The “skin” you see on sausage is a very thin layer of intestinal casing. Because the casing is edible, it’s not necessary to peel it off. However, if you do not want the casing on your sausage or the skin is made of plastic, you can peel it off using a sharp knife. You’ll need to slit the casing with the knife and then peel it off slowly.

Cook the sausage. The skin or casing will steam the sausage and lock in flavor.

Slit the casing lengthwise with a sharp paring knife. Grip the top end of the sausage to stop it from rolling over as you remove the casing.

Drag the paring knife along the length of the casing. Don’t use force, just enough pressure to break the skin. Beware not to cut the sausage.

Starting from either end of the sausage, peel the casing toward the opposite end of the sausage. If the casing rips, simply grab the rim of the remaining casing and peel the remaining portion all the way down until the casing is completely removed.