The chorizo that we`ll use for breakfast tacos is typically a loose, fresh sausage, although the fermented variety can certainly be chopped up and browned. CW had a cured, smoked, semi-dry version as part of the first Project B which was good, especially as an ingredient in sausage dishes (great when cooked with black beans), but my favorite is still the fresh variety. It`s in here as a result of my love of chorizo for breakfast but my distaste for the kind available in grocery stores. The commercial stuff has all the things left over after they make sausage (meaning the parts you don`t want to know about), and is so fatty that it melts before it cooks (not a good sign). "Drain it," you say? The taste components are oil-soluble, so draining the grease isn`t the answer. ...a shame.
A Starting Recipe: My apologies for the wordiness of my writeup (see CW`s post for the links, starting with http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.php?t=5873). I get carried away. Just wade through it until you hit Melissa Guerra`s recipe, not too far down that first page, which is a good starting place. Be advised beforehand that these recipes are not very spicy (piquant, a.k.a picante) in the hot pepper sense. Yes, there are plenty of spices, but they are for flavor and color, rather than "heat."
Ms. Guerra`s recipe has about 0.8 percent ancho chile, a little bit more than the garlic, so it`s a nice, mild introduction to the genre. You`ll notice the use of vinegar, which definitely affects the flavor. This is traditional. I speculate (but can`t prove it) that this was used because Spanish chorizos traditionally are fermented and have a subtle tangy flavor, but in the "New World" it was difficult to duplicate the required conditions for fermentation.
A Better Recipe? Try my standard recipe if you prefer. It`s listed at that same link but farther down, or at http://wedlinydomowe.pl/en/viewtopic.ph ... rizo+ducko and features a bit more chiles as ingredients. My standard recipe contains about 1.8% ancho chile and another 1% pasilla chile, both of which are fairly mild, flavorful chiles. There`s also about 1.5% garlic and 0.6% sweet paprika for flavor and color. You`ll like the little touch of flavor that the cloves add- - like the cumin, it`s another Mexican traditional touch.
Spicier But Still Mild: Hey! ...just like me! I`ve been playing around with Sriracha, that Vietnamese condiment made from red jalapenos, lately. You might enjoy this one. I run the ancho up slightly (to 2%) as well as the pasilla (1%), increase the color slightly (paprika to 1%), and add Sriracha to 1%. The recipe that follows uses one pound of 80/20 pork mince (from pork butt). You can taste the spiciness. ...piquancy. ...pecan seeds? What-the-???
(What you CAN'T do is measure to two decimal places, unless you borrow Ross Hill's double beam balance. Sorry about that. Blame my spreadsheet.)
Chorizo with Sriracha
1.79 tsp 10.7 gm 2.11% salt (non-iodized)
..............454. gm 89.96% Pork Class II-A: <30%. Pork butt
40.00 ml 40.0 gm 7.93% vinegar (6% acid)
4.04 tsp 10.1 gm 2.00% chile-ancho
2.08 tsp 5.20 gm 1.03% chile-pasilla
0.04 tsp 0.08 gm 0.02% cloves (ground)
0.14 tsp 0.28 gm 0.06% coriander (ground seed)
0.08 tsp 0.16 gm 0.03% cumin (ground)
3.20 tsp 8.00 gm 1.59% garlic (fresh)
0.11 tsp 0.16 gm 0.03% oregano
2.38 tsp 5.00 gm 0.99% paprika sweet
0.14 tsp 0.30 gm 0.06% pepper (black)
0.96 tsp 5.00 gm 0.99% sriracha
Processing and Packaging: For all of these recipes, coarse grind and refrigerate the pork butt. Mix the salt into the vinegar and dissolve it, for better distribution. Remove the seeds from the chiles (toasted, if you like), break the chiles up into pieces, then grind them in a coffee grinder or the like. Then mix them and the spices into the vinegar. I use fresh garlic, finely chopped. If you use powdered garlic, cut the weight in half.
Mix the vinegar + spices into the chilled meat mince, using gloved hands. Once it is well-mixed and starts to stiffen (which it won`t, much, due to the vinegar), press it into the bottom of the bowl, then cover with plastic wrap or waxed paper. Refrigerate overnight.
The next day, I like to package the sausage in usable quantities. I use 5-1/2-by-6-inch fold-top sandwich bags (the cheapest kind), weighing out about 4 ounces (100 grams or so) per bag. I roll them tightly, then use vacuum seal bags to freeze them, two or four to the package. If you`re clever, you can use enough freezer bag to be able to clip the corner (break the vacuum), pull out one cylinder, then vacuum seal the bag again and again several times.
Cooking: Each rolled sandwich bag contains enough chorizo for four eggs, and will feed two people. Toss the contents of a sandwich bag into a skillet on low heat, take your time until the sausage is completely thawed, spread it out, fry it, then add in the eggs, scrambling as you go. You can eat the eggs scrambled, or (my favorite) steam or fry tortillas and add the scrambled mix to them. I usually add some salsa. Yum!
