Chorizo

[Demon-Xanth]

I love chorizo, I've had it in a couple mexican restraunts and seen them cook it up. Yet when I get some from the supermarket it always ends up being a pool of red grease and tiny specs of meat. What am I doing wrong?

 

[dougp]

Originally posted by: Demon-Xanth
I love chorizo, I've had it in a couple mexican restraunts and seen them cook it up. Yet when I get some from the supermarket it always ends up being a pool of red grease and tiny specs of meat. What am I doing wrong?

What kind are you buying? Is it the one in the case that you squeeze out or did it come like a jimmy dean style casing, plastic? Always go with the one you squeeze out of the casing, and don't use ultra high heat to brown it. Somewhere around 7 on a scale of 10? Not sure what your stove's like.

 

[sjwaste]

The quality of the sausage, probably, if it's really coming out that greasy. How are you trying to make it? I'm sure you can salvage it.

I'm not sure if this is unique to an Italian household or not, but we're pretty good at salvaging food and not wasting things, so here goes. If it's coming out nasty, boil it first until its just about cooked, then cut it up and throw it into the pan, or split it and grill it, or whatever just to finish. You'll pull out some of the grease this way without drying out the meat entirely.

 

[xochi]

you're probably not doing anything wrong, but the chorizo you bought might not be that good. I do not like the Calique? brand. for me, it always turns out like you describe, heavy on fat, light on meat/pork.

There are others that are good but it depends on location.

 

[sdifox]

what I do for speed is to put the saussages in a deep plate with some water and nuke the suckers in the microwave to about half cooked. Then I cook them in the pan.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

I've tried a few different brands, they're all in the plastic casing. A couple times I've used paper towels as filters because there was more grease than meat.

 

[jjones]

Plastic casing on chorizo? Nasty. Don't you have any real chorizo?

It's best to cook the sausages on the grill so the fat drains away.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: jjones
Plastic casing on chorizo? Nasty. Don't you have any real chorizo?

It's best to cook the sausages on the grill so the fat drains away.

I actually haven't seen any different. Which surprises me since we have enough Mexicans in the area that there are billboards in spanish.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Most chorizo is inherently greasy, and that's part of the allure of it. The rendered fat is desireable for cooking quite a few dishes like paella or red beans and rice with smoked sausage (one of my favorites to make).

I prefer the Palacios type of chorizo. While it still renders a good amount of fat during cooking the meat doesn't become crumbly and has a wonderful flavor. The casing is also natural (pig intestines) and not the plastic crap.

If your local store doesn't carry the Palacios brand you can order it from here:

http://www.tienda.com/food/products/cz-06.html

They carry a wide variety of chorizo too so you can probably find the type you prefer.

 

[Demon-Xanth]

Originally posted by: TastesLikeChicken
Most chorizo is inherently greasy, and that's part of the allure of it. The rendered fat is desireable for cooking quite a few dishes like paella or red beans and rice with smoked sausage (one of my favorites to make).

I prefer the Palacios type of chorizo. While it still renders a good amount of fat during cooking the meat doesn't become crumbly and has a wonderful flavor. The casing is also natural (pig intestines) and not the plastic crap.

If your local store doesn't carry the Palcio brand you can order it from here:

http://www.tienda.com/food/products/cz-06.html

They carry a wide variety of chorizo too so you can probably find the type you prefer.

...I need to find stuff like that.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

Here's a wild thought. Get ground pork or, beef if you prefer, add chorizo seasoning and finish with a splash of vinegar. It's chorizo, not rocket science!