Spanish Sausage - Chorizo

[Art]

Do the casings come in specific lengths? Is that the same as the length of a longaniza?

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¿Las tripas (¿palabra correcta?) vienen en longitudes específicas? ¿Es ése igual que la longitud de un longaniza?

[Bob]

Some of the casings I get from my butcher are about 20-25 feet long. I have to cut them to fit them onto the funnel because the are far too long. They are the same diameter that are commonly used for Italian sausage. I'm not sure what kind of critter they are from.

[Art]

Wow. With a monster stuffer we could go for a record: the longest Asturian loooonnnngggganiza!

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Vaya. Con una monstruo de una maquina de rellenar, podemos hacer la tentativa de un récord: la loooonnnnnggggganiza asturiana más larga.

[Eric Smith Fernandez]

My mother and grandmother swear up and down that my grandfather used cayenne pepper in place of crushed red pepper when making his chorizo. Since I bought 40 lbs of ground pork i decided to do 4 different styles.

I cut Bob's recipe in 1/2 (10 lbs) and stuffed it into the casings on Monday. I have 10lbs of Mrs Alvarez's recipe marinating right now. I will be stuffing it in the morning.

My question is how much cayenne should I put in 10 lbs of the recipe. 1/2 a teaspoon? I know it is a finer grained and much hotter spice than crushed red pepper.

My second question is: Has anyone heard of making chorizo with cayenne in Asturias? My mother and grandmother don't have any measurements for me to go by. I know it is a matter of taste. I just don't want to ruin 10lbs of good chorizo.

I will be smoking with apple chips on thurs.

Thanks Bob for all your help,

Eric

[Art]

Eric, that cayenne pepper is in addition to the paprika, isn't it?

I'd ask your mom and grandmom, "How hot-tasting were these chorizos?"

There's a recipe here that adds two teaspoons of cayenne to two pounds of meat for what sounds like a very fiery chorizo:
http://www.texascooking.com/features/no ... horizo.htm

Ten pounds of pork is a lot of meat, so I'm not sure you'd notice just 1/2 teaspoon. I'd probably try at least 2 teaspoons, but I've been known to overdo things! If you're worried about the results, you could work out a proportion and test (fry in a pan) a very small amount of meat with a proportional amount of cayenne.

I see lots of references to "pimienta cayena" en Asturian cooking:
Google search on: cayena chorizo (asturiano,asturias,asturiana)

Check out the Chorizo Iberico here:
http://www.orceserranohams.com/pages-sh ... uterie.htm
I don't know if that's Asturian chorizo, but I doubt it.

[Bob]

I would start by adding a small amount of cayenne to the meat mixture, fry a small sample, taste, and add more cayenne and repeat the procedure until the desired result is obtain. You can always add hotness, but the only way to remove it is to make another batch without hot pepper and mix the two to dilute it out.And the hot pepper, whatever form you use, should be in addition to the paprika. By the way, I buy smoked paprika from Spain in bulk from Spice Barn.

The difference between hot pepper flakes and ground cayenne, In my opinion, would not only be degree of hotness, but also the on-the-tongue sensation. Little bursts of heat with the flakes and hot over all with the ground cayenne.

We always sample the meat right after it is mixed for quality control. Last time our son sacrificed almost two pounds for his personal quality control, and ate it with half a loaf of crusty bead. The rest of us contented ourselves with small portions. Ah, to be young (or even middle aged) again.

[Mafalda]

¡Uy, que miedo me das Eric!
Ten mucho cuidado con la cayena, es muy picante, yo creo que para hacer chorizos es mas recomendable el pimentón, mezcla de dulce y picante, que ademas da color a la carne.

Si utilizas cayena molida, ten en cuenta que necesitarás muy poquita para dar un sabor bien picante a los chorizos.

En cualquier caso, lo mejor es seguir el consejo de Bob, vas añadiendo poco a poco el picante y probando las "chichas" fritas hasta que esté a tu gusto.

¡Ya nos contarás como quedaron!

[Art]

Ya nos contarás como quedaron!

¡Y nos invite probarlo!

