Chorizo Norteño
Pork chorizo prepared in the Northern Mexico style, like in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon. This recipe is adapted from a family recipe.
Servings 4 lbs
Ingredients
- 9 oz dried chile ancho
- 4 lbs. ground pork butt/shoulder
- ½ c apple cider vinegar
- ½ c white distilled vinegar
- 2 tbsps. Mexican oregano
- 2 tbsps. cumin seeds
- 2 tbsps. peppercorns
- 2 tbsps. crushed red pepper flakes
- 15-20 whole cloves
- 18-20 cloves of garlic
- Kosher Salt I roughly added about 6 tbsps.
- 2 cups water
- Fresh Collagen Casings 21mm size, but think it would work better with larger size casings
- Piping bag with metal tip
Instructions
- In a large pot, pour in 1 ½ quarts of water. Heat to medium heat. Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chile ancho. If the peppers look dusty, rinse them with lukewarm water in a colander. Transfer cleaned peppers to 1 ½ quarts of water coming up to a simmer. Cook for 10 minutes, remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.
- Transfer the ground pork to a large glass or ceramic bowl. In a large glass, mix the apple cider vinegar with white vinegar. Pour in half of the vinegar to the pork. Reserve the other half of the vinegar for later. Stir the pork with vinegar until well combined. Set aside for 30-35 minutes.
- In a skillet, combine the oregano, cumin seeds, peppercorns, red pepper flakes and whole cloves. Heat to below medium. After a few minutes when the spices become aromatic, stir often for the next 3 minutes. They should be slightly aromatic. Remove from heat. Reserve.
- Drain out all the water from softened chile ancho. Transfer to the blender. Also to the blender, add the fresh garlic and all of the lightly toasted spices from the skillet. Pour in the reserved vinegar. I started by adding 3 tablespoons of salt. Remember, this must be on the salty side for it to season the chorizo thoroughly. Pour in just enough water to get the adobo to blend smooth. Blend on high until very smooth. I am using a power mixer and there is no need to strain the adobo when you use a power blender. Taste for salt. In the end, I ended up using a little more than 6 tablespoons of salt. But, of course, you can add to your liking.
- Once you are happy with the seasoning of the adobo, pour in 4 cups of the adobo. It's 1 cu[ of adobo per 1 lb. of meat. Mix well to combine. If you have plastic gloves available, mix with your hands for better results. Freeze remaining adobo for future recipes. Test ¼ c of the chorizo. Cook at medium heat in a skillet for 7-8 minutes. Taste for salt. If it needs more, adjust the salt to your liking.
- For easy storage, you can freeze the chorizo in quart size freezer bags flat. I add 8-9 ounces per bag. It will improve with flavor after one month. I can never wait that long!
- If you want to use the collagen casings and dry the chorizo, estilo Norteño, this will require the piping bag and 6-7 days of drying time. The casings I used were small, so it was not an easy task piping in the chorizo, I must confess. How long you want to make the links is up to you. I used cooking twine to tie the links. I hung them to dry in a cool, non-drafty space for 8 days. I think they were ready after 6-7 days though. It was my first-time drying chorizo. It is sooo delicious! Reminds me so much of the chorizo my abuelita and tias used to prepare! The chorizo will shrink a bit as it dries.
Notes
Drying the chorizo will intensify the flavors and spices, but it's an option to dry it for 6-7 days. The texture is a little chunky and the links will shrink in size.
You can freeze the fresh links after stuffing the casings as well. Or, you can use plastic wrap and place chorizo down the middle and roll to form a casing. Tie the ends and dry or freeze fresh. I sometimes use quart size freezer bags to freeze the fresh chorizo. The flavor of the fresh chorizo will be better after marinating for one month.