j biesinger
TVWBB Platinum Member
This fall, a friend of mine shot a doe, and was kind enough to let me help him break some of it down and turn a bit into sausages. I took home a couple of small, tubular, whole muscles. I cleaned up the muscles and cured them by following this recipe.
I wrapped the cured meat in some collagen casing and hung them in my basement until they reached 30% weight loss. I then tossed them in a ziploc in my fridge. My conditions aren't idea (55*, 55% RH) and result in uneven drying. The time in the bag allows the moisture to even out. I hung them again for another 10% weight loss, and sent them back to the fridge. You can see in the final picture that there was still a soft spot in the middle. I'm thinking I should have cycled them three times (at 10% intervals) instead of the two.
The results were fantastic and recommend this to anyone who has access to deer. Keep your pieces small and cycle it between a cool basement and a fridge and you don't even need a fancy chamber.
I wrapped the cured meat in some collagen casing and hung them in my basement until they reached 30% weight loss. I then tossed them in a ziploc in my fridge. My conditions aren't idea (55*, 55% RH) and result in uneven drying. The time in the bag allows the moisture to even out. I hung them again for another 10% weight loss, and sent them back to the fridge. You can see in the final picture that there was still a soft spot in the middle. I'm thinking I should have cycled them three times (at 10% intervals) instead of the two.
The results were fantastic and recommend this to anyone who has access to deer. Keep your pieces small and cycle it between a cool basement and a fridge and you don't even need a fancy chamber.