Can Oiled Cheesecloth be Substituded for Sausage Casings?
 

<Charlie> wrote in message
...
> Hey everyone.
>
> I am jumping into sausage making and am wondering if oiled
> cheesecloth can be substituted for natural or collogen casings in
> making cured and smoked sausages, such as andouille, summer sausage,
> keilbasa, etc.

Too chewy for me.

<Charlie> wrote in message
...
> Hey everyone.
>
> I am jumping into sausage making and am wondering if oiled
> cheesecloth can be substituted for natural or collogen casings in
> making cured and smoked sausages, such as andouille, summer sausage,
> keilbasa, etc.
>
> A web search has only yielded two results.... not enough for a
> consensus.
>
> --
> Thank you
> Charlie

Been making sausage for years .I have even used empty cans for summer
sausage forms.
Anything can be used even paper bags ..... but I do not eat the cans and
would not eat cheese cloth.
But peel and eat may work fine.

> wrote in message
> Muslin bags were suggested on another group and a web search got quite
> a few results with that suggestion.
>
> --
> Charlie

I forgot about that; muslin has been used for some commercial products for
years. I've bought pork roll that way for over 50 years.

I think you might end up with a sausage that is too dry. When the sausage is
covered with a casing the fat stays inside until the end of cooking and then
it drains out. That's how sausage maintains that moistness that makes it
taste like sausage. With cheese cloth it's going to come out too early, and
you're going to have dry sausage, though with the same flavor. If I were
going to expend your effort I would use something that would accomplish the
same thing.
Best of luck. Tell us how it comes out if you decide to try it.
Kent
<Charlie> wrote in message
...
> Hey everyone.
>
> I am jumping into sausage making and am wondering if oiled
> cheesecloth can be substituted for natural or collogen casings in
> making cured and smoked sausages, such as andouille, summer sausage,
> keilbasa, etc.
>
> A web search has only yielded two results.... not enough for a
> consensus.
>
> --
> Thank you
> Charlie
>

You know Charlie, back in the daze when I was thinking about doing what you
are doing, I found casings at the local wholesaler. Alongside they had non
organic casings at a fraction of the cost of the real thing, and unlimited
longevity. You might look into that, even if, you have to find it mail
order.
Again, good luck, and I'll be interested in what you do.
Kent


<Charlie> wrote in message
...
> On Sun, 2 Oct 2005 21:17:49 -0700, "Kent" > wrote:
>
>>I think you might end up with a sausage that is too dry. When the sausage
>>is
>>covered with a casing the fat stays inside until the end of cooking and
>>then
>>it drains out. That's how sausage maintains that moistness that makes it
>>taste like sausage. With cheese cloth it's going to come out too early,
>>and
>>you're going to have dry sausage, though with the same flavor. If I were
>>going to expend your effort I would use something that would accomplish
>>the
>>same thing.
>>Best of luck. Tell us how it comes out if you decide to try it.
>>Kent
>
> I think you are right. The cheesecloth is too open.
>
> I think the muslin casing idea may work for dry sausages, like summer
> sausage, cervalot and others described in Kutas' book.
>
> I was looking for cheap alternatives to doing it "proper". I really
> outta know better after all these years!
>
> I think I'll place an order with the Sausagemaker for casings for the
> smaller sausages. I am still going to try muslin casings for the
> large sausages and will likely try a few smaller sausages with muslin
> jest fer the helluvit.
>
> --
> Charlie
>