Homemade Sausage Making

Chorizo Recipe: Important Notes: You should probably note two items in the "semi-dried cured" version (#3) chorizo recipe.

**1** As reads "If you choose to lighten up on the vinegar," (looks like we do without vinegar entirely, because the tang is supplied by the ferment,) "mix the cure into a half-cup of ice water instead."

**2** The recipe calls for 0.24 grams of BactoFerm LHP culture. If you're like me, your scale isn't that precise. What to do? I plan to measure out 1.0 grams of culture, pour it onto a smooth surface, then take a knife and divide it in two. Then, I'll take one of the piles and either make a double recipe (2 kg of meat), or divide the pile a second time to give a quarter pile, which should weigh close to the right amount.

For those of you who have been concerned because the vinegar made your chorizo not stick together, rejoice! This time, you have bragging rights- - you can blame it on lactic acid instead of acetic acid. ~~~ ~~~

Just ramblin! I at one time ruined a recipe of fresh sausage by using ground sage insteaded of rubbed sage.I have since learned, ground is more dense and has a lot of flavour. So my point is on the chorizo I did use ground ancho and red chipotle and there is the big difference in taste. I did check with butcher & packer and also sausage maker for pasillo or pasilla chiles and they don't list it. When a person grinds the (ancho-pasillo) chiles up, to me It would be similar to red chile flakes not ground. To find these chiles up north is like finding a snow shovel at El Ducko place. I hate to ruin a recipe over grind verses ground and how to substitute.?

Substitute by weight. !0 grams of dried whole chilis will make 10 grams of flakes or 10 grams of powder. The volumes will be vastly different.

grasshopper wrote:Just ramblin! I at one time ruined a recipe of fresh sausage by using ground sage insteaded of rubbed sage.I have since learned, ground is more dense and has a lot of flavour. So my point is on the chorizo I did use ground ancho and red chipotle and there is the big difference in taste. I did check with butcher & packer and also sausage maker for pasillo or pasilla chiles and they don't list it. When a person grinds the (ancho-pasillo) chiles up, to me It would be similar to red chile flakes not ground. To find these chiles up north is like finding a snow shovel at El Ducko place. I hate to ruin a recipe over grind verses ground and how to substitute.?

Yikes! A place with no chiles is like a... what's a snow shovel?

Red chipotle is probably chipotle made by smoking red jalapeños. That's quite a find- - these days, the folks making Sriracha have just about bought up all the red jalapeños in the galaxy. I hope you enjoyed the taste.

What's fun about this recipe is that for chiles, like barbecue or Mexican food, the next place down the road has an entirely different taste. Which is better? Lemme try both a few dozen times, and I'll try to tell you. Just don't go TOO far down the road, or you leave familiar territory and wind up at Taco Bell or some other state's interpretation of barbecue. (To quote a ten-year-old daughter when we were moved to North Carolina, "What IS this stuff? ...road kill?") The various chiles are that way too- - they're different and endlessly fascinating, so embrace it, find the ones you like, and tune the recipe to your own likes. Personally, I don't like habañero chiles in mine (too hot), and you probably won't want red jalapeños again.

As to substitutes, like Ross suggests, substitute weight for weight. However, if "hotness" (piquancy???) is an issue, weight it by Scoville units. (Search back through my posts for "Scoville", for a table). Try to hit the same Scoville value or so, meaning that if one chile type has 100 units and another has 1000, go with a tenth of the hotter type.

This will inevitably change the taste, but at least you won't be pilloried for the rest of your life by angry family or neighbors who tried unsuccessfully to eat your fiery free-will sausage offering. When in doubt, go with a lower Scoville pepper at the same weight (or a bit more). If you can't find pasillas, try boosting the ancho weight by that same amount. And please be aware that ancho chiles sometimes are made from different peppers. I find that the different brands available around here vary a fair amount in hotness.

...kinda like hot wimmin, huh? They're not all alike, which is yet another reason... uh... If you have to substitute, is there an equivalent to Scoville units for... uh... (Oh, never mind. We'd need another thread, heavily censored, for that one. )

As to substitutes, like Ross suggests, substitute weight for weight. However, if "hotness" (piquancy???) is an issue, weight it by Scoville units. (Search back through my posts for "Scoville", for a table). Try to hit the same Scoville value or so, meaning that if one chile type has 100 units and another has 1000, go with a tenth of the hotter type

.

Thanks! Now thats is a great system to follow especially dividing up the scoville units. Now I will try the chorizo recipe again.

grasshopper wrote:Thanks! Now thats is a great system to follow especially dividing up the scoville units. Now I will try the chorizo recipe again.

Thanks. Have faith!

To save a little time, here's another listing of Scoville ratings, in ascending order. (Sorry about the alignment (or lack thereof).) Optional exercise- - Whichever peppers you choose, if you want, try toasting 'em a bit to bring out the flavor and color. (...got vent-a-hood? The first time we made Blackened Redfish, we had to evacuate the house.)

