This traditional Mexican chorizo is delicious. It has a mild to medium spice and complex flavor. The coriander and cloves add a unique subtlety as well. Way better than store-bought! Also, no sausage casings required. This recipe was inspired by Gochujang Mama.
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Ingredients
- 1 lb sausage-grade ground pork (~25% fat)
- 5 Guajillo or ancho or pasilla chiles
- 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Spices
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 cloves
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/2 teaspoon coriander seed
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 teaspoons paprika
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
Procedure
- De-seed your chiles. De-seeding chiles isn’t mandatory but it will allow for a smoother puree.
- Rehydrate chiles. Boil a pot of water and throw the chiles in. Remove from heat. Let sit for 30 minutes. Make sure you wash your hands really well after touching the peppers. If you’re dumb like me you will scratch your eye and then go to the bathroom first…bad idea.
- While the chiles are soaking, grind up your coriander seeds and cloves. Mortar and pestle, electric grinder, rolling pin, whatever works!
- Drain water and throw chiles into blender with chopped garlic, vinegar, and crushed bay leaves.
- Blend the shit out of it. You don’t want any chunks of pepper in your chorizo. It should look like a murder scene.
- Mix the pork, chile puree, and spices in a large bowl. Gloves are optional but probably a good idea. Pork and spices before mixing
- Cover and chill for 24 hours to let the flavors develop. You can also store it in portion sized plastic bags. Or be real fancy and use sausage casings. Traditionally, though, the casings are not eaten with Mexican chorizo like they are with cured Spanish chorizo.
- When you cook the chorizo for the first time, drain the excess liquid first.
Thoughts
I thought this chorizo was pretty damn good compared to the store bought stuff. A couple things I noticed when I was looking at different recipes:
- Amount of vinegar varies pretty wildly per pound of pork. I’m not sure if vinegar was traditionally added for flavor, preservation, texture, or all three, but it seemed to be in every recipe I found. The vinegar will break down the proteins in the pork when left to cure overnight, which does make for a more tender chorizo. But adding too much or leaving it cure for more than a day can also lead to a mealy and sour chorizo. 3 tablespoons seems to be a good amount.
- I’ve seen Mexican chorizo sold in casings at Mexican grocery stores, aka Chorizo de Bolita (Bullet Chorizo). Since Spanish chorizo was around first and later brought over to Mexico, it’s not surprising to see it in casings. Nonetheless, it seems Mexican chorizo is most commonly used in crumbled form. This is why I chose not to use casings. But if you like eating your chorizo in a casing, go for it! Bullet chorizo. Photo by Soulecito
- There are a number of different chile peppers that are used. Ancho and Guajillo chiles seem to be the most popular. But since there seems to be a different type of chorizo for each region in Mexico and central America, it’s hard to pin down one chile that is traditionally used. So use what you like…but damn Guajillo chiles are delicious!
If you loved this chorizo recipe try your hand at making homemade beer brats. It’s a bit tougher due to having to stuff casings but the results are well worth it!