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Ammonia tang in chourico

PostPosted: Tue Aug 02, 2016 8:33 pm
by Swing Swang
BriCan - following on from another thread...

The comment I made about ammonia tang was from my 'disaster batch' where everything that could go wrong did go wrong, starting with a racking collapse after 6hrs fermentation, then I went away for a long weekend in April and the temperature in the drying chamber got to 34C and the whole garage smelt of ammonia - much of which dissipated but I'm still left with a subtle ammonia 'tang'. I've learn't a lot about what not to do and am happy to share my notes:

Portuguese-style chouricao: ground meat, machine stuffed, smoked

Pork Shoulder, 14150gm
Salt, Total = 396.2gm + Cure 2. 71gm added after salt in garlic and pimentao allowed for
Cure 2, 34gm
Dextrose (glucose), 0.2%, 28.3gm
Garlic, 0.9%/Salt (50:50 previously prepared), 255gm 50:50 'alho e sal', contains 127.5gm salt & 127.5gm garlic
Culture: LS-25, Remainder of packet, approximately 15gm
Massa de Pimentao, 7%, 990gm (7%), contains 198gm salt
Strong Bay Leaf Water, 4 'bica' coffee cups
Casings, Beef middles

Total weight of stuffed casings, 16.570kg (target weight 11.00kg)

14/12/15 Semi frozen meat cut into 1" strips and refrigerated, still 'crunchy' during grinding
15/12/15 Meat hand ground, 6mm*** plate, mixed and stuffed, Comment: get coarser plate or hand cut as I want a 'chunkier' finished product
17/12/15 Knots gave way, Comment: don't use synthetic string, wet string, use dowels to increase tension
Fermentation started but chamber collapsed and salami wrapped in clingfilm and left in airing cupboard until able to fix chamber. Transferred to curing chamber 24C±1 (mistake - usually do this 2C lower), Humidity not controlled but approximately 90%, for 2.5 days
19/12/15 Transferred to smoke house. 10 hour smoke, oak - 1st. Casings look greasy.
20/12/1510 hour smoke, oak - 2nd
21/12/1510 hour smoke, oak - 3rd
23/12/1510 hour smoke, oak - 4th
26/12/15 Very greasy casings - probably before put in smokehouse (query collapse touched heating element, to curing temperature too high)
27/12/15 Grease (and smoke) wiped off with dry cloths. Returned to smoke house. 10 hour smoke, oak - 5th
29/12/15 10 hour smoke, oak - 6th
30/12/15 10 hour smoke, oak - 7th
01/01/16 10 hour smoke, oak - 8th
02/01/16 10 hour smoke, oak - 9th
04/01/16 10 hour smoke, oak - 10th
09/01/16 Transferred to curing chamber 11C±1, humidity not controlled, fan-constant, fridge-30mins qid
10/01/16 Fridge -1hr qid, RHmin 75%/RHmax 90%. Fan constant.
13/01/16 RH observed to be dropping to 62%min at end of 1hr fridge cycle. Fridge-45mins qid
14/01/16 RH drops to 69-72% at end of fridge cycle, increasing and stabilsing at 80-85% over subsequent 2 hours (more extreme figures initially)
30/01/16 Mold spots removed and retied (air gap at top of casings, q because firmed up lying down/not suspended due to collapse).
30/01/16 Fridge - 45mins qid. Fan constant. 10,750kg (???), returned to curing chamber.
30/01/16 Comment: Still too soft - q too much fluid initially?
15/02/16 Very greasy casings and molds forming. Washed with warm water. Casings beginning to dry. No changes to chamber.
17/02/16 Fridge - 30mins qid, as RHmin 60%/RHmax 80%. 10C±1. Fan Constant. For first time casings dry to touch and looking close to red/brown expected colour
Onwards – continued to dry, but eating well
April – temperature went up to 34C for (query) three days – Ammonia tang

Re: Ammonia tang in chourico

PostPosted: Fri Aug 05, 2016 8:37 am
by BriCan
Just seen this and really not time to look over in detail -- Short week plus a week from hel, just pulled a 15 hour day and at my age that is way too much

Will look this over on the weekend :)