After marinating a brisket flat, should one pat it dry and then add Salt and Pepper as a rub… Or just cook it as is?

Thanks Guys! Much appreciated

I made fresh sausage and stuffed it in fresh collagen casings. they are nice and plump. i cut them into bun sized lengths without twisting them. When placed on the grill or heated in a pan with water to poach before browning them, the casings shrink from the ends until only the middle of the sausage is “within” the casing. By then, the sausage has setup and doesn’t crumble or fall apart. However, the casing that remains seems to be twice as tough/chewy as expected. i typically cut it off to remove it. I want to share the sausage with friends and hate suggesting they should cut away the casing before eating the sausage.
Am i doing anything wrong? should i twist the sausages into links rather than simply cutting them to length?
I’m willing to switch to the natural casings on the pre-loaded tubes for future batches, but i have a decent supply of fresh collagen casing to work through first. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

thanks, the high heat makes sense. some times they shrink less than others. grilling seems to shrink the least. the water poaching is the worst situation. I’ll try to get pics out soon.