Online Workshop: Project B2 (October 2013)

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redzed
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Post by redzed » Wed May 21, 2014 15:07

Good stuff CW! Understanding what Prague Powder, Shure Cure, etc. are, and how much nitrite you are putting into your sausage are essential elements in learning the craft and science of sausage making. Everyone should read, and read over and over again the above information. That way you will better understand the whole process rather than blindly following recipes. This knowledge will enable you to recognize an error in a recipe and also avoid the many stupid and even dangerous formulations that are out there on the internet.
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Post by sambal badjak » Thu May 22, 2014 06:41

Thanks CW, I will keep you posted about my bactoferm adventures :)
The mail here is sometimes good and sometimes terrible, which makes it pretty unreliable.
Shame it can't be send over the internet, aint it.....

In the meantime, I'll be lurking and expanding my knowledge, so when I can get it (if all else fails, it can come with one of my visitors later this year, when it is hot hot hot here), I can go full steam ahead
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Post by sambal badjak » Thu May 22, 2014 15:30

Ah, and reading cw's long article reminds me that metric is so much easier than imperial :lol:
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Post by Tasso » Thu May 22, 2014 22:34

Chuckwagon wrote: 1 ounce of Cure #1 = 6 level teaspoons (2 tablespoons).
One ounce of cure weighs 28.35 grams.

4 ounces of Cure #1 will cure 100 lbs. of sausage.
Four ounces of cure weigh 113.4 grams.

1 ounce of Cure #1 will cure 25 lbs. of sausage.
1 ounce of Cure #1 = 4 level teaspoons.
CW, the above is excerpted from your big post on the previous page. Is 1 ounce of cure #1 equal to 6 level teaspoons (first line) or 4 level teaspoons (last line) from the excerpt quoted above?
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Post by Chuckwagon » Fri May 23, 2014 06:56

Whoooops! :oops: Thanks big guy! I've made the correction. Thanks for the heads up. Wow, that's what I get for sniffin' the stuff. :shock:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by Shuswap » Fri May 23, 2014 14:58

el Ducko wrote:Hey, Shuswap! ...wish I could have talked you two into a Mexican breakfast while you were here. (...sure was fun.) Next year, maybe? , er... uh... make that "eh?"

Duk!
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Hey Duk you live in a beautiful part of the lone star state. I can understand with the TX connection to our heavy oil why you would be studying our Cdn language. Our day together was good fun, eh!
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Post by el Ducko » Sun May 25, 2014 03:03

Yes, it sure was fun. Wives seemed to enjoy it too. Let's do it again, next chance we get. By then, maybe we will have translated a few Aggie jokes to Newfie jokes and vice versa.

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Post by Chuckwagon » Sun May 25, 2014 04:30

I asked El DuckO if he had a hard time making up his mind. He said, "Uh.. well, yes and no". :roll: Okay, you disguised magpie Duk! Send me your favorite Chorizo recipe by PM, and I`ll post it with the right starter culture. These good folks will have to order some casings, culture, and nitrites to make this next sausage - a semi-dry cured chorizo! Oh, and yes... be sure to give it a name so it will be extinquished! Errr.... uhh... I mean "distinguished".

On the level folks, this will be a project to show everyone that just about any sausage recipe bay be made into a "semi-dry-cured" product. The difference is "how" we make it.

P.S. El Cluck may not be back to his `ol` self" yet after falling from his rocking chair! But if we wait until he comes to "his right mind" before we make his chorizo, we could have grown grand-children with beards and canes! (I`m wondering how far off his rocker he really is!) :roll:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by Shuswap » Sun May 25, 2014 04:38

Hey CW be patient - Duk and his DW are at Coopers in New Braunfels having a bbq dinner. His mind is on brisket not chorizo but he'll come around once its digested and he gets home to think about it.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Sun May 25, 2014 05:26

Hey Shuswap,
New Braunfels is where the world-famous Schlitterbahn Water Park is located. (On the bank of the Comal River). That flying menace just might fall out of a boat and... have to swim! Sort of like the Titanic when it hit that big ice cube! :shock:
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by el Ducko » Mon May 26, 2014 21:25

UhOh! ...looks like I'd better get busy.

Actually, I have that new "Charcutería" book on order, and it has the perfect smoked, semi-dried chorizo recipe from Northern Spain in it. How's about a 1-week-or-so wait while the book comes? I'll post the recipe in its entirety, as soon as I can. (I wish I could post the pictures!)

Seeing as how we want a semi-dried rather than dried recipe, we want rapid fermentation rather than the traditional slow style so the pH will drop fast, which (correct me if I'm wrong, CW) means using either Chr Hansen's F-RM-52 or rapid, high-temperature Chr Hansen F-LC instead of the usual T-SPX. There's a recommendation in the book, but I forgot to write it down when I was at the book shop. While we wait, how's about a write-up on the subject, CW?

I'll re-post this item as soon as the book arrives (expected June 2 - 5), as well as the complete recipe, and we can go from there. Meanwhile, folks, check out your favorite source of paprika. (I was recently given some delicious smoked pimentón from World Market. ...talk about yum!)

...and note that we will need cure #1, not cure #2.
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Post by Chuckwagon » Tue May 27, 2014 08:51

Hey, hey... no way... Slick Duk!
I don`t know how many of our members realize that a free copy of your "Chorizo Corner" is posted on our site in the book section. What is it? It`s a comprehensive, deeply-researched book by El DuckO himself! :mrgreen: Check it out at this link: http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5873.
Now, I ask you... with a resource like that in our own library, and its author being an active member of our site, why in the world would we want to refer to some strange, derelict "charcutería" recipe, written by some strange, sausage-makin` dude, in some strange, forlorn location, with strange, unaccepted kitchen habits? Shucks, he probably has two different colored, strange socks, and a strange Mohawk haircut! :shock: You looney-tune yardbird, although you walk into walls and slur your words, we wish to have one of YOUR recipes. (I`m a little partial to the Yucatan style in Chapter 4 or the Peruvian style in #6). Here`s just a quick glance of some in your book:

"Chorizo Corner [ 1-Tex/Mex Blends and Advice on Handling Chiles]"
"Chorizo Corner [ 2-Spanish Chorizo (bonus: Paella recipe)]"
"Chorizo Corner [ 3-Interior Mexico (bonus: Mole recipe)]"
"Chorizo Corner [ 4-Yucatecan Chorizo (bonus: Annatto, Cochinita Pibil recipe)]"
"Chorizo Corner [ 5-Salvadorean, Colombian, Peruvian Chorizo (bonus: Cuy recipe)]"
"Chorizo Corner [ 6-Chilean (bonus: Conger eel recipe)]"
"Chorizo Corner [ 7-Uruguay and Argentina]"

We want the duck! We want the duck! Yes, El QuackO, we will have to order Bactoferm™ LHP culture, sodium nitrite cure - [Cure#1], and some 29-32 mm hog casings. Because of the nature of this sausage, many prefer the more tender sheep casings but find them more expensive. Some supply houses offer "shorts" in "homepacks", and you may wish to consider purchasing one of these containing more than enough 24-26 mm sheep casings for this project.

The LHP Culture will drop the acidification to less than 5.3 in less than 48 hours! An immediate weight loss is about 20% due to fermentation and the smoking step immediately following. This sausage is "cooked" to a temperature of 140°F and it`s smoked up to 4 hours (following fermentation) at temperatures conducive to bacterial growth - the same warm temperatures used during fermentation. Some folks prefer a much thinner and intermittent (cold) smoke of up to 4 days in the warm smokehouse with the 80-100°F temperature favorable to bacterial growth to further develop fermentation.

You should note that because of the fast acidification process, the staphylococcus and kocuria bacteria (color and flavor-forming bacteria) do not perform well. Consequently, the sausage will have a sour or "tangy" flavor. The staphylococcus simply does not have enough time to work. We will add a little glucose to the recipe to feed the pediococcus acidilactici and p. pentosaceus bacteria, insuring a quick pH drop. Note also that semi-dry cured sausages are smoked AFTER fermentation. Unlike fully-dry-cured sausage, our "semi"-dry cured sausages will be prep-cooked to 140°F (60°C) following smoking. Because of the quick processing, the Aw (available water) is not an initial safety factor in this recipe. We are totally dependent upon the acidification, 2.5% salt content, and the cooking step, to control pathogenic bacteria.

So, you four-letter, fowl, foul... choose a recipe and give it a name for semi-dry curing. Let us know what it is and I`ll help you write up a recipe for this good-lookin` group of hungry waddies!

