Chorizo

[wallie]

I am looking for a recommened recipe for uncured Chorizo.
Any offers?

Thanks
wallie

[Bad Flynch]

Almost any culture that has even passing contact with Spanish cultures has a version of this sausage: Mexico, Portugal, New Orleans (Chaurice) etc. Almost all of them have names that are etymologically related, too. All of them known to me are cured. Curing is needed to prevent the growth of botulism in dry and semi-dry sausages, whither or not they are smoked. Exceptions exist, of course, and some of the very salty salamis come to mind.

Are you sure that you don't want to cure the meat?

[wheels]

From Wikipedia:

Chorizo in Latin American Spanish or Chouri�o is a term encompassing several types of pork sausage originating from the Iberian Peninsula.

Sometimes mispronounced as "choritso", it can be a fresh sausage, in which case it must be cooked, but in Europe it is more frequently a fermented cured smoked sausage, in which case it is usually sliced and eaten without cooking.

Len Poli has one on his site that's not cured/dried see:

http://lpoli.50webs.com/index_files/Chorizo-Cuban.pdf

Hope this helps
Phil

[Zulululu]

H Wallie ,
I make a Portuguese one I have been thinking of posting it , but you need access to sweet red peppers, got the recipe from an old lady in Portugal and this is the way they have been making it for hundreds of years.I dry them in the fridge after smoking them.You can add slices to just about and dish including soup in the place of bacon.

[wallie]

The reason for the uncured Chorizo recipe is because I am having a visit shortly from my daughter and family who live in Toronto and I remember her once telling me that there favourite sausage was Chorizo from a local butchers.
She had once seen my Chorizo which was the cured and dried made from a Weschenfelder pack and said: 'ours is not like that, it is a fresh sausage you have to cook'.
So for there forthcoming visit I was going to make some.
I am not too keen on the Len Poli Cuban version Phil, if there is one herb I do not like its Cilantro.

Thanks all
wallie

[Zulululu]

Cilantro = corriander leaves . Does add a flavour reduce so that it blends in you will get something unusual most people will not be able to pin it down, so will enjoy the flavour.

[johnfb]

Chorizo
A highly seasoned, coarsely ground pork sausage flavored with garlic, chili powder and other spices. It's widely used in both Mexican and Spanish cookery. Mexican chorizo is made with fresh pork, while the Spanish version uses smoked pork. The casing should be removed and the sausage crumbled before cooking. Chorizo makes a tasty addition to many dishes including casseroles, soups, stews and enchiladas.
� 20 Sausage casings (pork casings for authentic links)
� Vinegar
� 2 lb. lean pork trimmings
� 8 oz beef or pork fat
� 2 medium onions, quartered
� 8 cloves garlic, pressed
� 1/2 cup cider vinegar
� 1/4 cup Tequila (optional)
� 1/4 cup ground red chile
� 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
� 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
� 1 teaspoon ground Mexican oregano
� 1 tablespoon salt
Clean the casings, rinse well with water, and then pour vinegar through them. Set aside.
Use a food processor or the coarse blade of a meat grinder, grind the meat and fat.
Add the onions, garlic, vinegar, tequila and seasonings, and chile to taste.
First cut the casings into 3-ft lengths and tie one end.
Stuff each length of casing, tying 4-inch intervals with heavy thread.
Place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper and refrigerate.
After a day, freeze what you will not use within a week or two.
You should allow the flavors in the meat to develop for at least 8 hours before using.

[johnfb]

And another


Chorizo

1 pound lean pork, coarsely ground
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons chili powder
� teaspoon ground cloves
� teaspoon cinnamon
3 teaspoons paprika
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
2 tablespoons water
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well to combine.
Stuff into casings and bake in a preheated 350�F oven for 35 minutes, or form into patties and fry.



John

[Seminole]

Hi Wallie,

Chorizo does not have to be cured and dried and it can be made as a fresh sausage which is served with eggs for breakfast.

