Homemade Sausage Making

Hi Folks

A Coppa for eg, I am thinking of wraping tight in one or two layers of muslin then trussing over the top of this with butchers string. This is as I have these to hand, I don't have any of those collagen sheets nor that tight netting. Is muslin OK to use? as I have not seen many using it, mostly collagen or nothing.

This then begs the question, why does it need wrapped in the first place? Could it not just be trussed to keep its shape?

Cheers

The advantage in casing whole muscle products are essentially two-fold. First, it slows down the drying, especially if you get a nice mould cover, and second, it's much more convenient when the product is ready, you peel off the casing and slice. You can certainly make it without the casing, but you might have a bit more case hardening, especially in parts that don't have a fat cover. And then you probably have to do a bit of trimming of the exterior before slicing. The trussing can also get embedded in the dried meat and you will spend time picking it out.

You can certainly use a muslin bag or material, probably better than nothing. Our friends on the Polish WD site often use nylon stockings.

Ah Cheers Redzed

So a stretched tight single layer of muslin should suffice. Then trussing so its firm but not strangling the living daylights out of it.

I have a small piece of pork shoulder (900g) which has been bagged, curing in the fridge for 10 days now. I'm planing on giving it a dry rub and hanging it day 15.