Sausage casings are made from animal intestines . They are used to wrap meat products like sausages, salami, bologna, etc. Sausage casings are usually made from pork intestines. The casing is removed from the pig intestine by cutting along the length of the intestine. It is then washed thoroughly and dried.
Are sausages intestines?
Natural sausage casings are made from animals’ intestines, more precisely, the submucosa, a layer of intestine containing collagen. These sausage casings are typically made from pigs but can also be made from goats, cattle, sheep, and even horses.
How are the intestines used to make sausage casings?
When the casings are due to be made the intestines are taken from the container and scrapped using a very sharp knife. This is done on the outside and inside to remove the muscle and fat from the thin layer that is wanted. It is an extremely skilled job to do without cutting the casings.
Small intestine are all used for sausages and some charcuterie. Beef casing (runner) is thicker and is popular for making things like black pudding or chorizo. Lamb casings can be used for specific sausages, but they require a delicate hand as they are quite thin.
Should we be worried about fecal matter in sausages?
Clearly you don’t know how ‘natural’ casings are made.
Are sausages made out of real sausage casings?
Since the casings are all-natural, the sausages are very natural looking, being somewhat irregular in shape and size. Artificial sausage casings can be made from materials such as collagen, cellulose, and plastic and may not always be edible.
A sausage might as well be a rissole without casing. Natural casings made from animal intestines are the original and tastiest type of casing and still used by most specialty butchers.
Sausage is a common food all over the world, eaten at breakfast, lunch, and dinner depending on locale. It has been made for centuries among many cultures, with long culinary traditions surrounding the craft. Traditionally, this form was an efficient use of all parts of a slaughtered animal, and was easy to preserve via drying or smoking.
Traditionally, link sausage is stuffed into natural casings made from the intestines of animals, but artificial casings are also available on the market. These days most commercial sausages use synthetic casings.