Chorizos: South America - Latin America - Caribbean Islands (Cuba, Dominican Republic) and Philippines.

All these countries owe much of their culture to mother Spain and culinary arts are not an exception. Not surprising, all Spanish sausages are popular there although different climatic conditions have a profound influence on the methods of their manufacture. Most sausages made in Spain were air dried as the country was blessed with dry prevailing winds for most of the year which were ideally suited for air drying products. There is no vinegar present in Spanish recipes as that would be unnecessary added moisture and the purpose of drying is preserving a product by eliminating the moisture from it. The products were hung in dry cool areas for a year or two without any adverse effect to its quality.
In other Spanish speaking countries the climate is hot and humid and air drying would be severely limited. An exception would be Argentina and Chile which are large countries and contain many climatic zones. Countries situated in the Caribbean Basin are part of tropics and are hot and humid and that will create unwelcome mold on sausages. All those countries add vinegar (sometimes wine) as these acidic fluids help to preserve food at least to a certain degree. Mexican sausages are much hotter than those made in other countries and recipes call for a hefty dose of hot peppers. Many countries (Cuba, Dominican Republic, Philippines) always faced energy problems and a large percentage of the population did not own refrigerators. A very common method was to keep sausages in barrels filled with lard (rendered pork fat).

See the Mexican Chorizo Recipe:
http://www.wedlinydomowe.com/sausage-re ... horizo.htm

[welsh wizard]

Hi all

I read this recently and wondered what you thought?

I have not cured my own choritzo because I have always been a little unsure about ambiemt tempratures, humidity etc (seems toooooo complicated for me). Anyway do you think this will do as it says or should I book an ambulance?

I dont want to hijack the thread but if you feel it is OK it may do for Wallie

Cheers WW


How to make your own Chorizo!Mayflower sucht Entwickler in W�rzburg und M�nchen!
Tuesday, October 24. 2006How to make your own Chorizo!
Ever wanted to make your own Chorizo? Here's how to make it on your own!

Chorizo (Spanish hot sausage)

2 pounds (~1 kg) lean pork
1/4 cup vinegar
1 teaspoon oregano
3 cloves crushed garlic
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
2 small hot red peppers (minced) or 1/2 teaspoon crushed hot peppers
1 yard (~1 m) sausage casing


1. Grind the pork, using the coarse blade of the meat grinder. Mix thoroughly after adding the remaining ingredients.

2. Take off the cutting blade from the grinder and attach the sausage stuffer. Work all but a few inches of casing onto the sausage stuffer using a yard of casing at a time. Tie a knot at the end of the casing.

3. Stuff the mixture through the sausage stuffer into the casings and twist into links. If you like, dry the sausages by hanging them in a cool place, it may then be kept for several weeks.

You can eat the plain sausage or use it for cooking.

[vinner]

I'm not sure I would try to age any sausage unless it had a cure in it (Cure #2, Prague Powder number 2, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, etc. ) I have enjoyed, safely, many cured sausages, but to attempt to age with a cure could be dangerous.

Just my two cents worth.

[welsh wizard]

Yep this was my thought too vinner - It looked too easy, never mind back to the drawing board

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

I air dry a sausage made using Franco's Chorizo mix, with the addition of 2g Cure#2 per kilo of meat. My son is rather fond of it and seems to be eating it as fast as I can dry it I dry it on a South facing sunny windowsill, so it's by no means cool.

Dave

[welsh wizard]

Hi Dave - how long do you dry it for?

I have had some hanging now for a couple of weeks

Cheers WW

[saucisson]

We start eating it once it has lost about a third of it's weight, or starts to glisten with oil on the outside. They dry quickly because I don't stuff them into skins, just long lengths from the 1" stuffing tube onto racks. In the sunshine that's around a week. They still taste rather young then and improve if I can get them packed into ziplock bags in my wine fridge before my son finishes them off.

Dave