Chorizo. Chorizo ​​sausage: delicious, unusual and varied. Chorizo ​​- what kind of sausage is it

Chorizo ​​sausage is one of those products that is enough to try once to remember for a lifetime: this bright red color and no less bright taste of meat generously flavored with paprika cannot be confused with anything! Confusion, however, can begin if you want to cook chorizo ​​at home: not everyone can immediately distinguish a Spanish chorizo ​​recipe from a Mexican one, but these are completely different products. Well, we're fixing the situation. Here is my proven recipe for homemade Spanish chorizo. It's no more difficult to make than a regular one, and my chorizo ​​tastes absolutely incomparable. I'm a modest person, but here I can only praise myself. I'm sure you can't do worse.

chorizo ​​sausage

Medium

2 hours + 2 weeks

Ingredients

2 medium or 4 small sausages

1 m pork belly

860 pork ham

140 g pork fat

23 g nitrite salt

10 ml. white wine

2 garlic cloves

15 g sweet paprika

15 g smoked paprika

2 g sugar

2 g black pepper

Soak the lard in cool water for 2 hours, cut into layers about 1 cm thick and put in the refrigerator for about half an hour. Cut a not very fatty pork ham into small cubes and chop into minced meat with an ax or a heavy knife. Traditionally, minced meat for chorizo ​​is prepared in this way - chopped, not ground in a meat grinder, but if you definitely want to simplify the task - put the “cubes” in the freezer 3 hours before cooking so that they have time to take a stable shape, and then pass through a meat grinder with a large lattice. Take out the fat and chop it finely - here the meat grinder will no longer help. Combine minced meat, lard, chopped or crushed garlic, nitrite and finely ground spices (and wine in this case also plays the role of a spice, except that it is not necessary to grind it) and mix well.

See smoked paprika on the ingredient list? It is a Spanish specialty, a condiment that will give our chorizo ​​an unforgettable taste. If you didn't manage to get such paprika, take the usual one - sweet or spicy, depending on whether you like spicy food.

The second ingredient that may raise questions is nitrite salt. I categorically do not recommend neglecting it: nitrite salt allows you to avoid botulism, and you can buy it, like sausage casings, in specialized stores or via the Internet. I do it on the site kolbaskidoma.ru.

After mixing all the ingredients of the future chorizo ​​sausage, place the resulting minced meat tightly in a bowl, cover and put in the refrigerator for 24-36 hours. Briefly soak the pork belly in cool water, rinse to remove the salt, and stuff the minced meat evenly and as tightly as possible. Many modern meat grinders are able to fill sausages, and it is most convenient to do this together - one provides minced meat, the second accepts stuffed casings, making sure that the minced meat is not too much and not too little, but just right. When the stuffing is over, divide the large sausage into several smaller sausages, tie them with twine and put them in the refrigerator again for 12-16 hours so that they retain their shape.

Mold

If during the drying of sausages mold appears on them - do not rush to be scared. White mold is good, and there is no need to be afraid of it. Green mold - a little worse, if it appears, wipe the sausages with gauze soaked in vinegar. Black is bad, get rid of it immediately, and try not to "return".

Hang the sausages in a dry, cool place in the shade, ideally on a glazed loggia. 10-12 hours later, put the sausages in the refrigerator overnight, and repeat this for 5 days: let the chorizo ​​dry during the day and “rest” in the refrigerator at night. After 5 days, put the sausages in the refrigerator and leave to ripen there, turning them over from time to time. The readiness indicator will be a firm, elastic consistency of sausages and a loss of 30-40% of the original weight - this usually takes another 3-6 days.

After that, homemade chorizo ​​sausage can be used for sandwiches and pastries, eaten with wine or beer, or make an original gift to your friends. In any case, the spicy taste of Spain will not leave anyone indifferent - and if homemade sausages take you seriously, you can always make more!

chorizo ​​sausage- a very popular sausage product made from minced pork with the addition of wine and such an obligatory component as paprika. It has an unusually pleasant spicy taste and appetizing brown color (see photo). In Spain and Portugal, this delicacy is considered a national dish, and in these countries almost every housewife knows how to cook it. Chorizo ​​sausage is also appreciated in Mexico, and in this part of the world it is made according to a special recipe.

Today, this sausage can look like a sausage ring, a thin stick and a thick loaf. In addition to the shape, this delicacy may differ in filling features, for example, in one country meat for cooking chorizo ​​is chopped into large pieces, and in another it is cut very finely. Of course, this does not affect the taste of the sausage in any way, and the delicacy turns out to be delicious in both cases.

