Collagen casings falling apart in smoker

[dank87]

I’m making Korean Bbq smokies. I think my recipe might a bit too wet. I mixed everything then froze. Thawed partially out yesterday. First few casings started to fall apart in smoker. I just put everything back in fridge. My question, is how do I dry up my casings or pork? Thanks

[Parksider]

Lay them out on paper towels and let the air dry.

[Jonathon]

dank87 Yeah, I think paper towels is your best bet, dehydrator would be too harsh most likely. Can you give us a little more of your prcoess? How much water was added per lb of meat?

[s.a.m]

You could try racks and a fan.

did you stuff the casing then freeze?

[dank87]

It’s about 15lbs of pork, with I thought way less than 2 cups ice water… I also added pear juice as a tenderizer. Froze everything. Then started stuffing. First few fell apart quickly. Thanks fellas

[Cabelas90]

I would think it’s the Pear juice. The acid will destroy the casings.

[Jonathon]

dank87 Yes, adding anything acidic is going to do this, we had someone do the same thing recently with tomato juice and he had similar issues. I am going to be doing a test batch this week with that, I will do some with pear juice as well to verify but I think Cabelas90 hit the nail on the head.

[jayjay]

dank87 I use hog casings when I use my smoker. They do not fall apart. And they will take smoke. I make a Spicy Maple pork sausage using collagen casings and they bust every time. Started using hog casings they don’t.

[dank87]

Thanks fellas. I’ll report back soon