Chorizo

“In every respectable household in Spain, they make as many chorizo sausages as there are days in the year: 365 sausages for their own consumption, and 50 more for days when they have guests.” This custom impressed the French writer Alexandre Dumas, who toured Spain in 1846-7 and wrote at great length about Spanish cuisine.

There is a lot of evidence that chorizo, the star turn among Spanish sausages, originated in Extremadura. Nestor Lujan, the great authority on gastronomy, points to the letter written in 1576 by a priest from Badajoz who used the word chorizo to mean sausage. Another somewhat far-fetched explanation is the possible relationship with the word churre: in Castilian Spanish this means something like “dripping fat” and may refer to the fact that the sausages are hung up to dry. What is certainly undisputed is that the chorizo, which nowadays usually has a bright red colour, was a decidedly pale fellow until the Spanish conquistadores introduced the pepper plant.

There are more than a thousand small and medium-size companies today, located all over Spain, producing some 71,600 tons (65,000 tonnes) of chorizo. The national sausage comes in many varieties: thick and thin, plain or smoked, as an exquisite tapa with a great deal of lean meat, or a fatty variety used for stews and fried dishes. Depending on the type of chorizo, lean and fat pork is chopped up in varying proportions and kept in a mixture of seasonings for two clays — garlic, paprika powder, salt, and herbs. A dash of white wine is often added as well, to accelerate the natural fermentation process. This process gives the chorizo its typical, slightly acidic taste. The obligatory paprika powder also lends colour and seasoning, and its etheric oils mean the sausage can be kept longer. Industrially manufactured chorizo are also allowed to contain limited amounts of chemical conservation agents such as nitrite salts. The seasoned meat is stuffed into skins by a sausage machine. The skins are then tied and the sausages are hung up to dry.

In the wet northern area of the region, chorizos are often slightly pre-smoked. Another product of the chacineria, the pork butchers store, is lama embuchado, air-dried loin of pork, which is a really exquisite delicacy.

To make it, the loin of pork, which is between 19 and 27 inches long (50-70 centimetres), is cut tidily from the carcass. All the fat is removed and it is then marinated in a mixture of fine seasonings, just like the chorizo. The marinated loin is stuffed into a beef skin and is slightly smoked, or else it is air-dried for three to four months so that it will retain its tender suppleness. A lomo embuchado (also known as lomo curado, can weigh over 3 pounds (1.5 kilograms). The meat varies between pink and bright red. Together with Spanish ham, it is considered as the highest expression of the Spanish butcher’s art. Naturally the quality of the meat plays an important role in the quality of all these specialties. Pride of place is always given to the products based on the Iberian pig: lomo ibérica and chorizo ibérica, both of which are distinguished by their typical nutty aroma.

Spices – at Bill & Sheila’s Coo kbook

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