There are two most popular varieties of chorizo ​​sausage - Spanish and Mexican. In the first case, the delicacy is prepared from fresh pork meat, and in the second, from raw smoked meat, therefore, in Spain, the sausage product is eaten only after drying, and in Mexico, immediately after cooking.

How to choose and store?

When choosing and storing chorizo ​​sausage, you should be extremely careful. When buying this delicacy, it is always recommended to study its composition, which under any conditions should be indicated on the product label. Very often, for the manufacture of such sausages, starter cultures are used, due to which it becomes possible to accelerate the maturation of the meat product. However, often when using this substance, the delicacy acquires an unpleasant sour taste. It is recommended to choose sausages that do not include accelerators. Also, do not forget to pay attention to what kind of paprika was used to make the chorizo. It can be sweet and spicy, and the taste of the sausage directly depends on this.

Dry-cured and raw-smoked chorizo ​​sausage must be stored strictly in the refrigerator for no more than fourteen days. If the product is stored in cut form, then its shelf life is less than one week.

In addition, chorizo ​​sausage can be frozen. Frozen, it can be stored for two months.

How to cook chorizo ​​sausage at home?

Making chorizo ​​sausage at home is very easy, both Spanish and Mexican. The result in both cases is a pleasant surprise: the delicacies are incredibly tasty!

  • Spanish cured chorizo ​​sausage. To prepare this delicacy, one kilogram of fatty pork is thoroughly washed, dried with a towel and passed through a meat grinder with a large grill. Then a mixture of sweet paprika (1 tbsp), ground black pepper (2 tsp), fennel seeds (1 tbsp) and freshly ground sea salt (25 g) is prepared. Mixed components are added to minced pork. Following them, a few chopped cloves of garlic and one hundred milliliters of red wine are sent to the meat. The finished minced meat is well kneaded and put in the refrigerator for twelve hours to infuse. After the specified time, the sausage casing is prepared and sausages are formed, which are then hung out in a ventilated room for a month for drying.
  • Mexican smoked chorizo ​​sausage. First of all, pig intestines are soaked for thirty minutes, after which they are washed and removed to the side. Smoked pork shoulder (1.4 kg) and lard (250 g) are placed in one container and sprinkled with the following spices: red pepper (6 tablespoons), salt (1 tablespoon), dried garlic (40 g) , oregano (1 tsp), ground cinnamon (0.5 tsp), cumin (0.5 tsp), black pepper (0.5 tsp) and cloves (2 g) . The meat is well mixed and put in the refrigerator for two hours to soak. After this time, pork with lard is twisted with a meat grinder and beaten with a mixer for sixty seconds. After that, apple cider vinegar (70 ml) is poured into the mixture, and the mass is again interrupted to a homogeneous consistency. The minced pork is cooled, after which cakes are formed from it and stewed in a pan. Prepared intestines are stuffed with stew, and homemade sausages are tied, fried on both sides and sent for tasting.

Cooking chorizo ​​sausage at home is a pleasure! It takes little time, and the result exceeds all expectations.

Application in cooking

Chorizo ​​sausage can be used in cooking in different ways. It can be used as an ingredient to create any dishes, as a separate snack, and this sausage can also be added to sandwiches, sandwiches and various hamburgers.

Today, there are many ways to use this delicacy. In the table below, you can find some delicious recipes with chorizo ​​sausage that each of you can implement in the kitchen.

Name

Ingredients

sea ​​scallops with chorizo ​​sausages

Five scallops, two sweet peppers, one hundred grams of sausage, a clove of garlic, a small bunch of green onions.

To begin with, the scallops are prepared and lightly fried on both sides. Peppers and garlic are simmering in another pan. Then scallops are added to the vegetable mixture, and everything is fried together for another five minutes. Before serving, the dish is garnished with chopped green onion feathers.

vegetable salad with chorizo

Two hundred grams of dried chorizo ​​sausage, a small onion, two tomatoes, one garlic clove, vegetable oil and wine vinegar (10 ml each), several sprigs of parsley and basil, salt and pepper (to taste).

