Prepare one of the best sausages in the world with our guide to Spanish and Mexican chorizo. Learn times, temperatures and forests with our recipe and guide. Men also smoke sausages.
Sausage is quite an ambiguous word. In Spain there are several sausages that contain smoked paprika powder, which gives them a bright red color. In Latin America it is used a lot and refers to various sausages unrelated to the Spanish chorizo.
The two sausages
Before I continue, I need to make it clear that there are literally hundreds of different types of sausage. In Spain alone there are about 20 different ways to prepare chorizo(it simply means chorizowith smoked paprika and garlic). In Latin America almost every country has its own chorizo.
In the article I will also talk about the two types of chorizo. So what is the difference between them?
Mexican sausage
Mexican chorizo is a flavorful chorizo that is usually made with pork, although it can also be made with other meats such as beef. It must be cooked before consumption and is sold loose or in a casing .
Most of the time you cook it outside of the wrapper and crumble it in a pan. It can be served in tacos, as a topping (for nachos), for stuffing, etc. Its uses are almost endless.
Hot dog
Spanish chorizo is a dry, cured sausage made with pork (and fat). It mainly comes in two flavors: sweet and spicy. This is due to the use of sweet or hot smoked paprika, which gives it its visible red colour.
You don’t have to cook before eating; You can enjoy fresh. Unlike other sausages, it has a dense texture. Spanish chorizo can be added to stews to give them a rich, intense flavor.
Choose the meat
If you are thinking of making your own sausage, you should also pay attention to the meat and fat used. This is one of the biggest advantages of making it your way: you know what your sausage is made of.
For the purpose of this article, I will be discussing pork as it IS used in both Spanish and Mexican chorizo.
For both sausages we want to use 25% fat and 75% lean meat. The Mexican style is a bit fattier, so it can go up to 27% to 30% with the fat. You can ask your butcher about the fat.
With meat, you just want to keep that ratio. It doesn’t matter which cuts you go for, but you don’t have to go with the expensive ones. Originally a way to use up leftovers, sausage is ground and heavily seasoned. I’m sorry, but you won’t taste any of your $200 steak, so don’t add chorizo to it.
The pork shoulder is good for takeout, it’s a thrifty cut that keeps the proportion of fat and meat. Use lean meat and fat instead.
Prepare the sausage
Now I’m going to halve the recipe for the Mexican and Spanish chorizo since they are quite different. In either case, remember to wash and flush your colon with cold water.
Mexican sausage
Take 2 pounds of pork shoulder (or 1.5 pounds of meat, 0.5 pounds of fat) and dice it. They can be frozen to make them go through the mill easier. Choose a coarse grind, around 8mm is fine.
Then put the meat in a bowl and mix with the following spices:
- 1 tablespoon of peppers
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon ground coriander
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon of oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon thyme
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
You can use your hands, but a stand mixer is fine too. Instead of the whisk, YOU should use a dough hook because the meat is quite heavy. Make sure everything is mixed well, it should look a bit sticky.
It is recommended to use hog or sheep casings, they are cheap, good and easy to find. Now you can fill your intestines. Choose any size you like, but I recommend keeping it to a manageable size so you can use as much as you need and no more.
Pat the chorizo dry with a paper towel, then let it hang in a cool place for about an hour.
Now you can start grilling. The chorizo already has a strong flavor so you can use any wood you like. Personally I would recommend oak or apple, a smooth and sweet taste.
They want to go on a low temperature (200F) until they reach an internal temperature of 150F. The time depended on your smoker and the size of your sausage, but it should take around 2 hours.
Once they are ready, you can use them in whatever recipe you want. Stir it up and toss it in some tacos, or maybe grill it up a bit and eat it with some eggs for a Mexican breakfast.
Hot dog
Spanish chorizo is a dried, cured sausage. For this time, we’re simplifying the process a bit, but you’ll still need special equipment: a cold smoker. While it’s fairly specific, it’s not expensive and you can probably even improvise one yourself. This recipe makes 2.75 pounds of sausage, or just under 2m.
Take 2.5 pounds of pork shoulder (or 2 pounds lean and 0.5 pounds fat) and put it through a meat grinder with a 5mm chuck. Put in a bowl and leave to rest in the fridge. Then combine the following ingredients:
- 2 tablespoons of cold water
- 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon of mild chili powder
- 2 tea spoons golden syrup (corn syrup)
- 2 tea spoons of salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon pickling salt
Let them sit in another container in the fridge for 30 minutes, until both are completely cold. Then remove, mix the spices and meat and knead for 5 minutes until well combined and slightly sticky.
For this chorizo, I recommend using pork or sheep intestines. Place your carcass in your stuffer and stuff it. You should end up with about 12 links. Do your best to make them the same size. Let your sausages rest in the fridge overnight.
This is very important: weigh one of your sausages and mark it. We will check later if it IS done for weight loss.
The next day, set your smoker to 140F and hang your sausages until dry on the outside. Then cold smoke them at the lowest possible temperature. Be sure to let the air flow (open vents). We let them smoke cold for 2 hours.
We are now going to increase the smoker temperature to 175F and let them roast for about an hour. You want to reach an internal temperature of 160F. Once it does, pull out the bookmarked link and weigh it.
You want a 25-35% weight loss. If it hasn’t lost 25% of its weight, let it smoke longer. Don’t worry if it takes a few hours longer, that’s normal.
Your Spanish smoked chorizo is ready! Let it rest for a while before putting it in the fridge, then cut it up and eat it or use it in some recipes like the famous Spanish “chorizo Use omelets”.
Want to hot smoke your chorizo? Check out our guide to smoking sausages
Smoked spanish chorizo
Gear
- Meat grinder
- Pork casings
Ingredients
- 2½ pounds of pork tenderloin
For the dry seasoning
- ¼ cup ferment
- 1 tablespoon of smoked paprika
- 1 tablespoon of mild chilli powder
- 2 tea spoons of corn syrup
- 2 tea spoons of kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- ¾ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon rose salt for hardening
Instructions
- Cut the pork shoulder meat into cubes. Process through a meat grinder with a 5mm chuck. Transfer the ground beef to a large ache to mix and rest in the refrigerator.
- Combine all dry seasoning ingredients except corn syrup in a small batch. Add 2 tablespoons cold water and corn syrup. Combine until you develop a paste. Place in the fridge and let rest for 1 hour.
- Take the meat and spice paste out of the fridge. Mix the spice paste into the pork in a big pain. Knead the pork for a few minutes to ensure the paste is well distributed throughout the meat.
- Stuff the sausage with hog casings into the stuffing horn. Make 12 equal links in the shape of a horseshoe.
- Write down the weight of one sausage and mark it with a pen (you will weigh the same sausage later).
- Put in the fridge and leave overnight.
- Set the smoker for cold smoking with a maximum temperature of 140°F. Hang the horseshoe and let it dry until the skin feels dry. Cold smoke with smoker vents fully open for about 2 hrs
- Increase the smoker temperature to 170°F and smoke the meat for an additional hour. The target internal temperature of each sausage is 160°F. Weigh the marked sausage and aim for a weight loss of approximately 20%.
- Take the sausages out of the smoker and hang them up to dry for an hour.
- Serve and enjoy or refrigerate and eat when ready.