we stretch it and begin stuffing it with minced meat using a syringe. Air bubbles should not form in the shell, otherwise liquid will accumulate in them. When the “case” is full, the ends are tightened with twine or strong thread. Sausages prepared for smoking need to be stuffed especially tightly.

After heat treatment

The collagen sausage casing stuffed with minced meat must go through a cooking stage. You need to make punctures in several places to allow air to escape. Sausages need to be hung for 6 hours. Now you can bake, boil or fry them. Experienced cooks recommend using meat from adult pigs and bulls from the shoulder part of the carcass for such sausages. For added flavor, the collagen sausage casing can be soaked in Madeira or Cognac. If you bake sausages, you can use one secret to easily wash the pan. Place the potato halves in a mold and mix them with the sausages. Place everything in the oven together for 40 minutes. Ready-made sausages can be even tastier if eaten with herbs and vegetables. The shell, as was said, does not need to be removed; it is edible and pleasant to the taste. Bon appetit!