Russ

Bell (0 - 100)
El Paso (0 - 100)
Anaheim (100 - 500)
Paprika (250 - 1000)
Poblano (500 - 1000)
Pasado (dried Anaheim) (500 - 2500)
Ancho (dried Poblano) (1000 - 3,000) <-----
Pasilla (Chilacas, dried Chile Negro) (1000 - 1,500) <-----
New Mexico Green Chile (Hatch) (1,500 - 3,000)
Guajillo (dried Mirasol) (2,500 --6,000)
Jalapeno (3,000 - 6,000....25,000)
Serrano (5,000 - 15,000)
Yellow Caribe (5,000 - 15,000)
Aleppo (10,000)
Cascabel (11,000)
Chipotle (New Mexico red chile) (15,000)
Chipotle (New Mexico Morita red chile) (15,000) <-------WooHoo!
Chile de Arbol (15,000 - 35,000)
Asian Hots (15,000 - 30,000)
Hidalgo (15,000 - 30,000)
Serrano (15,000 - 30,000)
Crushed Red Pepper (California) (20,000)
Cayenne (30,000 - 50,000)
Tabasco (30,000 - 50,000)
Red Chile (30,000 - 50,000)
Chiltecpin (30,000 - 50,000)
Tabiche (30,000 - 50,000)
Bahamian (30,000 - 50,000)
Kumataka (30,000 - 50,000)
Piquin (30,000 - 70,000)
Thai (bird`s eye) (30,000 - 70,000)
Crushed Red Pepper (Indian) (40,000)
Saanaam (Indian) (40,000)
Aji (50,000 - 100,000)
Dundicut (Pakistan) (55,000 - 65,000)
Tien Tsin (Asian) (60,000)
Habanero (Scotch Bonnet) (300,000)
Naga Jolokia (1,000,000+)

For the semi dry fermented sausage I am making a 4 kg. batch of summer sausage. Using the Marianski recipe with the exception that I am using Mondo 2M starter culture rather than F-L-C. It is a fast to medium acting culture and have an opened pack so I decided to experiment with it.

I have a couple of questions CW, regarding the following instructions:

6. For a drier sausage: dry for 3 days at 22-16° C (70-60° F), 65-75% humidity or until desired weight loss has occurred.
I am unable to create this environment with the temperature and humidity combination. Can I dry it for three days at 18°C and 50% humidity?

7. Store sausages at 10-15° C (50-59° F), 75-80% humidity.
My curing chamber is currently running at 11°C and 78-82% so that would work. So can I skip step 6 and move it to the curing chamber after smoking?

Hi Red,
You wrote:

Can I dry it for three days at 18°C and 50% humidity?

A drop below that temperature for any length of time is not recommended but if you have no choice, you might have to bend the rule.
Also...

My curing chamber is currently running at 11°C and 78-82% so that would work. So can I skip step 6 and move it to the curing chamber after smoking?

Yes. Keep us posted.

Thanks CW. One more question. When we aim to attain the 20% weight loss, do we start with the raw sausage weight or the smoked?
Thanks you
Chris

...'nother question regarding the fermented/smoked/dried/folded/spindled/mutilated chorizo:

As a result of having to rinse the last "goodies" out of the blender/grinder, my mix now has excess water, and weighs 5% to 10% more than it should. What I'll do is weigh before I stuff, to calculate the excess water, then stuff, then weigh the results. (There's always loss, due to sample patty + mess.) I'll base what the starting weight SHOULD be by subtracting the percent overage, then calculate water loss from there.

Sound reasonable?

Why use a simple solution when a complex one sounds sooooo much more impressive? (Aaarrrggghhh.)

Why use a simple solution when a complex one sounds sooooo much more impressive?

Having a tough day in mold design and EL Ducko you made my day. Works for me! For that I thank you. Mike

Redzed asked:

do we start with the raw sausage weight or the smoked?

"Greenweight" pal. (raw weight).
El Duckster, did you by chance, eat paint chips as a child? Run into walls? Fall overboard?

Chuckwagon wrote:El Duckster, did you by chance, eat paint chips as a child? Run into walls? Fall overboard?

I forget.
I ran into an old friend, the other day. Does that count? (He wasn't hurt.)

Well, the chorizo with Bactoferm LHP is sunning itself beside a covered 75 watt bulb in our oven, over a tray of salted water and watered salt. (...kinda like going to the beach. ) There's a wonderful, meaty smell when you crack the door. (...kinda like a sleazy beer joint at the beach. ) This will be a most interesting project. If it's good, I'll have to hurry- - the LHP's 17 day self life wasn't helped by 6 days of surface shipping. It's frozen, now. Given the small recipe size that I used, at 0.24 grams a pop, I have enough left over for about a bazillion more batches.

The venison sticks were smoked today, with apple wood chips. I took 'em to 154 °F internal meat temperature, and they have lost about 32% of their raw weight. This makes 'em safe, right? ...smoked/cooked/dried, right? We'll vacuum seal 'em tomorrow or Monday.

Next project: start thawing a turkey this coming week, preparatory to brining in 7-Up cocktail, for Thanksgiving.

Duckster, you wrote:

The venison sticks were smoked today, with apple wood chips. I took 'em to 154 °F internal meat temperature, and they have lost about 32% of their raw weight. This makes 'em safe, right? ...smoked/cooked/dried, right? We'll vacuum seal 'em tomorrow or Monday.

As they say in Texas... "Yep"!
If a "cured-smoked-cooked" sausage is dried, then it becomes a "semi-dry cured" product.
Take some photos and let us know how they turn out.

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon