Chorizo Mexicano
Fresh sausage radically different from the Spanish chorizo. Coloured with ancho chilli and vinegar, it crumbles in cooking and mingles with eggs (huevos con chorizo) or tacos.
| Lean pork shoulder | 700 g |
| Pork fat (cheek or jowl) | 300 g |
| Dried ancho chilli, rehydrated and blended | 40 g |
| Dried guajillo chilli, rehydrated and blended | 20 g |
| Cider vinegar | 50 ml |
| Fine salt | 20 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 15 g |
| Ground cumin | 5 g |
| Dried Mexican oregano | 4 g |
| Ground clove | 1 g |
| Ground black pepper | 2 g |
| Ground cinnamon | 0.5 g |
- Preparing the chillies: Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chillies. Soak in hot water for 30 minutes. Blend to a smooth paste with a little of the soaking water.
- Mincing: Mince the meats very finely through the 3 to 4 mm plate. The Mexican chorizo has an almost pasty texture.
- Seasoning: Mix the chilli paste with the vinegar, the garlic and all the spices. Add to the meats. Knead at length (5 minutes) to a homogeneous, bright red mass.
- Compulsory resting: Refrigerate for at least 24 to 48 hours. This rest is crucial to the development of the flavours.
- Use: The Mexican chorizo is generally sold loose (without casing) or in a fine casing. It is crumbled in cooking.
- Cooking: Crumble in a hot pan without added fat (it releases a good deal of fat). Cook, stirring, until crisp.
The chorizo mexicano is one of the most striking examples of divergence between a sausage and its original model. Introduced to Mexico by the conquistadors in the sixteenth century as an Iberian chorizo fresco with pimentón, it transformed over the following two centuries through contact with New World chillies. The Spanish pimentón was replaced by the ancho and the guajillo chilli: the ancho brings notes of chocolate and dried cherry, the guajillo a fruity, faintly sharp heat. The combination of the two produces the blood-red colour and the aromatic profile of the Mexican chorizo.
Vinegar is the other marker of the break with the Iberian model. While Spanish chorizo uses red wine, Mexican chorizo adds cider or cane vinegar in substantial quantities, which acidifies the forcemeat and helps keep it stable in a hot climate. This acidity, perceptible on the palate, is one of the signatures of Mexican chorizo compared with its continental equivalents.
Its texture, minced very finely or even passed through the cutter, reaches an almost pasty consistency that crumbles in cooking. This is not a defect but a feature: the chorizo mexicano is designed to be incorporated into other preparations. It colours the huevos revueltos of breakfast, scents the quesadillas, forms the base of the chorizo tacos.
The regional variants are considerable. The chorizo de Toluca incorporates green chillies and is sometimes coloured green. The milder chorizo de Oaxaca pairs with the local quesillo (a stretched-curd cheese) in tlayudas (large tortillas filled with beans, quesillo, and meat). The chorizo yucateco incorporates achiote (annatto) and bitter orange juice, an inheritance of Maya cooking.
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