Umai Dry Bag Soppressata and Chorizo

rgautheir20420 · Dec 22, 2014

Ok so I just couldn't wait!!! One of my logs hit 30% weight loss yesterday, so cut it open and sliced a few pieces. This stuff is good! No off smells or flavors what so ever. Nice tang and salt levels are good. It's a simple recipe, but it's very good. I put the pieces back into an UMAI bag and tied the ends and it's back in the fridge to loose a bit more weight for more testing. The other logs are around 27% lost and those will be taken closer to 40% before opening. Here it is. Fat was silky already and delicious.

BTW, the Chorizo logs are around 25% as of now.

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rgautheir20420
Dec 22, 2014
1

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rgautheir20420
Dec 22, 2014

red dog · Dec 22, 2014

Looks great! I might have to give this a try.

atomicsmoke · Dec 22, 2014

Nice dry cured meat. What plate did you use for grinding? Or was the meat chopped only?

rgautheir20420 · Dec 22, 2014

atomicsmoke said:
Nice dry cured meat. What plate did you use for grinding? Or was the meat chopped only?

Thanks atomic. I went with the largest player I had because I wanted this type of look and texture. Everything has blended together nicely for a smooth texture and taste ,

dirtsailor2003 · Dec 22, 2014

Yumm, the sliced pics look great!

rgautheir20420 · Jan 20, 2015

I know it's been awhile since I've updated this thread, but I broke out the Chorizo about 1 week ago and it's been pretty good. I've still got 2 logs in the fridge and they aren't fully hardened. They are a bit over 40% loss even but I don't think they're gonna get much firmer. Here are some sliced shots. It's pretty darn good, but I prefer the Soppressata to be honest.

20150112_152407.jpg

rgautheir20420
Jan 20, 2015

dirtsailor2003 · Jan 20, 2015

rgautheir20420 said:
I know it's been awhile since I've updated this thread, but I broke out the Chorizo about 1 week ago and it's been pretty good. I've still got 2 logs in the fridge and they aren't fully hardened. They are a bit over 40% loss even but I don't think they're gonna get much firmer. Here are some sliced shots. It's pretty darn good, but I prefer the Soppressata to be honest.

20150112_152407.jpg

rgautheir20420

Jan 20, 2015

Tasty!!!! Nice job!

chef willie · Jan 20, 2015

looks xlnt.....I'm rethinking the Umai bag method now....Willie

rgautheir20420 · Jan 20, 2015

Chef Willie said:
looks xlnt.....I'm rethinking the Umai bag method now....Willie

Chef, the process truly has been very easy to make something that's come out so delicious. Personally, it was worth every penny.

chef willie · Jan 20, 2015

rgautheir20420 said:
Chef, the process truly has been very easy to make something that's come out so delicious. Personally, it was worth every penny.

thanks for the honest opinion....have read other reviews on them and they all sound legit. Got the site bookmarked for research at another time.....I was seriously considering a wine fridge conversion to a chamber but, truthfully, with all the gear needed I'd be close to 4-500 and hoping that urge would pass....<grin>......Willie

chewmeister · Jan 20, 2015

rgautheir20420 said:
I know it's been awhile since I've updated this thread, but I broke out the Chorizo about 1 week ago and it's been pretty good. I've still got 2 logs in the fridge and they aren't fully hardened. They are a bit over 40% loss even but I don't think they're gonna get much firmer. Here are some sliced shots. It's pretty darn good, but I prefer the Soppressata to be honest.

20150112_152407.jpg

rgautheir20420

Jan 20, 2015

Looks good. I started some soppressata last Saturday with the 50mm tubes. To try and maintain a constant temp for the fermenting I put them in my proofing box at 70 degrees. I've been keeping an eye on them and they should be ready to come out. The issue I have is that one of the sticks doesn't have a uniform color to it like it hasn't fermented evenly. I mixed the batch well before stuffing so I'm kind of at a loss as to what's going on. The others have a nice uniform color.

rgautheir20420 · Jan 20, 2015

Care to post some pictures? I afraid I'm not qualified to really answer that, but the only thing I can think of would be insufficient mixing of the culture and mixture. The best way to check for a proper ferment is usually by measuring the pH drop in the meat. Do you have that capability? Maybe share what culture you used also? I'd imagine at 3 days time and 70 degrees even the slow fermenting cultures would have done their job.

chewmeister · Jan 20, 2015

i used T-SPX for the culture. There is just the light colored area on the middle one that concerns me. The color difference is not as dramatic as in the picture as the flash makes it more pronounced and it's just the one area.

Sausage 002.jpg

chewmeister
Jan 20, 2015

rgautheir20420 · Jan 20, 2015

Hmm that is very interesting. It also could have been an issue with a small portion not getting as much cure. Either way, it doesn't look to be spoiling which is a good sign. If there are no off smells or other bad signs, I'd commence with the drying.

chewmeister · Jan 20, 2015

Actually, it smells fantastic. Kind of a cross between a traditional hard salami and pepperoni. I'll put them in the reefer to start the drying process. Thanks for your input.

rgautheir20420 · Jan 20, 2015

chewmeister said:
Actually, it smells fantastic. Kind of a cross between a traditional hard salami and pepperoni. I'll put them in the reefer to start the drying process. Thanks for your input.

If you used the recipe from the drybag site, it's got a really nice spice to it once it hardens up. It was very good.

chewmeister · Jan 20, 2015

That's good to know. That is the recipe I used as I wanted a baseline to try for my first attempt. If this turns out well then maybe tweak it some if I feel it's needed.

mckay · Jan 21, 2015

I did their Choizo as well and it was fantastic. I also did a 50 day $180 prime rib in one of their dry aging bags. That did not turn out as well. Ill stick to sausages for now.

rgautheir20420 · Jan 21, 2015

McKay said:
I did their Choizo as well and it was fantastic. I also did a 50 day $180 prime rib in one of their dry aging bags. That did not turn out as well. Ill stick to sausages for now.

My Chorizo is definitely taking some time to loose the appropriate amount of weight for some reason. I cut open another log yesterday at 40% WL and it's still a bit soft and it's been in the fridge for 45 days or so. I'm gonna leave the other one in there for a couple more weeks to see if that helps. It really is good though, so no big deal.

mckay · Jan 21, 2015

I went almost 60 on mine to get the texture I wanted. Time to make more!

Umai Dry Bag Soppressata and Chorizo

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