Cooking brats

[bcompton53]

If I make brats with collagen casing, I’ve read that the links won’t hold. So how do you suggest I cook them before freezing? Leave linked together?

[YooperDog]

bcompton53 for fresh sausage with the collagen casings you can freeze them after you have twisted them then cut and pack or cook. You don’t have to twist them at all and just cut them to length and freeze. There is not much of a difference in my experience as long as you don’t over stuff them. Any other folks that have more experience with collagen keep me honest here.

[bcompton53]

Thanks. So also, if I want to cook before freezing, do I have to cook linked together so the meat doesn’t come out the end of the casings as much?

[YooperDog]

bcompton53 In my experience no. With collagen I can stuff, cut and cook. No need to freeze if you don’t want to. Twisting is an option and freezing afterwards will help hold the twist after you cut them. Overstuffing will cause some issues but not that big of a deal. I like natural casings over collagen, but I have moved towards collagen because it gives me more options. Like just about everything there are pro’s and con’s

[drbrown35801]

As a general rule I will use the tubed hog gut casings for fresh sausages and brats as they link better in my opinion. If I have to use fresh collagen I will link, and then tie the links with twine. If you choose not to link Yooper is exactly correct in that you can stuff, cut, and cook. Tying your link twist with twine can be an advantage if your links are not holding. After you firm them in the freezer you can then cut the links and package if that is your goal. Hope this helps.

[Jonathon]

bcompton53 Not sure if this got duplicated or not but I swear I just answered this…obviously not, hope I am not starting to dream about this board!

For collagen, if you under stuff them a tad and then twist them more than needed, quick freeze in a blast freezer or longer in a normal freezer you will get them to hold a little. That is the biggest issue with collagen in my opinion, if it held its twist it would be far better all-around than hog.