Kielbasa Natural vs. Collagen Casings

[Kielbasa_Tom]

Hello,  this is my first post here.  My family has been getting together twice a year since my grandfather died in '84 to make holiday Kielbasa.  We have always used natural casings and we are thinking about trying out the collagen based artificial casings.  Does anybody have any advice as to which ones I should use, or maybe talk me out of it :). 

I am a little nervous about using the artificial ones do to breakage concerns, taste, etc. 

We hand cut, grind and stuff the sausages.  Then smoke them in a homemade smoker handed down from my grandfather(While we all get drunk on wine).  It's a great time.

Any advice is appreciated.

Thanks

[squirtthecat]

Welcome, and take some pictures of that operation!   What a great tradition.

[Mr Walleye]

Hi Tom and welcome to the forum.

I have tried collagen casings a number of times and for me they just aren't as good. I feel they don't have that snap that natural hogs casings do on the finished product. I know some people do use them and feel they are fine.  :-\

If it was me, I wouldn't mess with Grampa's tradition, I'd go natural.  ;)  ;D

Mike

[GusRobin]

Being one of Polish descent whose relatives made and sold homemade kielbasa back in the day, the only change that I would make would be to substitute Jack Daniels (some Gentleman Jack neat) for the wine.

[Kielbasa_Tom]

For some reason my dad wants to try it.  I think it may have something to do with the cost.  I was surprised I'll tell you that!  He usually likes everything fresh and like Babcia and Dziadzio used to make. 

I like the natural casings myself.  I'll post some pics.  It's a great tradition.  We call my Dad and my uncle the Kielbasa Brothers!

[classicrockgriller]

I will be stuffing some Kielbasa tomorrow and gonna
use the peelable casing.

I'll post some pics.

[Sailor]

Personally I only use the collegen casings on snack stixs but that is just me.  I have used cellulose casings on Kielbasa in the past (peelable casing) which will give the sausage a skinless texture.  For me I would use hog casing or cellulose casings. 

[tskeeter]

Tom, my sausage making partner and I have used both natural casings and collagen casings.  The collagen casings are much easier to use.  No odor.  No soaking and rinsing the excess salt off the casings.  No sorting individual casings out of the wad of casings.  No struggling to open the end of the casing and thread it over the stuffing tube.  No stopping to put a new casing on the stuffing tube every pound or two.  Casing is much less prone to blow out.  Just grab and go.  So collagen is what we use most of the time.

On the other hand, I prefer the texture of natural casings to collagen casings.  And I find that natural casings form links much better than collagen.  If the casing decision were mine alone, I'd probably use natural.

[Kielbasa_Tom]

tskeeter.  What brand of Collagen casings would you recommend?

[OU812]

Tom

I would do half with each,,,,,,,,,,,that way you can decide which you like best

Most of my Kielbasa is cooked in a main dish and I use collagen but if the kielbasa is gonna be the main dish I use hog casings

Just sayin  ;D

[STLstyle]

Tom

I would do half with each,,,,,,,,,,,that way you can decide which you like best

Most of my Kielbasa is cooked in a main dish and I use collagen but if the kielbasa is gonna be the main dish I use hog casings

Just sayin  ;D

That's a thinkin man's kielbasa.  Well thought out!

This natural vs. artificial debate got me thinkin, I prefer natural in just about every scenario.  Just sayin...

[Kielbasa_Tom]

I think we will probably just do a small batch with the Collagen casings and see how it goes.  Maybe over the summer.  But still, is there a brand name Collagen casing someone can recommend?  Or maybe it doesn't matter.  Also, maybe a website i can order from too. 

Thanks for all the helpful comments.

[ragweed]

I order from both lemproducts.com and sausagemaker.com.  So far no regrets.

[Kielbasa_Tom]

Here is a few pics.  I gotta search for more.

[Sailor]

Yeah Buddy.  Love that smoker!