Chorizo suitable for cooking

[boerbok]

Hi All

I have been making Spanish Chorizo loosely based on the Len Poli recipe.
This comes out great and everyone loves it.
The only problem is that it does not cook that well. For example using it in a Paella with fat and pimenton oozing out to flavor the dish

Any ideas on a other formulation which will give me a cooking chorizo like I had in Spain?

[larry]

Cooking chorizos are usually partially cooked in the manufacture. The dry cured variety are generally just sliced and eaten, not used in cooking, as you found out. I have made chorizo from a "fresh" sausage recipe, and then smoked them in a barrel smoker left slightly open for around an hour. This fully cooked them, but not enough to melt the fat out of them. I (foolishly) didn't use any curing salts, but they didn't spend a lot of time in the danger zone for developing bacteria. I don't have the recipe now, but as I recall, I used pork and some trimmed fat I had, ground coarsely, and added pimenton, salt and ground chipotle chiles. I used hot pimenton, which was quite hot, and the chipotle was also quite hot. The result was very spicy chipotle, but it worked beautifully for cooking, leaching out the spice and fat in paellas and soups. If I make it again, I will add some cure #1, which will make the smoking process safer. I should note that these sausages don't keep forever. I used what I could, and then vacuum packed and froze the rest.

[boerbok]

Thanks Larry, I will try the smoking to partially cook it. This makes me think that I can try and par-cook it like frankfurters even. I will have to dry them a bit however

[larry]

Yes. boiling will work also. If you can find smoked pimenton, you will get the smoky flavor without a smoker. You could even add liquid smoke, but boiling will work.

[crustyo44]

Hi Larry,
In regard to the liquid smoke, do you have an amount of the liquid smoke you use per lb or kg in the meat mix.
Regards,
Jan.
Brisbane.

[larry]

The last time I used it, I used two capfuls for four pounds of meat. I would estimate the total to be about a teaspoon. I'd rather have too little than too much. If you have a choice, look for the most natural product you can find. Some of them are literally made of smoke, or steamy smoke, and distilled down and bottled. Some have lots of chemicals.