What makes a hog casing tough?

[Sailor]

I made up a batch of sausage  a few weeks ago and for some reason some of the casings on some of the links were very tough and was almost impossible to bite through them.  I cooked the 5 lbs of links up in water that was 180* and the IT of the links were at 160 when I pulled them and plunged them into an ice bath and then let them bloom.  When I cooked them up the ones that we ate were great and no problem.  I froze the remainder of them.  Yesterday I took a pack out of the freezer and let them defrost in the fridge and just micro waved some up.  Some of the links casing were so tough I could not bite through them.  Some of them seemed to be fine.  Is it possible I got a casing that was just tough and all the links from that casing will be bad?  Did freezing them and then defrosting them in the fridge and micro wave cause the casing to get tough?  I am baffled as to why the casing were so tough.  Anyone have any ideas?

[Mr Walleye]

It's hard to say... but if I was going to guess I would question the microwave. Have you tried some more without using the microwave?

Mike

[KevinG]

Yes, I never use a microwave on mine. Here are some other ideas.

Cooked too quickly over too high heat.
Not soaked long enough before stuffing.
Some casings are thicker than others.
The sausage wasn't stuffed enough.
Sometimes if you add lemon juice to the water, it will help soften them a lttle.

[Sailor]

Yes, I never use a microwave on mine. Here are some other ideas.

Cooked too quickly over too high heat.
Not soaked long enough before stuffing.
Some casings are thicker than others.
The sausage wasn't stuffed enough.
Sometimes if you add lemon juice to the water, it will help soften them a lttle.

Thank you for the info.  Daughter took the rest of the frozen batch home.  Will try to get a report from her as to how the casing are.

[NePaSmoKer]

whan soaking natural casing i put 1 t of non iodized salt into the water and 1 T vinegar. And try not to expose the sausage to the nuke device.

[watchdog56]

I was reading in Rytek's book that a tough casing is caused but to high of heat at start up.It is in his 4th edition back in the troubleshooting pages.

[Sailor]

whan soaking natural casing i put 1 t of non iodized salt into the water and 1 T vinegar. And try not to expose the sausage to the nuke device.

The casing that I used was from a butcher that was soaked in a liquid so I don't know if it had salt in it.  Could be that adding salt would help.  The other sausage that I made (they had a good bite and not tough) came packed in salt in a plastic bag so I am not sure if adding more salt would help. Would you recommend adding the vinegar instead of the lemon juice as suggest by KevinG?  I think Nuking them may have been the problem.  Will not do this again for sure.

I was reading in Rytek's book that a tough casing is caused but to high of heat at start up.It is in his 4th edition back in the troubleshooting pages.

Since I thought Fathers day was last weekend (Doh) I ordered Rytek's book for myself.  I hope to have it some time this week (now just in time for Fathers Day)   ;D  Plopping them into 180* water may have been too much of a fast cook.  I may try to poach the next batch at 150* and then slowly bring the temp up to get them to 160*

[Habanero Smoker]

I add my vinegar during the last 10 - 15 minutes of the soak. I found if you soak in vinegar or lemon/lime juice too long the casings tend to split. The type of casings that you purchase are packed in a brine solution, and don't require soaking. They just need to be rinsed; but if you want to use the vinegar to soften the casing and make them more translucent, I would soak them in tepid water with some vinegar added for 10 - 15 minutes.