Saucisson MAC: chorizo verde

Green Chorizo Recipe.

Chorizo is Spanish for sausage.

In Spain you say chorizo and you may get a dry sausage that's seasoned with their famous smoked paprika (Pimentón).

In Mexico, chorizo means fresh sausage made from pork marinated in a chile paste and cooked loose.

In America it's mostly known as the stuff that comes in plastic tubes that's salty, and greasy but tastes great with eggs.

There are places around Chicago that sell homemade chorizo, but this story is about making your own homemade chorizo at home.

I first wrote about Chorizo for a Cuisine of Mexico class I took at Kendall. I made chile pastes and described all the different herbs used to make a beautiful sausage. During the research I stumbled across a description of green chorizo. In her guide of the market at Santiago Tianguistenco, Diana Kennedy wrote:

"Chorizos are practically synonymous with the Toluca area...About twenty five years or so ago, green chorizos began to appear. There are some excellent ones, but because they are usually made in small quanities, they are more difficult to find. They are seasoned with herbs, greens, chiles, and sometimes tomates verdes. Many others are seasoned with commercially ground pumpkin seeds and spices, while those to be avoided at all costs are prepared in bulk in local packing houses, artificially colored and packed into plastic casings."

From this I was hooked, a green sausage! I had to make it, and it only took three years.

Chorizo Verde batch 3 after hanging a couple of days

I started thinking about chorizo verde again when I wanted a green sausage for St. Patrick's Day. I decided to keep my banger rooted in Irish flavors, so the Mexican verde would have to wait. Then I spied an account of a fruitless green chorizo quest in The Chicago Reader, by food writer Mike Sula. Touched by the writer's plight, I now felt it my civic duty to to come up with an authentic green chorizo recipe.

Recipe Construction

For this sausage my basic premise was it's coarse ground meat seasoned with a chile salsa (paste).

Here's the all star line up for the green paste:

poblanos y jalapeños

Cilantro

Pepitas

Laurel

Other bit players include:

Canela

Ajo

I could have included spinach or spinach powder, but it felt like a color crutch, besides, I wouldn't put spinach in my salsa verde. I also considered tomatillos, but I didn't think they contributed enough in color or flavor.

I made four batches of Chorizo. For my first attempt I imagined an futuristic ultra-hip chicken chorizo. The pale meat made a nice palette for a green link, and playing on a riff from the Modernist Cuisine cookbook, I tried Xanthan Gum as a fat replacer

It tasted great, but the texture was that of scrambled eggs, Nice but not what I wanted for this chorizo verde. So much for being hip.

With pork shoulder back in the batter's box the next two batches were about process:

Added in green,

vs. marinated green.

I liked the effect of the "added in green" when I made the St. Patrick's banger, but it wasn't working here. Still not loose enough. Marinating in a green paste for 24 hours is the way to go.

Chorizo Verde

Per 1000g pork shoulder (you can use up to 20% fat too) cut into small cubes.

3 poblano chiles
2 jalapenos (or serrano for a zestier sauce)
3 bunches of cilantro (about 300g)
30g garlic peeled and chopped
25g pepitas (green pumpkin seeds) ground
17g Salt
2 fresh bay leaves, chopped (see notes)
7g black pepper, ground
6g canela (see notes)

30ml tequila or vinegar (see notes)

To make the salsa verde:

Blanch and shock the cilantro. Remove the lower stems and place leaves in the blender.

Roast the chiles till charred on all sides then remove stems and seeds. Put them in the blender with the cilantro.

Put the rest of the ingredients (except the pork) into the blender.

Puree.

It's okay to add a little water to get thing going, but you want to keep it kinda thick. let the blender run awhile.

Pass the salsa through a strainer to rid it of any nasty bits. Toss the verde with the with the cut up pork and let it sit in the fridge for 24 hours.

The next day grind the green mix through a large plate. Stir to achieve a uniform pitch, then stuff into casings or roll in plastic. Let it hang in the fridge for a day or two and the green will deepen, especially in the natural casings.

Recipe Notes:

Fresh laurel (bay leaf) is a must. If you don't have your own tree (and you should) check Latino markets or your finer gourmet food shoppes, don't bother using dry, just do without, it's okay.

Canela. While most of the Western world is hooked on cassia, Mexico is one of the largest importers of true cinnamon from India. The nuanced flavor is worth seeking out again at a Latino market or at a spice merchant. Use you cupboard cinnamon if you must, but go easy on it.

Vinegar or tequila. Traditionally vinegar is a part of chorizo, and I made three batches with it at various percentages. I decided to make a fourth with tequila. I found the vinegar made the texture mealy, the acid hindered browning (the Malliard recaction), and not to mention it's pungent. I settled on tequila because it punches up the flavors without being overbearing.

I had a lot of chorizo verde on hand, so...