Chorizo: Encyclopedia - Chorizo

Chorizo

Chorizo is a pork sausage originating from Spain. It is made from coarsely chopped fatty pork and usually seasoned with chili and paprika. The mild Spanish paprika used is what gives this sausage its characteristic flavor. The paprika itself can be found as either picante (hot) or dulce (sweet). Some varieties are hung in cold dry places to cure, as happens with jamón serrano (ham). The Pamplona variety grinds the meat further.

Better known in the United States are the Mexican and Caribbean versions, though these are seldom encountered in Europe. Based on the Spanish chorizo fresco, these versions are made from pork that is ground rather than chopped and different seasonings are used in addition to chili.

The growing popularity of tapas bars in the United Kingdom and the United States has made chorizo popular, and it is now an essential item at delicatessen counters in supermarkets.

Chorizo can be eaten as is (sliced or in a sandwich), simmered in sidra, barbecued or fried. Like breakfast sausage, it is used as an ingredient of other dishes. It also can be used as a partial replacement for ground beef or pork. A popular breakfast dish in Mexico, and Southwest U.S. is chorizo con huevos (Spanish for "chorizo with eggs"). It is made by simply putting pieces of chorizo into scrambled eggs as soon as you start cooking them, and mashing the pieces of chorizo with a fork, so the two ingredients blend together during cooking. Chorizo con huevos is often used in making breakfast burritos.

In Argentina and other South American countries, chorizo is the name for any coarse meat sausage. Argentine chorizos normally contain pork meat and do not tend to be terribly spicy. When served in a bread roll they are called "choripanes" (s. "choripán").

There is also a Portuguese sausage, also made from pork but with different seasonings, called chouriço.

Chorizo - In slang

In Spanish slang, chorizo also means "thief", from Caló chorar ("to steal").

In Mexico's Spanish slang, "chorizo" can refer to a penis.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Chorizo", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki