Hot Water Is The Secret To Easily Remove The Casing On Cured Sausage

No one wants to eat tough, raw sausage casing. But it can be tricky to get past this thin outer shell of your cured meat and into the good stuff — the sausage that you actually want to eat. Technically you don't have to remove the casing, as they are typically composed of edible ingredients. But you may want to, either because it has a dusty white appearance or because these wrappers often contain technically edible, but unappealing mold. Whatever the case, removing the casings is generally a good idea.  

If yours is thin enough, you can simply make a shallow cut with a knife and peel the casing away. But if the wrapper is thicker, or if you want to preserve any of the sausage that you're not using in its casing, you'll need to bring in the big guns. Pour a little hot water over one end of the meat while holding it over the sink and the wrapper should loosen up enough that you can roll it down. This is especially helpful if you're not using the whole link in one go, as you can then roll the casing back up after you've cut off the meat you need and use it to cover your leftover sausage. 

If the thought of pouring hot water close to your fingers makes you a little antsy — or if you've already started cooking your sausage and forgotten to remove the casing — there's another way you can subject it to heat. Simply parboil your meat by plunking your links into a pot of boiling water for no more than three minutes. Once you remove them, run them under cold water in the sink so the sausage doesn't continue cooking, dry them off, and then peel your casing back. If needed, you can use a knife to make a small cut at one end, but you shouldn't need to use much muscle work here.

If you really want to make sure you keep the shape of the sausage intact, you can freeze the whole link before trying either of the hot water methods. If you expose one end of your frozen link to hot water, the meat will hold its shape, while the casing will easily peel away, leaving you with a clean cut of cured sausage.