The chorizo we know here in Europe is Spanish chorizo, which is a dry cured pork sausage with smoked paprika as the dominant spice. Mexican chorizo is different because it is wet (or fresh, only lightly cured) rather than dry, and because the dominant spice is from a variety of dried chiles. Spanish chorizo is easy to find at any supermarket, but if you want to have fresh Mexican chorizo, the only way is to make it yourself. I used the recipe from Mexico in My Kitchen and followed it with some minor changes. I used ground pork belly instead of a mixture of ground pork and ground fat, just because it was easier. I just garlic powder instead of fresh garlic, because it is easier to use and less likely to cause spoilage, and only Mexican oregano instead of a very small proportion of dried marjoram. And finally I did not cure the chorizo hanging at room temperature, but lying down on plates in the refrigerator instead. There are regional variations for chorizo in Mexico, but Mely Martinez does not specify from which region of Mexico her recipe hails. For the best flavor, do not use chile powder and ground spices, but whole dried chiles, and grind all the spices freshly.

I stuffed the meat into casings to get actual sausage. But if you are going to use the chorizo for recipes that as a first step tell you to take the meat out of the casings, you could just as well skip that step.

Ingredients

• 1080 grams (2 lbs 6 oz) pork belly without rind, cubed
• 45 grams (2 Tbsp) table salt
• 8 guajillo chiles
• 6 ancho chiles
• 250 ml (1 cup) white vinegar
• 3 Tbsp sweet paprika powder
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
• 1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds
• 1 Tbsp Mexican oregano
• 1/2 tsp coriander seeds
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp whole allspice
• sausage casings (optional)

Instructions

Remove the stems and seeds from the chiles.

Place the chiles in a large bowl, cover with hot water, put a plate on top to keep the chiles submerged, and allow the chiles to soak for 30 minutes.

Use a spice grinder to grind 3 Tbsp sweet paprika powder, 1 tsp black peppercorns, 1/2 Tbsp cumin seeds, 1 Tbsp Mexican oregano, 1/2 tsp coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp dried thyme, 1/2 Tbsp garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp whole allspice…

…into a fine powder.

Grind the pork belly coarsely with a meat grinder.

Remove the inner tough veign of the bay leaves.

Drain the soaked chiles and discard the soaking water.

Place the chiles in a blender with the ground spices, 45 grams of salt, bay leaves, and 250 ml of white vinegar.

Blend until smooth.

Place the ground pork in a bowl together with the pureed chile mixture…

…and stir until mixed well.

Cover and refrigerate overnight. If you are not going to stuff the meat into casings, your chorizo is already done. To get rid of excess vinegar, place the meat in a sieve lined with an old but clean tea towel for some time. Then vacuum seal it in portions to freeze.

Use the sausage stuffing attachment of your meat grinder to stuff the sausage meat into casings. This was the first and only time I’ve done this, so you are better off with googling how to do this than by me describing what I did. I’d say it is not difficult as long as you are not concerned that all sausages should have exactly the same size and should be completely without trapped air.

Place the sausages on plates in a single layer as you make them.

Randomly pierce the sausages with a toothpick or fork to release any trapped air.

I cured them for a couple of days in the refrigerator.

Quite a bit of vinegar will leak out.

The chorizo is now ready to be used or can be frozen.