Mixing frozen fat(And more pent up questions)

[Reeder]

I made a batch of fresh Chorizo and a country style pate a couple weeks ago. I trimmed and ground my pork, separated the fat and ground it with my fat back. I quickly froze the ground fat back and continued mixing my chilled meat as I normally would, but without the fat. So I added the fat toward the end of mixing and it seemed to clump up. It almost looked like the fat broke into 8-10 clumps but would not mix right like it should. I ended up smoking the chorizo and while it was good on Paella, it was greasy as I thought it would be. After the fat clumped in the pate I decied to break the fat up by hand while mixing in other ingredients ad there were still a few pockets where the fat had rendered inside the pate.
Should I mix the fat in by hand if i separate it like this?
Should I try to add the fat in smaller amounts at a time?

I also made some Saucisson sec and some dried Chorizo. They both came out great, the Chorizo better than the Saucession. I am 99% sure i mixed the saucisson plenty(I did this by hand and mixed the diced fat in at the end) but the fa in the Saucisson is easier to wiggle out where in other dried sausages it seems to be embedded in.

I wanted to also note that I took some of the sausages out a little earlier than others( i gave them 14 days.. they were in standard hog casings and my recipe gave 12-14 days) and they were pretty good. The ones I left in the drying chamber I changed from 15-16C/65Hum to 12C/75hum and let them go a week longer. HOLY &#@*! they are much better. After fermentation is it best to just set it around 12C/70-75 Hum and let them take their sweet time?

ONE last thing! If I was to start some fermenting in my curing chamber while there are sausages drying in there alread, is it a big no-no to change the first batch from curing to the higher temp/humidity for 48 hours to ferment a new batch? I would assume it is... what do you guys do? Id really like to make a large batch of sopprasada but Im afraid that before its finished I will feel the need to dry some more chorizo. Should I just plan it out and do it at the same time? If this is the case how would I deal with the requirements of T-spx and F-LC in the same fermenting chamber?

WHEW! Sorry that was not supposed to be that long of a string of question! If I need to break them into other parts of the forum I will.

Thanks,
Reed

[bwalt822]

I made a batch of fresh Chorizo and a country style pate a couple weeks ago. I trimmed and ground my pork, separated the fat and ground it with my fat back. I quickly froze the ground fat back and continued mixing my chilled meat as I normally would, but without the fat. So I added the fat toward the end of mixing and it seemed to clump up. It almost looked like the fat broke into 8-10 clumps but would not mix right like it should. I ended up smoking the chorizo and while it was good on Paella, it was greasy as I thought it would be. After the fat clumped in the pate I decied to break the fat up by hand while mixing in other ingredients ad there were still a few pockets where the fat had rendered inside the pate.
Should I mix the fat in by hand if i separate it like this?
Should I try to add the fat in smaller amounts at a time?

Not sure why you are adding the fat in later? Is it to have it be more defined in the final product? I just mix it all together at the same time...

I also made some Saucisson sec and some dried Chorizo. They both came out great, the Chorizo better than the Saucession. I am 99% sure i mixed the saucisson plenty(I did this by hand and mixed the diced fat in at the end) but the fa in the Saucisson is easier to wiggle out where in other dried sausages it seems to be embedded in.

This can probably depend on a few things. Were both sausages mixed and dried in the same manner? Is it possible the Saucisson has bigger fat pieces?

I wanted to also note that I took some of the sausages out a little earlier than others( i gave them 14 days.. they were in standard hog casings and my recipe gave 12-14 days) and they were pretty good. The ones I left in the drying chamber I changed from 15-16C/65Hum to 12C/75hum and let them go a week longer. HOLY &#@*! they are much better. After fermentation is it best to just set it around 12C/70-75 Hum and let them take their sweet time?


Leave them drying until they are to your taste. Most people recommend 35% weight loss but mine are too soft until i leave them to 40+

ONE last thing! If I was to start some fermenting in my curing chamber while there are sausages drying in there alread, is it a big no-no to change the first batch from curing to the higher temp/humidity for 48 hours to ferment a new batch? I would assume it is... what do you guys do? Id really like to make a large batch of sopprasada but Im afraid that before its finished I will feel the need to dry some more chorizo. Should I just plan it out and do it at the same time? If this is the case how would I deal with the requirements of T-spx and F-LC in the same fermenting chamber?

I ferment in my oven with a crock pot full of water set to warm. Keeps them at 85-90 degrees with near 100% humidity. Usually a nice fuzzy coat of Mold 600 forming after 2 days. I just tried hanging one at room temp that wouldn't fit in the oven with a plastic grocery bag tied around it to keep the humidity high. We'll see how that one turns out. Do you ferment and dry in the same chamber?

WHEW! Sorry that was not supposed to be that long of a string of question! If I need to break them into other parts of the forum I will.

Thanks,
Reed