And now a question, you... you... Meleagris gallopavo wannabe! Is it true that you threw away a perfectly good cell phone because in an emergency you dialed 9, but couldn't find the "eleven" button? :shock:

Best Wishes,
Chuckwagon
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it probably needs more time on the grill! :D
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Post by redzed » Tue May 27, 2014 20:23

I like all kinds of sausages, but chorizo rests in the bottom half of my favourites. But, I will give it another shot and try a different variation. Hopefully will find time to play with it on the weekend.Image
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Post by el Ducko » Wed May 28, 2014 04:28

Awk!!! I`m developing a nut allergy from all this. (You`re NUTS!)

Basic Chorizo Principles: Well, tell ya what- - let`s lay out a few basic principles, then see what we can do.
(1) Chorizo in the "New World" is different from the "Old World." Lacking the Spanish peppers, everyone in the New World used their local varieties. Particularly in pepper-mad Mexico, some of the results departed markedly from Spanish tradition.
(2) Spanish chorizo is typically a fermented, dried sausage, whereas in the Americas it is typically a fresh sausage or a smoked, semi-dried, cooked sausage. Fermentation is unusual.

So, having said that, we`ll concoct a smoked, fermented version that you`ll never find elsewhere. I`ll provide a few recipes which you can prepare any of three ways: fresh, smoked/semi-dried, or fermented/smoked/semi-dried. We'll formulate it for one kilo of pork, which is about the least amount you should make and still be able to measure the ingredients accurately enough, and you can scale it up if you want. A few days later, I`ll also provide a recipe (the only one I`ve found so far) of a fermented/smoked/semi-dried Spanish sausage, based on Spanish paprika and pimentón, which you might enjoy. That way, those folks who don`t care much for "picante" hotness (you know who you are, eh?) can still have fun with the recipe and make something edible at the same time.

A few Choice Recipes: However, here`s a good start. Last October, I listed a few links to recipes for my favorite chorizo recipes. At http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... c&start=86 , we talked about some of `em, but not about the fermented version. Frankly, I didn`t think it was as good as some other recipes, but it was an instructive exercise to do. In particular, it contrasted old world and new world practices, meaning that we usually slam our sausages with vinegar rather than give `em the subtle tang that fermentation does. (That`s our justification, CW`s and mine, and we`re sticking to it.) (...although I can be bribed with... uh...)

The Fermented Example: Let`s start with an abbreviated version of the last "Project B" fermented/smoked recipe, as modified by CW. From that, you can get the bacterial and sugar loading. You can find the recipe at http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... &start=644 with important notes at http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... &start=647
● 1 kg pork mince
● 2.7 gm cure #1 (to give 140 ppm nitrite)
● 10.6 gm salt (to give 1.1% salt)
● 9 gm dextrose (glucose) powder (to give 0.75% sugar)
● 125 ml water (usually, vinegar would be used)
● 32.5 gm chiles (ancho, pasilla)
● 1.6 gm herbs/spices (clove, coriander, cumin, oregano)
● 17 gm garlic
● 7 gm sweet paprika
● 0.7 gm black pepper
● 0.24 gm Bactoferm LHP

Yes, that`s right, a quarter of a gram of LHP. Check my note for a way to get a reasonably close amount. If you don`t hit it exactly, don`t worry- - this is a starting amount, and it will multiply as it feeds on the sugar. (...sounds scary, no? Actually, no. It`ll quit when it runs out of sugar.)

Modify (Ferment) Your Favorite Recipe: So, let`s go out on a limb, here. Take your favorite fresh chorizo recipe. (Redzed: keep it clean and simple by using Melissa Guerra`s recipe, mentioned in the first link above. If you want, substitute paprika for the ancho chiles. It changes the flavor, but brightens the color.) (Me...? I`m going with the sriracha one.) Modify your chosen recipe so that, for every kilo of pork:
● Add 2.7 gm cure #1 (to give 140 ppm nitrite) to the "fresh" recipe
● Back down on the normal salt amount by (1-.0625) * 2.7 =2.5 gm
● Add 9 gm dextrose (if fermenting)
● Substitute water for vinegar (if fermenting)
● Add that 0.24 gm of Bactoferm LHP (if fermenting)
Note that you can make a semi-dried, cooked sausage without fermenting, if you prefer. However, we're more interested in fermenting, for this exercise.

Now, prepare it according to CW`s instructions. Refer to the above link.

...hope you enjoy it. I like mine best when chopped up and scrambled in eggs, but there are other enjoyable ways. Maybe I`ll sneak a few of `em in here in the next few days.
Duk
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Post by ssorllih » Wed May 28, 2014 05:08

Outstanding!!! I have a friend whom I love dearly who is critically allergic to capsicum. So I shall make these but not offer them to her.
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