Mexican Chorizo

There is something so “suggestive” about sausages, something elemental … No wonder they are often the subject of ribald, schoolyard-type humour.

There are as many different kinds of dried chilies as there are recipes for chorizo. I bought árbol and ancho chilies because that’s what they had at Sola’s Side Door, a specialty food store in Creemore. I used a coffee grinder to crush them with the other spices.

Mexican Chorizo

Recipe submitted by: Cecily Ross

Ingredients

2 lbs (about 1 kg) boneless pork shoulder cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 tbsp árbol chilies, crushed (or to taste because these are hot!)
1 tbsp ancho chilies, crushed
1 tbsp chili powder
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp ground cloves
½ tsp ground coriander

Instructions

Mix pork and remainder of ingredients in a large bowl.
Refrigerate (along with hopper and grinder attachment) for one hour.
Place ice in a large bowl and set a smaller bowl inside it.
Grind pork into the bowl using a coarse cutting plate.
Form into 3- or 4-inch logs.
Chill for another 30 minutes.
Slide 18 inches of casing onto the sausage horn.
Turn on stand mixer and stuff meat mixture into hopper allowing casing to fill to desired length.
Use string to tie into sausage links.
Grill or fry immediately, or freeze until ready to use.