First attempt at polish sausages

[buglebuster]

We have always been a steak/burger family and never made any of the specialty stuff. With the kids hunting now and my wife as well filling 4 elk and 4 deer tags left us with plenty of meat to get creative with. Made a bunch of jerky, summer sausage, and now polish dogs. The flavor is unreal but the casings are tough. The kids couldn’t even bite through them hardly eating a hotdog. Sliced up and dipped in mustard they are fine. I followed the instructions for the natural hog casings to a T. Does anyone have any input on how to do better next time? I assume this is due to cook time/heat? Just looking for tips for next weeks batch.

Thank you
Michael

[Remnar]

Here are a few things it could be , or all of them. But not limited to .  There are lots of variables especially when using home smokers. Do some small batches and tinker with it you will find what works.

Not all casings are equal.

Hang them longer after stuffing .

Dont crowd your smoker as much.

Smoking time and temp.

Soak your casings longer.

[huntnnw]

Ive never had tough hog casing. I rarely soak my casing longer than a hour or 2. I almost always stuff and let rest over night before smoking. The only thing I can think of is too much heat or too long of a high temp. dunno

[Scruffy]

Sausages look good and casings look full.  It is hard to say the reason why they are tough.  Could be just that batch of casings???  Were they all out of the same pack? 

Natural are all I use, I rinse and soak mine for about an hour, then stuff and let sit over night.  Then smoke them if I am smoking, ice bath, sit over night them package up.

If fresh then after stuffing let rest over night then package up.  Never too tough to bite through

[buglebuster]

Maybe I didn’t let them sit long enough after stuffing. It didn’t say anything about that in the recipe so I went straight into the smoker. I will definitely try that this weekend. I also packaged them right after the ice bath off the smoker. I did do 4 packages raw, not smoked so I’m hoping the casings on those won’t be tough. Thanks for the input guys.

[Timberstalker]

It has to be the smoker temperature. 
Even when I smoke store bought Johnsonville brats low and slow the casings turn out tough.
Hot and fast they are super tender.

[huntnnw]

All my smoked links are 5-7 hours. They hang at 110-120 to dry the casing for a hour. Then incremental steps in heat till 180 deg and I pull them at 155deg. I ice bath and freeze following day and none have chewy casings. The reason on drying from the company and many videos I’ve watched too is it gives that the pop when you bite into it.

[hunter399]

They look good to me.
I think your correct,cook time and temp probably did that to the casing.
But the only time I used hog casing,I didn't smoke em.
So my experience is little.
But I've made a ton of summer and snack sticks.
Longer I cook summer and snack sticks, usually tough bark.

[Timberstalker]

All my smoked links are 5-7 hours. They hang at 110-120 to dry the casing for a hour. Then incremental steps in heat till 180 deg and I pull them at 155deg. I ice bath and freeze following day and none have chewy casings. The reason on drying from the company and many videos I’ve watched too is it gives that the pop when you bight into it.

That's good information. Thank you.

[Scruffy]

Maybe I didn’t let them sit long enough after stuffing. It didn’t say anything about that in the recipe so I went straight into the smoker. I will definitely try that this weekend. I also packaged them right after the ice bath off the smoker. I did do 4 packages raw, not smoked so I’m hoping the casings on those won’t be tough. Thanks for the input guys.

When smoking, after stuffing the sausage should rest in the fridge for at least 12 hrs minimum to give the cure a chance to work its way through the meat.  But I suspect it was the temp of your smoker that made them tough.  Just need to keep trying.  You can use pork to perfect them so you're not wasting elk or deer on a premium sausage

[Stein]

I have problems with cooked sausage in natural casings as well.  Fresh sausage in natural casings turn out great, but anything cooked is no so great.  If you don't want to experiment, maybe try brats.