Chorizo (mexican sausage)

20 servings

Ingredients

QuantityIngredient
20eachesSausage Casings
Vinegar
2poundsLean Pork Trimmings
8ouncesBeef Or Pork Fat
2eachesMedium-size Onions, Quartered
8eachesCloves Of Garlic, Pushed Through A Garlic Press
½cupCider Vinegar
¼cupTequila (Optional)
¼cupGround Red Chile, Mild Or Hot
1teaspoonGround Cinnamon
teaspoonGround Comino (Cumin)
1teaspoonMexican Oregano, Ground
1tablespoonSalt

Directions

MAKES 20 SAUSAGES OR 2½ LBS BULK Clean the casings, rinse well with water, then pour the vinegar through them. Set aside. Use a food processor or the coarse blade of a meat grinder, grind the meat and fat. Add the onions, garlic, vinegar, tequila (if used), and seasonings, using the hotness of the chile powder that your family and guests will prefer. Stuff the casings. First cut the casing into 3-foot lengths and tie one end together. Using either a funnel or filling tube fill the length of casing fairly loosely. Tie off at about 4-inch intervals with heavy thread or light string. Place on a cookie sheet covered with wax paper. Set on the counter for about 2 hours and then refrigerate.

After a day, freeze what you will not use within a week or two.

Mixture should ripen for at least 8 hours before using.

NOTES:

If you have no food processor or grinder, buy triple-ground pork.

Prepare the recipe once and taste for the mildness or hotness of the ground red chile. Adjust to suit your taste for the next time you make the sausage.

FREEZING: Mold the sausage into ½ pound lumps and freeze between pieces of foil inside a heavy plastic bag. The maximum recommended freezer storage time is 3 months.

This recipe is from Jane Butel's Tex-Mex Cookbook. Hope that you and your butcher friend as well as all of the people that liked the Sowest series like this recipe for the main sausage of Mexico.

FROM: Rich Harper, Jul-18-90 7:31am