Sausages are cooked in a pan until golden brown, and vegetables are cut into large pieces. Then the prepared ingredients are laid out in layers, seasoned with spices, oil and wine vinegar. In this case, the chorizo ​​sausage can be replaced with any other dry-cured sausage.

bean soup with chorizo ​​sausage

A small stick of sausage, two onions, three leaves of fresh and five grams of dry oregano, two garlic cloves, one hundred grams of tomato paste, one bell and hot pepper each, olive oil (50 ml), canned white and red beans (100 grams each), tomato juice (200 ml), a liter of broth.

First of all, sausage, onion and garlic are cut into cubes. The oil is heated in a saucepan, after which the chopped ingredients are fried on it for five minutes. After that, tomato paste is added to the mixture, and everything mixes well. The components are stewed for three minutes and poured with broth and tomato juice. The dish is stirred, boiled, covered with a lid and cooked over low heat for fifteen minutes. In the meantime, two types of pepper are crushed into cubes and sent to the soup. When the added vegetable is boiled for five minutes, the dish is complemented with beans, spices and herbs. Next, the soup is brought to a boil, removed from heat, covered with a lid and infused for twenty minutes.

Also, using chorizo ​​sausage, they cook pasta, goulash, stew, pizza and even muffins. All dishes, which include this product, are very tasty, fragrant and unique.

Chorizo ​​sausage is a real meat delicacy that you can enjoy endlessly!

I have been wanting to make chorizo ​​sausage at home for a very long time. But I didn’t decide for a long time, then there was little time, then I “honed” the recipe, it also stopped me because I didn’t have a normal smokehouse for cold smoking. (I’ll brag, I’ll have it very soon !! :-) Although chorizo ​​sausage can be very different and not always smoked, dry-curedoh, and completely raw, well-dried or just smoked, thin and coarse, it all depends on the region and the purpose of the sausage.

The main ingredient of chorizo, immediately after pork, is paprika, whichand gives it a special taste and aroma. Moreover, the paprika must be smoked. I have seen it for sale in our online stores more than once. Contact me, I'll tell you where to buy. It doesn't have to be Spanishth smoked paprika, the Hungarians also make very good andcheaper. You can, of course, without it, but if you don’t save up sausagesb (and if you still smoke, you should do it only with cold smoke) and do not add smoked paprika, then the characteristic taste of chorizo, have your sausage will not. But it will still be delicious! Therefore, I recommend cooking it even without smoked paprika.

And as you already understood, I have a recipe for unsmoked homemade chorizo ​​sausage. Something between the popular Spanish recipes for this sausage. Although, of course, if you have a smoker and you smoke it for several hours in smoke, at a temperature not exceeding 30 ° C, it will be even better!

Such chorizo ​​sausage can be dried at a temperature not exceeding 15-16 ° C, for example, in a cold pantry. And when moisturewill leave (at least 2 weeks of fermentation), it will be possible to consume the sausage raw. And if you do not dry, you can cook with it many dishes. Add to stir-fries, bake in the oven, fry in a pan, fry on the grill, add chopped to soups and cook many more dishes. Multiple Recipeswith this sausage I will publish later.

Courage in cooking and delicious sausages!

Ingredients

  • 2 kg pork shoulder
  • 0.5 kg pork loin
  • 15 grams of nitrite salt
  • 25 grams rock salt
  • 70 grams ground non-spicy smoked paprika (in extreme cases, you can replace the usual one)
  • 30 grams non-spicy ground paprika
  • 20 grams ground hot smoked paprika or chili pepper (optional)
  • 6 large cloves garlic, squeeze
  • 200 ml dry red wine
  • 5-7 meters cleaned pork intestines
Marinating and fermentation: 48 hours Cooking time: 1 hour Total preparation time: 2 days 1 hour

1) Grind the pork shoulder in a meat grinder. If you have a choice, grind with a large hole attachment.

2) Cut the pork loin into small cubes and place in a large bowl along with ground meat.

3) Mix all types of paprika, rock salt and nitrite salt together.

4) Add spices with salt, garlic and wine to the meat and mix well. Cover with a lid or cling film and refrigerate for 24 hours.

Chorizo ​​is a traditional dish from Spain, which is very popular both in popular restaurants and at home dinner tables.

The recipe for this dish is quite simple, but different countries add their own ingredients to this dish, giving it a Latin American or European hue. You can eat chorizo ​​as an independent dish, or use it for barbecue, soups, and so on. Thanks to this article, you can learn more about the traditional Spanish dish and learn how to cook it at home.

Chorizo ​​- what is it?

Chorizo ​​are specially cooked wine sausages that are especially spicy and are widely used in Spanish and Latin American cooking. The main spice for the manufacture of sausages is paprika, which gives it the appropriate specific characteristics.

