Fresh chorizo?

What's the best place to get fresh Mexican chorizo? Or any recommendations on which brand to get at a Mexican grocery?

I'd go to Tony's. They make it themselves, sell it by the ton, and it's excellent. I know the one on Elston always has it, and I'd bet the others do too.

Best,
Michael

Tony's Finer Foods
4137 N Elston Ave
(773) 866-0010

3607 W Fullerton Ave
(773) 278-8355

4608 W Belmont Ave
(773) 202-1760

2500 N Central Ave
(773) 804-1556

crrush wrote:What's the best place to get fresh Mexican chorizo? Or any recommendations on which brand to get at a Mexican grocery?

Chorizo styles vary considerably from region to region and even household to household. Some may be very well made but not to one's particular taste. One should therefore be ready to shop around until one finds a version that really stands out to you.

The commercially available products are for me all much too fatty and always far too aggressively spiced with one or another ingredient. Balance and subtlety are good qualities and ones that are rarely achieved in factory-made products.

Antonius

Agreed...I've tried a few of the brands available at Cermak Produce and other markets around Pilsen (like V&V Supremo) and found them a bit greasy and almost metallic tasting. That's why I think freshly-made chorizo--no matter who's making it--might work better.

There was a story in the NYTimes about Rick Bayless' new cookbook, and I want to try out the chorizo and black bean sub.

If anyone has access to an older cookbook called Southwest Tastes, which was the companion book for the show Great Chefs of the West, there's a recipe for chorizo that accompanied a dish called pork tenderloin stuffed with chorizo. The chorizo was delectable, easy to make, and imo better than the generic chorizo you find in stores. Way less greasy I may add. I would post the recipe however I'm in Florida while my book is back in Tahoe. If someone else has this book, maybe they would be kind enough to post(gwiv,better brother). Can't think of anyone offhand

There are mmany I enjoy. El Guerro, the big one in Pilsen, has a nice version. But I usually get the relatively mild and well-balance offering from Carniceria Leon on Ashland. And grab a couple of tacos to go.

Made the trek to Tony's and found fat, fresh tubes of chorizo for $1.99/lb. Also stopped by Paulina Meat Market, and they make a fresh chorizo but don't stuff it in casing. It's sold frozen. Forgot to check the price.

Also picked up duck, goose and turkey liver to make pate.

It's a meaty kind of day.

there are some pretty interesting versions of chorizo around town, especially that labeled as chorizo de casera. This can contain strong spices other than what one gets from say the supermarket version. One that I've liked for particular uses is the chorizo de casera form supermarket roman on N. Clark. It jhas more of the "pie spices" than most but can be very good in certain applications, though I wouldn't use for tacos for example.

I believe the butcher counter at Devon Market (1500 West Devon) sells fresh made, and the staff all appear to be Hispanic and they clearly do a lot of business. Beyond that, I can't vouch for it, but I'd certainly check it out if I was in the market.

Also stopped by Paulina Meat Market, and they make a fresh chorizo but don't stuff it in casing.

I'm pretty sure I saw it in both bags and casings today.

Pete's on Pulaski just south of 55 sells their own fresh chorizo but I can't vouch for it. I think of chorizo as a week night meal and can only get to Pete's on the weekend -- so I usually go with El Popular. It always seems to have sell by date that is both comfortingly and disturbingly far off.

I love Paulina but I don't know if I'd trust them with chorizo. Too much ethnic dissonance.

edk wrote:Pete's on Pulaski just south of 55 sells their own fresh chorizo but I can't vouch for it.

I can. It's good stuff. We bought some to make jalepenos which we stuffed with the chorizo and dried dates, and then wrapped the peppers with bacon before grilling indirectly. The chorizo, which we bought from Pete's was really tasty, and seasoned just right.

Pete's rocks. Good store.

Don Pedro's Carnitas in Pilsen:



Those on the left were less red than those on the right, which I presume relates to spices.

Don Pedro's Carnitas
1113 W 18th St
Chicago, IL 60608
(312) 829-4757

I wonder if Don Pedro's ships? The Mexican Chorizo I find around here is the tube stuff at the grocery store, and the Spanish stuff is about $7 for 5 oz. That stuff looks amazing.

Any ideas what kind/source Avec uses for it's chorizo stuffed dates. I plan on asking when I eat there this weekend, but if anyone has thoughts quicker than that it would be appreciated.

Stork02 wrote:Any ideas what kind/source Avec uses for it's chorizo stuffed dates. I plan on asking when I eat there this weekend, but if anyone has thoughts quicker than that it would be appreciated.

This article suggests it is (or at least used to be) made in house.

