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This is an account of our first attempt at making Chrizo. As I put this article onto this forum, the said chorizos are now four weeks old. I put them into the fridge over the weekend because I was concerned about the warm temperatures. Should I leave them as they are or put them back out to continue drying should the weather turn cold again. I've tasted them and they seem fine to me.


Just to wet your appetite, we our going to make our first attempt at making chorizo sausage this evening. We've gathered the ingredients and I finished off by getting hold of some garlic cloves on the way into work this morning.
We have bastardised HFWs recipe from his DVD 'Pig in a Day'. I say this because it isn't really as clear as it could be as to how much of the ingredients he actually puts into his mix and secondly, I've struggled to get hold of some of the more obscure ingredients that he mentions. Mr Ignorance here didn't realise just how many types chilli and pepper there are.
Still, it will be interesting to see how things go.
For people who are unaware, chorizo are actually hung out in an outbuilding somewhere to air dry for a few weeks and are not cooked as such but cured. One of the problems that I have got to address this afternoon, is to actually find a spot where there's a enough through draft to dry them and even more importantly, somewhere where the cat and or the birds can't get at them.
I've been dying to do this for ages, and we'll be using parts of the pig that we had slaughtered last month.

This is an account of what we actully did.
__________________________________


First of all we started with 3kg or reasonably lean saddleback pork and 500g of back fat.





The next thing we did, was to run the back fat through the mincer.





Followed by the pork.








Then I mixed the two evenly together.





Then I got the ingredients together ready to mix into the mince.
They were
1) 2.2% of the total weight of the meat and fat combined in salt, I'm told this came to 77g

2) 90g of paprika

3) 60g of cayenne pepper

4) 30g of fennel seeds

5) 6 crushed garlic cloves.





Start the mixing :thumbup:











As the actress said to the bishop ! "Its sausage time !"





I know this looks slightly kinky but its Kaz tying the end of the first sausage out of the stuffer.





The finished article.





We made quite a few.





A word of warning. This is the first time that we have made these and we'll have to wait at least six weeks or longer to see how they taste.
:q37:

The next picture on this thread will be of Rob and I hanging our sausages in the barn tomorrow morning. :q33:

PS The red wine was used to make the mixing of the mix go easier in two ways

And here they are as promised.


We hung the chorizos to dry this morning thank goodness :thumbup: The smell of the garlic was stinking the study out.
We have a row of four wooden kennels with covered runs and the end one is a spare, so we've used that. The video says that you need some where cool, dry and with a good through put of air. Hopefully the kennel is going to fit the bill.
Here they are hanging, it gives a nice rewarding feeling of satisfaction to see them.








Chorizo update. Heres a picture of the sausages after eight days. Do you think they have changed much ?





Two weeks on and I couldn't resist having a taster.














The sausage was really nice, if a bit fiery but in another couple of weeks or so, I reckon that they'll be out of this world

Did you use any kind of cure with these????

None.
I've followed the RC recipe and another one from an American Sausage recipe book and no cure was mentioned . This question of a cure was brought up on another forum and as a result I sent an Email to RC. I was amazed and pleased when I had a phone call from HFW himself and during a 15 minute conversation, he assured me that there was no need. I've eaten them since and as my siggy says " I aint poisoned anyone yet.

Lucky you. A chat with the great HFW, my God I would keep him on the phone for hours with all my questions.

This is interesting as I have posted a recipe on another thread for a chorizo made without the use of a Prague cure, which I must admit seems a little odd to me. But what you have done seems so simple I will give it a go - how long have you left them?

PS please let me know if any ill effects are forthcoming

Cheers WW

I'm alright so far I made them four weeks ago last Saturday and they are extremely tasty. I hate to name drop ( I really do ) but HFW pointed out that this wasn't a commercial recipe but a farmhouse one and that he'd handed out hundreds and hundreds of samples without there having been any ill effects to the recipients.

They look great, I'm going to try out your recipe, but I might not be able to resist popping some cure #2 in Did you use whole fennel seed or bash them first?

Dave

I just put them in whole.

Hi Bodger, welcome to the forum.

Bodger wrote:None.
I've followed the RC recipe and another one from an American Sausage recipe book and no cure was mentioned . This question of a cure was brought up on another forum and as a result I sent an Email to RC. I was amazed and pleased when I had a phone call from HFW himself and during a 15 minute conversation, he assured me that there was no need. I've eaten them since and as my siggy says " I aint poisoned anyone yet.

I don't agree with HFW, you may think who am I to disagree, and you would probably be right. You see, the thing I can't get over, is in all the scientific info I have read, it says that nitrites in the correct quantity, will inhibit the growth of Clostridium botulinum.

I would love to know if HFW touched on the subject of Clostridium botulinum, and what he thought of it.

It is a rare bacteria in food, but very nasty, the toxin it produces, will kill in very small quantities. You could eat 1000 sausages with no effect, on 1001 it could make you very ill.

I know some here produce salami without cures, and even lactic acid producing culture. I think most of them have been taught by traditional methods, so every stage is very important for the safety of the sausage.

If you believe, that you are really well informed, then I wish you well, and hope that you never have a duff sausage.

I've simply gone by two recipes in two different books.

Nitrates have been linked with cancer, so you maybe snookered no matter which route you take.

I'm getting a feeling of deja vu :-

http://forum.downsizer.net/about30991-0-asc-0.html

and so you should.

How many thousands of people do you think have bought the guys book and then gone on to follow the recipe ? How many have fallen sick ? I rather think we might have heard of a bit of litigation if they had, don't you?

The bloke is a business man, surely he wouldn't risk all by killing off any of his fans and as I say, I also have an American book here that makes no reference to nitrates etc in its recipe.

Nice find Wheels, Dougal knows what he is talking about. I know he has researched the subject thoroughly.

All I can say is if you believe 100% that it is safe to not use nitrites, and acidifiers then good luck to you.

As far as I know there has been no absolute positive science to prove a connection with nitrites and cancer just some speculation about nitrites and nitrosamines. If there were then there perhaps should be a health warning on bacon like.

Eating bacon will cause cancer

Hi, I'm just about to make our first batch of chirezo. This is a great thread so are you saying I can just use my flavourings and I don't have to use any cure apart from time and hanging. Is flavourings the only thing I need to add to the chirezos?
Thanks

hotgoblin

Yes, some are saying just that - however, it requires other measures to ensure the safety of the meat - careful control of acidity (PH) and water activity being just two.

What many of us are saying is that Clostridium botulinum kills and that the best form of defense is to use a curing salt - as most commercial producers do.

Hope this helps

Phil