A photo I took while at an old sausage shop in Germany |
Dave from Elkridge, MD wrote in:
Back in the early 60's, we used to butcher the hogs to make sausage and stuff them in muslin cloth. Now, can we use non bleached muslin cloth that has been sewn into 2 inch tubes? We get our muslin cloth from a fabric store. Also, how well would venison sausage keep in the cloth? Should we freeze it or do you have a better idea?
Thanks for the question Dave! I also like the old fashioned cloth sausage casing! I haven't made sausage that way for a long time, but it really looks good in the cloth casings. Reminds me of trips to the sausage shops in Germany where they still use a lot of the cloth casings.
If you want to make your own casings, you can do that for sure or you can do a search on the computer for cloth sausage casings and there are several companies that can supply them to you.
When freezing I would still recommend using a Weston Vacuum Machine with their thick, commercial grade bags to prevent any quality loss on smoked products. Smoked products don't keep as well as fresh products in the freezer, so the vacuum machine and a good quality bag will help a lot!
Thanks again for the question Dave!