My attempt at Spuddy's Chorizo

[Bobbo]

I tried the Chorizo last Wednesday after 2 weeks curing. The taste was good at the end but as I got towards the fatter parts of the sausage there seems to be case hardening and the middle fell to bits and still looked a bit raw.

I guess the humidty was not high enough and it dried out too fast. It was down to 42% loss in just 2 weeks.

Maybe i need to leave it to mature longer. I'm hoping the more moist inside will reconstitute the harder outside.

I still have one unopened sausage so I will leave that in my fridge for a few weeks and see what happens.

[wheels]

I recall someone (Spuddy?) mentioning that if you vac-pac the sausage for a while it will 'even out' the case hardening.

Hope this helps

Phil

[Spuddy]

Yes, you can do that and most of the time it will work fine.
The other side effect of case hardening though is that it can create cavities inside when the softer meat starts to dry and shrink but the outside is too hard to shrink with it. Vac packing can help to minimise this too.