You'll have to tell us how it goes!

And invite us over to test it out!

[Eric Smith Fernandez]

Bob,

I am correct that your recipe for 20#’s is ½ teaspoon of salt per pound of meat. But the black pepper is 3 teaspoons for the whole batch? (Not 3 teaspoons per # of meat) For 10 lbs., I made it with 1.5 teaspoons of coarsely ground black pepper.

I already know that the crushed red pepper is 1.5 teaspoons for the whole batch.

I fried up a couple of patties from the remnants of the first batch. They tasted great to me. Not too hot, not too mild. I made the second (Mrs. Alvarez batch) more red than orange. It smells great.

Tonight I will be mixing up some with my grandpa’s substitution of cayenne for the crushed red pepper. I will do some tests to make sure I have just the right amount of “kick”.

Art, the cayenne is in addition to the Spanish sweet paprika (Tone’s from Sam’s Club). I’m risky, but not dangerous.

I asked my Nan how my Papa made his chorizo. She said, “He would mix salt, pepper, garlic, lots of paprika and some cayenne pepper. Nothing else was added.” When they lived on the farm, (not really a farm, but that’s what they called it) he and my bisabuelo would butcher hogs and make the chorizo and put it in casings.

When they moved to the city where I grew up, he just made patties and fried them in a skillet.

Regardless of the various methods I’m using, its fun and I can’t wait to taste them after the smoking!

Thanks all for your guiding input,

Eric.

[Bob]

Actually, it is one teaspoon of salt per pound of ground meat.

[Eric Smith Fernandez]

I did it right, with 1 teaspoon per lb. Sorry, I was looking at the recipe when i mixed it, but not when typing my previous post

[Bob]

The patties are very good, especially served with crusty bread, but the smoked chorizos are an epiphany (especially if made with smoked paprika). Whichever recipe (or your personal modification thereof) you prefer, keep making them and pass the knowledge on to others. That's the only way we can preserve our culture.

As an interesting variation, it is worth trying other wood chips for the smoking process. While I like apple best (and it is traditional in my family), cherry, oak, mesquite and alder are also very good. Each introduces its own subtle change in the final product.

Don't forget to wrap some of your chorizos in Italian bread dough (or make your own bread dough from an Asturian recipe) and bake them until done, and to slowly fry some to extract maximum fat (be sure to prick well with a toothpick first) and then fry eggs in the fat.

I think it would be fun to gather samples from all of us chorizeros in the EEUU at the next Asturian conference and have a cook-off, as well as a demonstration of how to make chorizos.

[is]

Hey, you guys are making me jealous. It sounds like alchemy. My brother is now living in Istanbul and says the AK Party is moving to ban pork butchers for religious reasons. Last time he was in Asturias he bought reams of chourizos and smuggled them through Ataturk airport in his suitcase.

I'm not a big meat eater myself, but can sometimes not resist a good, smoked chourizo or l.longaniza. The best ones I've had (smoked) were made by a fellow who runs a mom-and-pop roadside restaurant on the way to Puela (Pola de Allande). It's called El Chino de Linares.

I've recommended this place to others: you sit outside in a veranda-type terrace and El Chino brings out dish after dish of sausages, butiel.los, pote asturianu, desserts. You then need to walk it off in the mountains...

[Eric Smith Fernandez]

The biggest reason i'm doing doing this is to preserve a lost culture in my family.

I want to thank all you guys for giving me insight and helping me to fill my cultural and generational gaps.

By the way, When is the EEUU Asturian confrence?

[Eric Smith Fernandez]

I have finished smoking my chorizo's. I used apple wood as suggested by Bob. They are now in freezer bags. I have 2 things to say:

1. Smoking the chorizo makes all the difference. When eating my test links/patties I thought, "Not bad." Then, I ate 2 post-smoked chorizo's and they were awesome!

2. If I don't see another chorizo until June, I'll be happy. I only did 30lbs. I left 10lbs for my next adventure. I had a blast, but was a little overwhelmed. I probably shouldn't have done this so close to the end of the semester.


I also took a lot of pictures and was wondering if I should post them and where to post them?