Typically, a Mexican style Chorizo is crumbly and uncured, while a Spanish Chorizo gets dry cured. For this recipe, we modified our Mexican Chorizo to be dry cured. The result is a salami-like sausage with a spicy, tangy flair. Well worth waiting the 6 weeks to cure!
Makes about 5 lbs (pre-cure weight, 3.5 lbs after)
- Ingredients -
4 lbs cubed elk, venison, or pork
1 lb pure pork fat back, cubed and frozen
3 garlic cloves, smashed
1/4 packet bactoferm
1/4 cup distilled water
1/4 cup kosher salt
3 tablespoons hot chili powder
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon dextrose
1 tablespoon hot smoked paprika
2 teaspoons red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon toasted coriander seeds
1 teaspoon cloves
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon #2 cure
- Tools -
Weston Meat Grinder
Weston Meat Mixer
Weston Sausage Stuffer
UMAi Dry® Sausage Casing Packet
Weston Vacuum Sealer
Weston Scale
Important: Keep all metal parts of your Weston Equipment as cold as possible. We kept our Grinder plates, knife, tray, head, Stuffer canister, funnel, lid, and Meat Mixer mixing paddle in the freezer. This will keep the fat distinct from the meat.
Run the frozen fat through the coarse grinding plate of your Meat Grinder. R
eturn the fat to the freezer. Next, grind the meat and garlic through the coarse plate, then the fine plate. Dissolve your bactoferm in 1/4 cup of distilled water, then add it to your meat.
Place all ingredients into the Meat Mixer and mix well (about 3-5 minutes). Don't forget to add the fat from the freezer!
Place the mixture into the Sausage Stuffer canister. Press it down with your fists to eliminate as many air pockets as possible. Place the Dry Bag over the Sausage Stuffer funnel, and turn the handle to fill it. Take care to keep as much air out as possible.
Once you've filled your dry bag, insert a VacMouse® vacuum aid strip. Use the Vacuum Sealer to seal it closed. Tie your bag with the string provided. Continue to fill and seal bags this way until all of your meat is used.
Hang the chorizo at about 65°F for 72 hours.
Transfer the chorizo to your refrigerator and allow to dry for 4-6 weeks or until the total weight of your chorizo is 3.5 lbs (30% loss from original weight).
