casing failure

[nerow]

Well, I can't really explain it, and knowing next to nothing about meat chemistry, the results are definitely mystifying, but the result speaks for itself.

I have been using a fairly high-end pork, which I get from a restaurant supplier. That pork was used in all of the bratwursts where the casings shredded.

I threw all of that pork away, went to a Ranch 99 market (a California Chinese supermarket chain) and bought fresh pork shoulder over the counter. Took it home and made a new batch of bratwurst. Same recipe, same casings, same technique. Shazam! Juicy, delicious bratwurst, casings perfectly taut and intact.

Can't explain it. I have used the original pork (from the restaurant supplier) before with no problems. I must have gotten a bad batch or something. It looked good and smelled good, but something was clearly wrong.

As to how "bad" pork could make casings disintegrate, I haven't got a clue, but switching the pork DID solve the problem.

Thanks everyone.

[vagreys]

OK. You've been making the same recipe for years. Casing 'tearing' or bursting, does not elicit the same image to me as 'disintegrated'. Sausages bursting open is typically a result of overfilling the casing and/or cooking too quickly. Not saying you are doing either of these things, but these are the primary reasons for casing to split during cooking. The two situations may be unrelated. In the first case, I'd be surprised if it wasn't a case of the casing being mishandled before it reached you - two different brands, both disintegrating. In this second case, it could just be that the casing split. Sometimes, the Syracuse casing is tender, but I've been using it for nearly two years, now. Having gone through a number of hanks, I've only had one strand in one hank that I would consider weak and flawed. Pork swells when cooked, even if it isn't injected. it's the nature of the muscle tissue. There is a lot of injected pork out there. While it could be the pork, this second situation sounds more like overfilling, to me.

[nerow]

Vagreys, I can't say you're right & I can't say you're wrong. I really don't know what has been going on, but let me clarify a few things. Three separate batches of sausages went bad. All three used the same pork and were made the same exact way (which as I have already said, I have done many times before). Each batch used a different casing: 1) Butcher & Packer (which is what I normally use), 2) SausageMaker.com, & 3) Syracuse. Believe me, none of the sausage links were over-stuffed, none of the meat got warm, and at no time did the poaching water go above 165 degrees.

On the links with both the B&P and SausageMaker casings, the casings completely disintegrated after they were in the water for 5 or so minutes (maybe a little longer), but way before they reached an internal temp of 150 degrees. As the casings disintegrated, the meat inside only partially held together and was soft & crumbly.

Using the Syracuse casings, the casings did not really "disintegrate" but did tear apart into long shreds (while poaching). Frying an un-poached link with Syracuse casings cause the casing to split lengthwise down one side of the entire link. I know this is not the same thing as "disintegrating," but I am just describing what happened. BTW, the Syracuse casings were brand new from an un-opened batch of tubed casings I had received just that morning.

As I said, I bought new pork, made new links, same way, same exact amount of "stuffing" in the links, and using the same new Syracuse casings. Result -- excellent Bratwurst.

I don't claim to be able to explain it, but those were the procedures I followed.

[Tasso]

I mentioned this before, but I don't think you addressed it. Or if you did, I've overlooked it, and in that case I apologize if I'm asking you to repeat yourself.

Did the label on the pork that you bought from the restaurant supplier that you used in the three failed batches indicate whether or not it was minimally processed, or if it contained any additives? Was it all purchased at the same time (i.e., could be from the same batch)?

[nerow]

I mentioned this before, but I don't think you addressed it. Or if you did, I've overlooked it, and in that case I apologize if I'm asking you to repeat yourself.

Did the label on the pork that you bought from the restaurant supplier that you used in the three failed batches indicate whether or not it was minimally processed, or if it contained any additives? Was it all purchased at the same time (i.e., could be from the same batch)?

I can only partially answer you:
1) Yes, all three failures were from the same batch of pork, although, as I said, it looked & smelled fine.
2) I am not sure what "minimally processed" means.
3) The original pork was from one of those "high-end" pseudo-organic hormone-free small ranches that markets primarily to restaurants (sort of like Marin Sun Farms Beef). The pork comes the standard way a lot of restaurant meat comes packaged these days, packed & sealed with its own juices in a heavy duty plastic bag (not vacuum-packed). This is what I believe they call today "aged in the bag." [How I miss the days when restaurants and butchers got sides of beef, half-hogs, whole legs of veal, and did their own butchering. Yes, I can remember that far back].
4. I know positively that the pork was NOT packed in a brine. And it's not supposed to have any additives, but, frankly, under the current market conditions, I really don't trust any meat supplier. I've purchased milk-fed veal from some very expensive suppliers, and had it arrive rosy red in color and tasting a hell of a lot like beef.

[Tasso]

According to the USDA, "minimal processing" means that the product was processed in a manner that does not fundamentally alter it. See the label "Natural" at the following link:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/portal/fsi ... ling-terms

Next time you're at your restaurant supply store, you might check the label to see what it says. From what you describe, though, I'd expect that it would be minimally processed. But you never know unless it's properly labeled.