Charcuterie_ The Craft of Salting, Smoking, and Curing - Michael Ruhlman [47]
Also available are natural processed collagen casings, animal collagen tissue extruded into the shape of sausage casing. The material looks a little like thin, tough wax paper and despite its unnatural feel, it works well for breakfast sausages. Other larger collagen casings are available too. There are even plastic casings, colored casings, and casings lined with spices that, when the casing is removed, remain on the sausage, but generally there’s no reason to stray from natural casings.
The recipes in this chapter most often call for the common hog casing; several recommend sheep casing and a few, hog bung or beef casings. But any of the sausage recipes can be stuffed into whatever kind of casing you have—don’t let a casing prevent you from trying a recipe that intrigues you. You will need about two feet of hog casing or four feet of sheep casing for each pound of sausage, but it’s a good idea to soak a few extra feet to ensure you don’t run out mid-stuff.
If you buy hogs directly from a grower and want to process your own casings, work with five-foot lengths of the small intestine that have been flushed at the slaughterhouse. While they are still warm, flush them again with plenty of water. Next, turn them inside out. Begin by folding over one end, as you would when turning a sock inside out. Hold the fold beneath running water; the weight of the water will turn the casing inside out for you. The hard part: On a cutting board, drag a knife over the intestine to remove the thick mucous lining of the intestine until you are left with only the white transparent membrane; it takes a good deal of scraping. Store the intestine packed in plenty of kosher salt and refrigerated. Use a strong bleach solution to sterilize your board, sink, counter, and knives. It’s an education and valuable to do for that reason—I did it once, and that was enough; it’s laborious and generally pretty disgusting, even for people who enjoy on-the-farm cooking. We recommend purchasing even if you have plenty of warm innards available to you.
Other Special Ingredients for Making Sausage
• PORK SHOULDER BUTT: The cut from the shoulder of the pig, above the front leg (which is called the picnic ham); also called pork shoulder, shoulder butt, or Boston butt. Pork butt is heavily marbled and inexpensive, and thus the perfect cut for sausage making.
• BACK FAT (OR FATBACK): The layer of fat from the pig’s back, usually the purest white and thickest fat on the pig’s body. For use in sausages and pâtés, this can be special-ordered by your butcher or grocery store or ordered online; make sure to request fresh back fat, not salted back fat. But jowl fat is actually considered best by charcutiers because it’s especially creamy. And some people who make their own lard will search far and wide for the fat that surrounds the pig’s kidney, for its delicate flavor and texture.
• PINK SALT: A curing salt containing sodium nitrite, used for sausages and other meats that will be smoked. It goes by many names depending on the company selling it (Prague Powder #1 or Insta Cure #1, DQ Curing Salt, tinted cure mix or TCM), but we refer to it here generically as pink salt (see Sources, page 301). Regardless of what it’s called, it is salt with 6.25 percent sodium nitrite added, and it is tinted pink to prevent accidental ingestion. If it’s ingested in any quantity, it can be harmful, even lethal. See pages 177–178 for important details and warnings about nitrites, and keep this candy-colored salt out of the reach of children.
•INSTA CURE #2 AND DQ CURING SALT #2: This pink salt with nitrate (see Sources, page 301) is used for sausages that are dried for many days or weeks. Nitrate converts to nitrite over time, acting like a time-release cold capsule, to prevent the growth of the bacterium that causes botulism. The same warnings that apply to pink salt apply to this curing salt as well (see pages 177–178 for details).
• SOY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE: Powdered protein used in sausages that are cooked and smoked (see Sources, page 301).