Homemade Sausage Making

Here`s a fun project for that spare hour between dinner and when your favorite cop show comes on. Beloved Spouse (BS) was shopping, recently, and ran across a spice shop with two locations in Charlotte, NC. Now, you have to realize, this part of the world is not noted for its spicy foods. Here, they chop up oven-roasted pork, then glue it back together with a sticky sweet sauce, and call it barbeque. But basically they`re well-meaning souls, willing to humor those of us from out-of-state on occasion.

Anyway, she stumbled upon "Savory Spice Shop" http://www.savoryspiceshop.com/ and bought me a bottle of "Chimayo Chorizo Sausage Spice." Intrigued, I looked up "Chimayó chile" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimayo,_New_Mexico and learned that it is a little unincorporated place (not even a town) near Santa Cruz, about 25 miles north of Santa Fe. To quote our ol` buddies the Wikipedians,

"The town is also famous for its heirloom chile (Capsicum annuum "Chimayó"). In 2003 the Native Hispanic Institute's founder Marie Pilar Campos authored the Chimayo Chile Project to replenish the 300-year-old native seed stock and revive the industry."

Given the fame of the Hatch chile from a little farther south, I figured that this ought to make a good chorizo. ...and it does.

The directions call for 4 Tbsp of powder (38 gm), 2 Tbsp of cider or wine vinegar, and 1 Tbsp water per pound of ground pork. I keep a supply of ground pork butt in the freezer in one kilo zip lock bags. Thaw one out, multiply the ingredients by 2.2 lb/kg, measure `em out, mix `em in, cover the bowl with some saran wrap, and toss it back into the refrigerator overnight. Fry some up, next morning, scramble into a couple of eggs, and eat it in tortillas with a little salsa and some fresh cilantro. No sausage stuffing needed (although you certainly could)- - I break mine down into sausage link sized zip lock snack bags and freeze them. (Use the usual precautions for fresh sasage - - freeze or eat within four days.) I pull one at a time out of the freezer and thaw it in the refrigerator overnight as needed, pinching out a quarter to a third per two-egg breakfast, next morning. Yum? YeeHaah!

Takes away all of the mystery and magic and alchemy.

ssorllih wrote:Takes away all of the mystery and magic and alchemy.

Yeah. You're right. I prefer to mix up my own concoctions from fresh, individual herbs and spices. Occasionally, though, when BS brings home something which she "just knows I need to try..."

...sure will be glad when we can sell the NC house, get the move over with, head back to Texas, and I can get back to my smoker and a decent size stuffer again. The last part of the chorizo series is on hold until I can "get back to business."

I keep thinking of making some chorizo and I'm just not getting around to it. At 4 tbsp per pound of meat I'm imagining this particular chili would not be super hot. RAY

sawhorseray wrote:I keep thinking of making some chorizo and I'm just not getting around to it. At 4 tbsp per pound of meat I'm imagining this particular chili would not be super hot. RAY

Yer right, Ray. It's there for the color and flavor. ...little heat. ...much like anchos. If you want an easy intro to chorizo (fresh version, not the fermented type), this is one way to go.
Like Ross pointed out, this removes all the alchemy and much of the fun, but if you don't know how chorizo tastes, buying a spice mix is a relatively inexpensive way to try it.
(...which holds for other sausage types as well.)

Chorizo is HARD to beat! Love it in eggs like the Duck does and my "BS" ( love that one! ) tends to crave it at least one Sunday out of the month.

Ray, you need to try it! The recipe on this site is a good one to start with and chorizo loves to be experimented with as well.

Hey el Ducko, where in Texas? Yeah, you told me once, I forgot...

Charlie

Okie Dokie, I'll whip out a little batch next week when I know I'm going to be around the house. I've got a 14 pound turkey thawing along with a 5 pound porkbutt that'll start getting brined today for the smoker, trying to coordinate smoking them simutlaneously. I do love chorizo and eggs with a flour tortilla, yes I do. Man can't live on Eggs Benedict alone! The breast from the smoked turkey and the porkbutt ham are slated to be thin-sliced for sandwich meat, I can see making a loaf of rye bread in my near future. RAY

Ray,

I'll tell ya secret for smoking the bird and butt at the same time if you have a good rye bread recipe!

Charlie