Beef Middle casings (smelly)
New to this awesome site !!!not new to sausage stuffing just dry sausage making are beef middles just naturally smelly , bought from butcher packer , live near them , and whoa !!!! will smell decrease with time ? THANKS!!!
Last edited by toolhawk1 on Thu Aug 25, 2011 23:40, edited 1 time in total.
Toolhawk
Welcome to the site, stick around, tons of info, great recipes and knowledgeable sausage making folks here!
Yeah I remember my first time using beef middles, kinda has a wet beef hide smell! I believe this is normal. It concerned me too, but the more I used them I just got used to the beef middles, didn`t affect the finished product for me.
Ever get a whiff of the large bologna collagen casings? El stink O, I actually threw away a small 5lb batch thinking it was bad, turns out it was the casing. The casing were fine, just had that faint wet raw hide smell!
Chow
Uwanna
Welcome to the site, stick around, tons of info, great recipes and knowledgeable sausage making folks here!
Yeah I remember my first time using beef middles, kinda has a wet beef hide smell! I believe this is normal. It concerned me too, but the more I used them I just got used to the beef middles, didn`t affect the finished product for me.
Ever get a whiff of the large bologna collagen casings? El stink O, I actually threw away a small 5lb batch thinking it was bad, turns out it was the casing. The casing were fine, just had that faint wet raw hide smell!
Chow
Uwanna
-
Chuckwagon
- Veteran
- Posts:4494
- Joined:Tue Apr 06, 2010 04:51
- Location:Rocky Mountains
Hi Toolhawk,
By their very nature, beef middles under the right conditions, can make a soiled baby diaper smell like a handful of lilacs! As you probably know, the middles are behind the rounds (also called the "runners") and they are part of the naturally straight, large intestine. Bovine middles are tougher than porcine middles and during preparation they should be covered with cold water and saturated for a longer period. Flush them as you would any other casing to wash out any residual packing salt and to cleanse the interior one last time before they become part of your project. Actually today`s processors perform a remarkable task in cleaning them although once in a while you may discover one that needs just a "little more attention". Another peculiarity you will probably discover is that during the dry-curing process, they often become more "slimy" than pork middles. If this happens during the "drying" period, simply wipe them with a clean cloth.
I recently discovered some beef middles that I had washed (upon arrival) and placed in a saturated salt solution inside a plastic bucket to have "on hand" in my shop. Somehow they were placed in the freezer - more than ten years ago!
As I was defrosting the freezer to clean it, I discovered them and was curious to know how they had held up. After thawing them out and removing the lid, a ruthless, wafting, whiff of alarming aroma hit me like one of my wife`s well-positioned black skillets! After two neighbors picked me up off the floor, one of them was actually able to revive me. Then I noticed the hole in the ceiling where the blue stench cloud had eaten an exit from my kitchen. Immediately, I began receiving phone calls from irritated neighbors with awful attitudes complaining about something they called, "odiferous and noxious gaseous warfare". On the other hand, I washed and flushed the casings after one of my friends stapled my nostrils together. Wheeee Eweeeuueee! What a fragrant fecal fetor factor! What an emanating essence of putrid pungency! What a bouquet of bull!
Having been "refreshed", the casing appeared to be just fine, so I stuffed a couple with a semi-dry-cured type sausage. Having been smoked and cooked, I found the casings to be a little on the tough side, but otherwise satisfactory.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
By their very nature, beef middles under the right conditions, can make a soiled baby diaper smell like a handful of lilacs! As you probably know, the middles are behind the rounds (also called the "runners") and they are part of the naturally straight, large intestine. Bovine middles are tougher than porcine middles and during preparation they should be covered with cold water and saturated for a longer period. Flush them as you would any other casing to wash out any residual packing salt and to cleanse the interior one last time before they become part of your project. Actually today`s processors perform a remarkable task in cleaning them although once in a while you may discover one that needs just a "little more attention". Another peculiarity you will probably discover is that during the dry-curing process, they often become more "slimy" than pork middles. If this happens during the "drying" period, simply wipe them with a clean cloth.
I recently discovered some beef middles that I had washed (upon arrival) and placed in a saturated salt solution inside a plastic bucket to have "on hand" in my shop. Somehow they were placed in the freezer - more than ten years ago!
As I was defrosting the freezer to clean it, I discovered them and was curious to know how they had held up. After thawing them out and removing the lid, a ruthless, wafting, whiff of alarming aroma hit me like one of my wife`s well-positioned black skillets! After two neighbors picked me up off the floor, one of them was actually able to revive me. Then I noticed the hole in the ceiling where the blue stench cloud had eaten an exit from my kitchen. Immediately, I began receiving phone calls from irritated neighbors with awful attitudes complaining about something they called, "odiferous and noxious gaseous warfare". On the other hand, I washed and flushed the casings after one of my friends stapled my nostrils together. Wheeee Eweeeuueee! What a fragrant fecal fetor factor! What an emanating essence of putrid pungency! What a bouquet of bull! Having been "refreshed", the casing appeared to be just fine, so I stuffed a couple with a semi-dry-cured type sausage. Having been smoked and cooked, I found the casings to be a little on the tough side, but otherwise satisfactory.
Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! 
