Ask a Sausage Maker: Casing Types Explained
Ask a Sausage Maker is an educational series from PS Seasoning where Certified Master Meat Crafter and Executive Chef Jed Hanson answers the questions home processors ask most. No filler, no fluff. Just straight answers from someone who's spent a career in the craft.
Q&A 5: HOW DO I KNOW WHICH TYPE OF SAUSAGE CASING TO USE?
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The Three Types of Sausage Casings
Casing confusion is one of the first things that slows people down when they start making sausage at home. Three types, and each one has a job. Once you know which is which, choosing the right sausage casing stops feeling like a guess.
The easiest way to keep them straight? If you can eat it, it’s natural or edible collagen. If you peel it off, it’s fibrous (non-edible collagen, plastic, or cellulose).
Many of the sausage casings on the market fall into one of three categories: natural, collagen, or fibrous/non-edible. The type you reach for depends on what you’re making, how you’re cooking it, and the texture and appearance you want in the finished product.
Collagen Casings
Collagen casings are processed casings made from the collagen in cow or pig hides, bones, and tendons. They’re easy to use, uniform in size, and most should not be soaked. They load right onto your stuffing horn straight from the package. That makes them a favorite for anyone new to sausage making or anyone stuffing a large batch quickly.
Edible collagen comes in two varieties: fresh collagen for stovetop or skillet cooking, and smoked collagen built to hold up to the smokehouse. Both are available in clear or mahogany (no taste difference, just color). Edible collagen casings are most commonly used for breakfast sausage, snack sticks, and hot dogs.
Fibrous Casings
Fibrous casings are inedible casings made from cellulose (specifically the Abaca tree, which produces incredibly strong yet stretchable fibers). They’re built to smoke. You smoke the sausage, peel the casing away, slice, and enjoy. Their durability also allows for tight stuffing, which makes them the go-to for fine, emulsified sausages.
Before stuffing, soak fibrous casings in warm water for 20–30 minutes with the tied end down so any trapped air escapes. Squeeze out excess water before you stuff. Available in clear or mahogany; mahogany is especially popular for smoking because it delivers a rich, consistent color to the finished sausage. Fibrous casings are most commonly used for summer sausage, salami, bologna and other luncheon meats.
Natural Casings
Natural casings (hog and sheep) are the traditional, edible option, made from the submucosa of animal intestines, a naturally collagen-rich layer that’s been used for centuries. They’re the most popular choice among sausage makers because of the signature “snap” they deliver when you bite into a finished link. They’re also flexible, tender, and durable enough to hold up in the smokehouse.
Natural casings come packed either in salt or a saline solution. Saline-packed casings just need a quick rinse and 30 minutes in warm water. Salt-packed casings need a cold rinse, cold-water soak (overnight is best), and then about 30 minutes in warm water before stuffing. Natural casings are used for breakfast sausages, hot dogs, bratwursts, and even sometimes snack sticks.
The Bottom Line
Here’s the rule:
- Eat it = natural or edible collagen
- Peel it = fibrous or non-edible collagen
Match the casing to what you’re making, prep it properly, and you’ll be set.
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