Venison chorizo done to 40% weight loss

[crazymoon]

My Umai Chorizo finally hit the magic number for weight loss, one stick a wee bit over and the other 2 were 4-5 grams under the desired weight.:

I had a little bit of case hardening but nothing that ruins the texture /taste in anyway. I love the 40% weight loss texture more so than the 30-35% that I have done in the past. Thanks for looking ! CM

 

[SmokinEdge]

Looks good. Nice work.
If that little bit of case hardening bothers you, just vacuum seal it and let it rest in the fridge for a couple weeks. The moisture will balance out.

 

[crazymoon]

SE, I vac sealed everything up except for the ends and will wait until next weekend to break it out.

 

[SmokinEdge]

SE, I vac sealed everything up except for the ends and will wait until next weekend to break it out.

Did you use Pimenton in the recipe? Or another Chile powder?

 

[chopsaw]

Looks perfect just the way it is . Nice work . I agree on the 40 % . That seems to be the magic number for me too .

 

[Rafter H BBQ]

CM, nice work on that chorizo… it looks top notch! I’ll bet that tastes amazing with a cold one!

 

[crazymoon]

Did you use Pimenton in the recipe? Or another Chile powder?

SE, I used a Umai Chorizo seasoning pack ,I just cut back on the salt that is called for.

 

[SmokinEdge]

I think they use real Pimenton. That’s the real deal. You will enjoy.

 

[SmokinEdge]

Did you use a culture to ferment?

 

[indaswamp]

Looks good to me. Good job. umai salami in the fridge tends to have a little more of a dry rim...nothing to worry about. As mentioned, vacseal will help even the moisture.

 

[crazymoon]

Looks good to me. Good job. umai salami in the fridge tends to have a little more of a dry rim...nothing to worry about. As mentioned, vacseal will help even the moisture.

IDS, You were spot on when you said 40-45 days as it was exactly 45 for the 40% loss.

 

[crazymoon]

Did you use a culture to ferment?

SE, Yes ,I used Bactoferm-T-SPX.

 

[checkdude]

That looks great! Did you use umai spices or your own? I tried it with umai spice pack and was not impressed.

 

[TNJAKE]

Looks fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

 

[crazymoon]

That looks great! Did you use umai spices or your own? I tried it with umai spice pack and was not impressed.

CD, I used the Umai spice pack that you add your own cure ,salt and culture. I cut the salt in half.I used one other spice pack from them that was blandless but I have forgotten which type/

 

[tx smoker]

Very, very nice looking stuff!! Patience pays off. I tend to agree about the weight loss. Texture of that looks outstanding.

Robert

 

[HalfSmoked]

Looks great to me however I have not made any but should try. Hey i will be glad to be a taste tester for you.

Warren

 

[Brokenhandle]

It sure does look good! Stop trying to push me out of my comfort zone and try something new yet again lol.

Ryan

 

[indaswamp]

I cut the salt in half.

Since chef jimmyj is no longer with us, I will address this.

I went to the Umai website to look up the amount of salt recommended. It was given in tsps.; specifically 5 tsps. per 1kg. I weighed out 5 tsps. of Morton's table salt and it was 29.75gram, which is 2.975%. Add in the cure and the sodium is closer to 3.25%; that is in the safe zone. If you cut the salt in half, you are now down to around 1.75% total salt (including the cure). For hard salami, using tspx, which is a slow fermenting culture, 1.75% salt would not be high enough for adequate safety. The safe zone for hard slow fermented salami is 2.75-3.3% total salt. If you use a fast fermentation culture, you can get by with 2.5% total salt because the acid production is so fast, and the final pH is so low and that provides additional safety. The bad bacteria do not have enough time to grow in the high acid environment. The amount of salt is necessary for a strong safety hurdle in salami during the initial fermentation stage and should not be reduced. You can substitute a portion of the sodium salt for potassium salt and the potassium ions will provide the same ionic inhibiting effect on gram negative bacteria (the bad ones). It is recommended not to replace more than 3-5% of the total sodium chloride with potassium chloride or the salami could taste bitter.

There is not a safe way to make a low salt salami that I am aware of. The salt is crucial for the safety of the product, as well as facilitating the drying process.

 

[indaswamp]

If the salami is stuffed into small diameter casing 18-27mm, is fast fermented, and will be hot smoked immediately after fermentation, the salt can be lowered to 2-2.25%. The small diameter of the salami, low pH to 4.5 coupled with the heat of the smokehouse will dry the salami to around 20% weight loss. This is sufficient for a semi-dry salami stick. The Aw will be around 0.90 and the salami will be microbiologically stable. Further drying is an option if desired.