Chef Magazine wrote:Grieveson serves chorizo stuffed in medjool dates with smoked bacon and piquillo pepper-tomato sauce and another dish with shaved house-made chorizo and mussel stew with potatoes, piquillos and parsley.

“The chorizo is similar to making a salami,” she says. “I dry-cure it, add spices such as cayenne and go heavy on the paprika. It’s important it comes out right. Otherwise I’ll take it off menu.”

I made some recently using a recipe in Diana Kennedy's From My Mexican Kitchen. I thought it was excellent; very much to my liking, anyway. And it wasn't very difficult, either. As long as you have a meat grinder and a blender, you can make it fairly easily . . . or you could probably buy the meat pre-ground. I think it took about 90 minutes to make a 5-pound batch and an hour of that was some 'wait time' that was a necessary part of the process.

Anyway, the nice thing about making it yourself is that you can tweak it to your exact specifications, because Antonius is absolutely right, sausage is personal.

=R=

Twitter made me do it.

A few months ago, Rick Bayless tweeted about green chorizo & I became semi-obsessed with it. I looked high and low throughout Chicago for green chorizo, and, unable to find it, decided I would have to make it myself using this recipe from Rick Bayless: http://www.rickbayless.com/recipe/view?recipeID=236 I particularly liked this recipe as I do not have the grinder or sausage attachments for my Kitchen Aid, so I could make do with pre-ground pork & had no need to encase it.

One of the ingredients stymied me. I was unable to find spinach powder anywhere in the city. Rick Bayless answered one of my tweets to tell me I could find it on the internets, which I did, but it was outrageously pricey. I called stores, hit every bodega in town, and asked around, with absolutely no success. Finally, a couple of weeks ago, I was at Cemitas Puebla and Tony asked me about my green chorizo progress (having seen my tweets). He has, of course, had it in Mexico, but has never seen it for sale in Chicago. I told him I was stubbornly refusing to buy the spinach powder online as I was certain I should be able to find it in Chicago and at a far more reasonable price than the online vendors offered. He racked his brain, made some calls, and told me he'd look into it further. A week later, he let me know he'd found it! It turns out that you can get it through Sysco and he kindly ordered some for me. Tony - he's a mensch.

The elusive Spinach Powder


Spinach powder in hand, I procured the ground pork from The Butcher & Larder. I had been tweeting (again, sigh) about making the chorizo and asked Butcher Larder if they had ground pork on hand. Rick Bayless jumped in again & tweeted that he was sure they would have ground pork for me, Butcher Larder tweeted back that they'd get it ready and when I went in the next day, they had just prepared it per the recipe. Allow me to note that I tweet waaaaaaay too much.

Coarsely ground/slightly fatty pork from Butcher & Larder


Next step, pulse the chiles and cilantro into a paste:

Roasted, peeled, seeded poblano, 2 Serrano's, cilantro


Pork, salt, spinach powder & the paste ready to mix


Rick Bayless advises mixing it with your hands, and so I did. I found the spinach powder to be somewhat tricky as it was sticking to the bottom of the bowl, so it took a bit of work to get it incorporated:



Finally, it sits in the fridge to let the flavors blend. I thought it was very pretty when I pulled it out and cut some off for huevos rancheros today:



Despite the generous fat marbling the pork, it was surprisingly un-greasy when fried up and pleasingly...green.



It was fantastic, particularly when compared with even well made store bought chorizo. Very rich and porky without the slightest hint of grease, having a strong cilantro note and the flavor of the chiles, but without being spicy. It was much lighter and fresher than your standard chorizo. I'm still surprised that I've never seen if for sale in Chicago, but considering how easy it is to make (once you find the spinach powder, that is), this is definitely going to be something I prepare on a regular basis. I may add garlic in the future and try to bring the heat level up to make it a bit spicy, it's definitely a recipe that would be easy to customize to your personal preferences. I'm wondering how it will freeze with the fresh cilantro in it - any thoughts?

I freeze my homemade turkey and chicken thai sausage with fresh cilantro regularly. You will be fine freezing it.

Ursiform wrote:A few months ago, Rick Bayless tweeted about green chorizo & I became semi-obsessed with it.

Not much of a tweeter, I did see Bayless wax poetic about green chorizo on One Plate at a Time, and it looked fantastic. Your green chorizo looks terrific, I might give it a go myself. Perfect for Saint Paddy's day breakfast or late night restorative tacos.

Enjoy,
Gary

This place seems reasonable for spinach powder (and also has beet, pumpkin and others). And free shipping for $40 or more.

spinynorman99 wrote:This place seems reasonable for spinach powder (and also has beet, pumpkin and others). And free shipping for $40 or more.

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