Chorizo

[Shel_B]

Yesterday I bought some chorizo sausage for the first time. From the package information it was Mexican style. I believe there's a Spanish style, and maybe some other types as well. Since I bought the sausage to pill a dog, I didn't care much about taste or quality. Actually, I bought it because it was the cheapest sausage in the meat case.

However, I did fry up a small piece just to give it a taste. It was incredibly greasy - there was a big puddle of grease in the skillet - and that allowed the meat, such as it was, to crisp up nicely. But there's more to sausage than crispy meat.

So, what should this chorizo novice look for in good chorizo? Is it usually so greasy? What meats and spices would be considered for a good quality, traditional chorizo? What are the differences between Mexican, Spanish, and other types of chorizo?

Thanks!

[rooftop1000]

I have only cooked fresh Chorizo myself, it is very greasy but it's sausage.

Last week I made some by poaching then spitting them open to brown them up in the same pan. I spooned some of the oil into my egg pan and made a few soft fried eggs and served it all with rice and beans. Normally I would serve it all on top of corn tortillas instead of the rice.

T

[nickrey]

Very important difference. Mexican chorizo are normally the Spanish "chorizo fresco," which means that they need to be cooked and cannot be eaten raw. Other types of Spanish chorizo, which use smoked pork, can often be eaten without cooking. You need to know which one you have to avoid potential food poisoning..

[DTBarton]

In our local stores and hispanic markets there is a wide variety of chorizo available from Mexico, Guatemala, and El Salvador. They vary widely from pretty good to really bad and from very hot (spicy) to not so hot. The brands change a lot, so it's hard to get a bead on one you like. I've found them to be so unreliable that I usually don't try and serve it as sausage by itself, I mostly use a little bit to flavor other things like stuffed pepper or tamale filling, or melted cheese dips. You do have to saute it pretty well to get the grease factor down.

[meicjos41]

The major difference between Spanish and Mexican chorizo is that Mexican chorizo is a fresh sausage; meaning that it is ground meat and fat that has been seasoned and needs to be cooked. The seasonings used as well as the type of meat vary throughout Latin America. Spanish chorizo is most often found in a dry cured state. The meat and fat are seasoned and usually spiced with smoked paprika, then are hung to dry. The Spanish chorizo is salumi made in Spain, and can be eaten after it has been dried. There is a charcuterie topic where there is a bunch of info regarding chorizo.

[dougal]

The major difference between Spanish and Mexican chorizo is that Mexican chorizo is a fresh sausage... The Spanish chorizo is salumi made in Spain, and can be eaten after it has been dried. ...

I don't think that's quite the full story.

Start by thinking of translating 'chorizo' simply as 'sausage'.

Its a pretty loose descriptive term.

Certainly there exist fresh (soft, 'cooking') chorizos and hard (dried) chorizos.

But you can cook with the dried type.

And when HFW and his followers take a recipe for fresh chorizo (no nitrate, no nitrite, and no starter culture either) and advocate drying it... well lets just say that the threadstarter isn't the only one confused by the whole chorizo thing. Or at risk of food poisoning.