¿ Collagen Casing & Bologna In Sous Vide Questions ?

[thirdeye]

I'm in a conversation with a gentleman on another cooking forum and wanted toss out some questions here:
1. How long are collegen or fiberous (FB) casings good for? I found 8 or 10 that must be 10 years old, they are the dark colored ones.

2. Has anyone made bologna that has small cubes of beef or pork within the grind? I'm considering either traditional bologna, or German bologna with peppercorns or cracked pepper, and have not decided on a 100% beef, or a 50:50 mix of beef and pork. I will be using Cure #1 along with the typical seasonings. I'm not going the emulsification route, just a double fine grind. Here is a photo that unfortunately I don't have a source for... and I'm thinking smaller cubes.


3. I plan on smoking my bologna like I do my hot dogs, but want to try a sous vide finish. Any recommendations on water bath temp and times?

 

[zwiller]

I can't really add much but this post has Rich written all over it chopsaw .

WRT emulsification. On a whim I tried a double grind for some weisswurst that was supposed to be emulsified but I was so happy with the results I don't think I ever will.

 

[thirdeye]

I can't really add much but this post has Rich written all over it chopsaw .

WRT emulsification. On a whim I tried a double grind for some weisswurst that was supposed to be emulsified but I was so happy with the results I don't think I ever will.

Same here, I now make my hot dogs with a double grind, stepping down with plate sizes for this result. Much less hassle and way less time consuming.

 

[chopsaw]

I've made Krakow using lean cured pork cubes along with pork grind . It came out very good .
One grind thru the 1/4 " plate . I never do multiple grinds .
I recently made a " spiced ham roll " from Len Poli's site . It was all cured lean pork cubes . No grind . It call for meat glue , I used un-flavored powdered gelatin .
It was good also . Held together good cold .

The Krakow was smoked / cooked in the smoker .


The spiced ham roll was start to finish in the SV .


The cubes plus grind makes a more uniform look , but the all cubes was a texture like whole muscle slice .

One grind on some hot dogs .

I have used fiberous casings that had some age to them with no issues . Don't use collegen .

 

[thirdeye]

Mine must be the fiberous, I helped a guy with summer sausage and he gave some to me. I've never used the collegen casings myself, but some guys from work make snack sticks with them. One local market has some Hi Mountain fibrous mahogany casings 2-1/2" X 20", the 10-pack is $11.