2017-01-16

Spanish Chorizo Fresco

We wanted to make Spanish (rather than Mexican) Chorizo for a dinner we're planning. Since we don't have a curing chamber required to maintain the temperature and humidity for the authentic dry-cured sausage, we made a Chorizo Fresco with the same spices. Hard core recipes at Our Daily Brine and Meats and Sausages talk about the required molds and starter culture, but we just adapted their proportions of seasonings. We did use some pink salt to retain the porky color.

Chorizo after smoking 4 hours


100.00%  1800g  Pork shoulder butt
  1.10%    20g  Paprika, smoked, sweet
  1.10%    20g  Paprika, spicy
  0.22%     4g  Garlic powder
  2.70%    50g  Salt
  0.17%     3g  Sugar
  0.61%    11g  Pepper, black, ground
  0.17%     3g  Marjoram
  0.50%     9g  Pink salt (aka Prague Powder #1)
  5.00%    90g  White Wine

Grind the Pork coarsely. 
Mix spices together then sprinkle through Pork.
Add Wine and thoroughly combine.
Cook a sample of the seasoned meat and adjust spices: our spicy Paprika was tired so we bumped up the heat with some hot chile and more black pepper, and added a touch more salt.
Stuff pork intestine casings, twisting about every 10cm to create links.
Let sausages air-dry uncovered in the fridge overnight to allow flavors to meld and casings dry somewhat.

Chorizo drying before smoking
 The next day, cold smoke for 4 hours.

Chorizo on the smoker
These, unlike dry-cured sausages, need to be cooked before eating.

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