Latin Americans add hot chili sauce instead of paprika. It should be noted that the distinguishing feature of the dish is that the meat for their manufacture is cut into large pieces, however, in some countries, the meat is still ground during cooking. On sale, chorizo ​​can be found in raw smoked or dry-cured form, but freshly cooked homemade sausage will have a completely different taste.

How to make chorizo ​​sausage at home

Chorizo ​​is an excellent dish that cannot be forgotten after tasting just once. Traditionally, Spanish sausages have a bright red color and no less bright taste, which is an excellent reason to cook a dish at home. Before starting cooking, you should stock up on a number of products: a meter of pork intestine, 850 grams of pork ham, 150 grams of pure fat, 25 grams of nitrite salt, 10 milliliters of white wine, 2 garlic cloves, 15 grams of sweet and 15 smoked paprika, as well as sugar , as a natural taste stimulant and black pepper.

First, you should soak the prepared bacon in cool water, which must be cut into slices one centimeter thick, and then hide for half an hour in the refrigerator. We cut the pork ham into cubes, and then chop into minced meat - this is precisely the peculiarity of chorizo, since the minced meat in the Spanish version is not passed through a meat grinder, but is crushed with a knife or hatchet. Then you need to get the frozen fat and finely chop with a knife.

The next step is to combine the products, here you need to mix the meat with lard. Crush two garlic cloves and add them to the mixture along with ground spices and nitrite salt. At the same stage, white wine is also added, which in this case acts as a spice, then mix everything thoroughly. It is extremely important to use the listed products here, since it is nitrite salt and two types of paprika that play a big role in creating the real taste of sausages.

When ready, it should be tightly stuffed into a bowl and sent to the refrigerator, where it will stay for a little more than a day. It is also necessary to rinse and soak the pork belly before filling it. Now we tightly stuff the intestine with minced meat, since in the process of filling it may be difficult due to a lack of hands, you can use a meat grinder with the appropriate function. It is important to control the course of filling the casing so that the sausages are dense, but at the same time not too stuffed.

When the intestine is completely filled, and the minced meat is over, it will be necessary to cut one into several smaller sausages and tie them with twine. When everything is ready, we send the product to the refrigerator for 12 hours so that the chorizo ​​takes shape before drying.

The drying process as a whole takes about five days, during which the sausages are hung out in a dry and cool place for 12 hours, and then hidden in the refrigerator for another 12 hours. After five days, it is necessary to send the sausages to the refrigerator for another five days, so that they “ripen” well, while turning them over from time to time on the other side. An indicator of readiness will be a loss of the original weight of more than 30 percent and the presence of elastic hardness of the product.

chorizo ​​sausage recipes

In cooking, chorizo ​​can be used as an input in a dish, as an appetizer for wine or beer, and also to cover the surface of sandwiches. It all depends on the imagination of the chef and on his preferences in cooking.

Sea scallops with chorizo

This is a very simple dish, for its preparation it is necessary to fry sea scallops on both sides. Then fry green and sweet peppers, garlic and chorizo ​​sausages in a pan. After a few minutes, add the already fried scallops to the mixture and wait a few more minutes. After we spread the contents of the pan on a plate and sprinkle with chopped green onions.

Pizza

Chorizo ​​has a very piquant and specific taste, so it goes well with almost any food. When cooking, you can simply replace meat or sausages with chorizo ​​or combine chorizo ​​sausages with ready-made fillings.

Salad with sausages

To prepare a Spanish chorizo ​​salad, you will need: chorizo ​​itself, purple onion, garlic, vegetable oil and wine vinegar, parsley, basil and spices as black pepper and salt. We cut all the ingredients into slices and fry the sausages, then lay the processed products in layers on a plate and season them lightly with wine vinegar and oil, salt, pepper and the salad is ready. If you don’t have sausages on hand and you don’t know what to replace chorizo ​​with, then you can add any spicy sausage to the dish.

Video recipe for soup with chorizo ​​and beans

As part of this video, a recipe for making Spanish soup is considered. In order to prepare this dish, you will need a number of ingredients, among which are: chorizo ​​sausages, onion and garlic, oregano, tomato paste, paprika and hot chili peppers, white and red beans, tomato paste and olive oil. Having all the listed components, you can cook a wonderful traditional Spanish soup. The whole process of preparing the dish is commented and explained, for this reason, cooking will become not only interesting, but also easy.