making sausage

[mdeiley]

Does anyone have a secret to getting the beef stick size casings on the funnel without tearing? Is there an oil one can use or a differant funnel. Do metal funnels work better then plastic? Any help would be greatly appreciated. I thank you in advance.

[WaveWacker]

Make sure and rinse casing out prior to trying to slide onto stuffing tube. If still having troubles, I would highly recommend switching over to synthetic casings.

[Dave B]

I make sausage every day. It all gets flushed.

[mdeiley]

I did rinse them. Do the metal funnels work better? Maybe I need a slightly smaller diameter funnel. I am using sheep casing. What size funnel would you recommend?

[BLACKJACK]

Have the rinsed and cut casing sitting in warm water. They should then slide easily over the funnel, if they don't then the funnel is too big. My folks have made sausage for years and thats the way Mom does it. They use hog casings but the principle is the same. Also we slide the whole casing over the funnel, squeeze the end shut with one hand, then as the stuffer slowly and consistantly pushed the meat out, the casing slides off. If the casings start splitting, refresh the warm water. Good luck.

PS - don't forget to have the electric fry pan going for the sample pieces!!!

[Ret-ro]

We always use the collagen casings. The go on dry. Use the biggest stuffer tube that they will still slide on without too much effort. We also made our own custom tube. My uncle is a stainless steel fabricator.