Next Up: Chorizo & Sage Breakfast Sausage

[couger78]

Having just completed my first smoke with the kielbasa this weekend, I still had about 17.5 lbs of pork butt to put to good use.

Chilled & cut for the grinder:

Mexican-style chorizo— a favorite for breakfast, but I can't abide the greasy orange stuff they sell in the super markets. The local Carnicería  y  Mercado sells some decent stuff & that's what I'm trying to match.

Ingredients lined up for a 10 pound batch

Coarse grind on the pork:

The dried guajillo peppers had to be lightly roasted then soaked in water for about 30 minutes. Then put into a blender with the 15 cloves of fresh garlic and 1.5 onions. End result resembles catsup, but with a noticeable kick!

All mixed with the other spices & ready for stuffing.

For this smaller amount of sausage, I opted to try stuffing with the stuffing attachment for my cabela grinder. It worked fairly well, but even for this size load (10lbs), the KC is so much more efficient & easy for one person to operate.

Ten pounds of 4-5" links finished: 

The best way to have chorizo, IMO, is pan-fried & scrambled with eggs & topped with fresh cilantro. Throw in some good hot sauce & cold cervezas—now we're talkin'!

JimmyDean-style breakfast sausage next:

7.5lbs mixed with spices:

I stuffed some synthetic casing I had gotten as part of a sample pack. My plan is to chill these chubs well, slice them, & bag the slices in smaller servings.

That's enough for one weekend.....fridge is getting crowded!

Kevin

 

[fpnmf]

Great looking sausage!!

You use corel draw to put the tags on the spices?? It's cool!

  Craig

 

[chefrob]

looks good......how was the cinn. in the chorizzo?

 

[SmokinAl]

Great looking sausage!

 

[couger78]

looks good......how was the cinn. in the chorizzo?

A little goes on long way.

Next time I'll use a bit less as it can easily overwhelm other flavorings. Or I'd add more cumin to help balance the profile more.

I'd add more cayenne too to kick the heat up a bit more as the guajillos were milder than normal and I prefer a more 'fiery' chorizo.

Personal taste. My wife prefers less hot an less 'vinegary.'

 

[africanmeat]

Well done and i love it with an egg (scramble or an omelet)

thanks for the Qview

 

[couger78]

Great looking sausage!!

You use corel draw to put the tags on the spices?? It's cool!

  Craig

Craig—all post-production type additions & enhancements are done in Photoshop CS5 —on a mac pro.

Kevin

 

[venture]

Looks good Kevin.  Like you, I don't care for much of the Mexican Chorizo on the market.  I do like some kinds with eggs or in chili.  Making your own is the way to go so you can control the product.  Great job!

Good luck and good smoking.

 

[couger78]

Originally Posted by Venture  

 I do like some kinds with eggs or in chili.

Chorizo chili! MMMmmmmmmm!

Only thing I forgot in the above 'plate' shot' was the basket of fresh warm corn tortillas—another essential part of the 'rizo experience!

 

[boykjo]

Awesome cougar............. yep...... your a sausage head!!!!!!!!!!!.........my kind of people.........

 

[raptor700]

Great post Cougar.....................Gotta luv the rizo

 

[realtorterry]

Nice Sausage & Great Pictures!!!

 

[cricky101]

Wow. Scrambled eggs with chorizo is one of my all-time favorite meals - Delicious!!

 

[michael ark]

 

[Bearcarver]

Nice Job there Nepas #4 !!!

Don't forget some sliced pics!!

Bear

Cool the way you put labels to your ingredients! Wish I knew how to do that.

 

[couger78]

Thanks, bear.

I dont normally slice the 'rizo—just skin it and cook it crumbled in a pan. 

Now the breakfast sausage (in the dark casings) sliced beautifully & I've those already broken up into 12-packs.

BTW: check out my kielbasa thread to see shots of my bucket mixer in action.....

 

[Bearcarver]

Thanks, bear.

I dont normally slice the 'rizo—just skin it and cook it crumbled in a pan. That's alright--I was just over at your Basa---Got my BearView kicks there!

Now the breakfast sausage (in the dark casings) sliced beautifully & I've those already broken up into 12-packs.

BTW: check out my kielbasa thread to see shots of my bucket mixer in action..... Was just there before I got here. Where & How much?

Bear
 

 

[wayno]

I made Mex. Chorizo a couple weekends back. This was my first official foray into sausage making, having been thinking/reading about it for years, and preparing for quite awhile (got grinder several years back, this year bought stuff like dextrose, cure, et al.). Turned out quite nice.

It would appear Couger78 is using pretty much the same recipe I chose for a base (judging by the ingredients laid out there), Homesick Texan Lisa's [ http://homesicktexan.blogspot.com/2009/01/making-my-own-mexican-chorizo.html  ]. My mods were to scale down the liquid a bit as I scaled everything else up for the amount of meat I had, and use a mix of chile ancho and guajillo, along with ground piquin and probably a few other chiles.  I loves my chiles.

I didn't have casings so I made patties and some links with plastic cling wrap, froze all items separately on sheet pan then vacuum packed everything I didn't plan to eat that week. And I guess Mex Chorizo is quite often used in a bulk/crumbled manner anyway.  Looking forward to some biscuits and thick chorizo sausage cream gravy soon!

One of the things I'm constantly struggling with is making things hot enough for my tastes but worrying whether I'll be able to share any of it around because others don't care for or can't take the heat. Happens often with my jerky.  When it comes to the homemade hot sauces, I don't worry. "Dude! It says 'Hot Sauce' on the side of the friggin bottle..."

 I even make an almond buttercrunch toffee thing and sprinkle a little chipotle or cayenne powder on top, along with the flakey sea salt. Here though I try to ensure the chile stays way in the background.

 

[beer-b-q]

Great Looking Sausage Cougar...