Overview
Mexican Chorizo is a fresh, highly seasoned sausage usually made from pork and cooked after removal from the casing or as short links. It is one of the principal New World transformations of Iberian chorizo.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
In Mexico, chorizo is generally moist and raw, whereas much Spanish chorizo is cured and ready to slice. The national family includes red and green forms, regional town products and industrial bulk chorizo, so the generic entry should serve as a parent rather than a single definitive recipe.
Composition and characteristics
Pork and fat are coloured and flavoured with dried chillies, paprika or annatto, garlic, vinegar, oregano, cumin and regional spices. The mixture is soft and often intentionally crumbly when fried.
Production and process
Chillies are toasted, soaked or ground into a paste, then mixed with minced meat and vinegar. The sausage is stuffed into short links or sold in bulk and refrigerated until cooking.
History and regional forms
Spanish colonisation introduced sausage making and the word chorizo. Mexican cooks replaced or supplemented European paprika with native chillies and developed a fresh, acidic product suited to tacos, eggs, beans and market cookery. Toluca became especially renowned for red and green chorizo.
Use, storage and related products
It is fried and crumbled for tacos, quesadillas, eggs, beans, potatoes and queso fundido. It differs from dry Spanish chorizo and from longaniza, although regional usage can overlap.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, run it through one of our curing calculators so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →“Make this” opens the same cure as a measured recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt
- Cut
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt
- Salt (%)
- 1.8
- Curing salt
- None
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- Raw sausage ≤4°C for up to 2 days; freeze for longer storage
- Basis
- per 1,000 g pork shoulder / boston butt
- Style
- Fresh coarse pork chorizo; cook before eating
Ingredients
- Pork shoulder / Boston butt100% · 1000 g
- Fine salt1.8% · 18 g
- Ground black pepper0.2% · 2 g
- Sweet paprika0.4% · 4 g
- Cayenne pepper0.2% · 2 g
- Rubbed oregano0.2% · 2 g
- Fresh garlic, crushed0.7% · 7 g
- White vinegar5% · 50 g
- Ice-cold water5% · 50 g
Method
- Chill pork, vinegar, water and equipment to 0–3°C.
- Grind pork shoulder once through 12 mm.
- Add salt, pepper, paprika, cayenne, oregano, garlic, vinegar and water. Mix until evenly distributed and lightly cohesive.
- Stuff into 32–36 mm hog casings and form 20 cm links, or package as loose chorizo.
- Refrigerate for 4–12 hours at 2–4°C.
- Crumble, fry, grill or roast until the cold point reaches 71°C.
Safety. Fresh Mexican chorizo must be cooked. Its red colour can mask whether the meat has cooked through.