Making Wild Boar Chorizo
Jun 18th, 2008 | By Hank | Category: Charcuterie, Wild Game | Comments | 12 Comments |
I said I would give y’all the recipe for my wild boar Mexican-style choizo, so here it is. Refer to the recipe when you actually make these links, but I will run through the process for those of you who haven’t made much sausage. Yes, I know this is most of you, but that’s a shame, since sausages are the jazz art of the butcher’s trade — within the coiled form, there is endless variation.
I wrote about this not long ago after interviewing a master at the game. If you decide to take the plunge, sausage-making will cost you only about $250 to get into, and that includes a grinder attachment to your KitchenAid, a specialty sausage-stuffer (which you need!), casings (which are cheap), and the occasional packet of Bactoferm when you make salami.
Make several batches and your product will be tasty. Make several dozen and you will be a resident expert. Make several hundred and you will be master, able to influence the link through little changes in spice, grind, liquid, percentage of fat and temperature. On to chorizo.
I’ve never made Mexican-style chorizo before, but since this was Holly’s piggie, and she is the Mexican cook in the house, I’d give it a go. For starters, this is a very spicy sausage. Not hot-spicy, just spicy.
In the mixture goes garlic powder, Mexican oregano, chipotle powder, ancho powder, mulatto chile powder, salt, etc. And that’s not all.
You add a block of achiote paste (mostly annatto), mixed with some tequila. I told you it’d be a Mexican sausage…
You mix the dry spices with the wild boar and regular pork fat — there’s not enough fat on a boar to do a proper sausage — grind it up coarse, then add the tequila and achiote. Whip the mixture up for about 90 seconds, then put it in the freezer while you get the stuffer ready.
First you’ll need to test your sausage casings, which, if you have any integrity at all, will be natural casings made from the intestines of pigs, sheep or cattle. Yes, they make collagen casings, but they are icky and man-made. Yech. De-salt the casings by resting in warm water, then run warm water through them to test for leaks. This one had a leak.
Once the meat is very cold — even a bit crunchy on the outside rim of the bowl — you pack it into the sausage stuffer, and then slip the World’s Longest Condom over the stuffing tube. Basically every sausage-making culture makes crude jokes about this process, so feel free to continue the tradition.
Crank the stuffer, get all the trapped air through the end of the casing, then slowly fill the casing. Let it fill into one long coil. Take your time, and it helps to wet down your (scrupulously clean!) counter beforehand. Once you have all the sausage into links, clean the stuffer and remove the stray meat and set it in the fridge for later; this is your “tester.”Â
Afterwards, tie one end of the coil tightly, then pinch your links out. Each sausage should be about 6-7 inches on average (yep. I know what you are thinking…), so eyeball it, then twist around several times until a tight link forms. Look at my hands in the picture to see how it’s done.
To finish the links, hang them on something (this is a clothes drying rack), at room temperature and prick any air bubbles with a needle you have burnt to glowing on the stovetop. You want it sterile. Let the links hang for an hour or so at room temperature to dry, then coil them into a bowl with some paper towels and let sit, uncovered, in the fridge overnight. This lets the sausage tighten, dry out a bit and store better.
How were they? Good. Damn good. Really very close to store-bought chorizo, which has a rich, tropical taste to it. Great with eggs in the morning, great with tacos. And I bet it’d be great grilled and served in a hoagie roll with roasted poblanos and some sweet onions.
Hank, this is a fab posting…thanks for sharing…I want to branch out next fall and make some different sausages…chorizos being among them.
Actually $250 is a bit high, you can find both a stuffer and a standalone meat grinder on the web for about $100 each. I don’t know what Hank thinks about pointing to sources on his blog, but you can find these items under sources on mine.
Two tips, as you twist the sausage to form links twist the first clockwise and the second counter clockwise or vice versa.
And on Bactoferm or other fermentation products, follow the instructions on the package for amount to use. Many recipes call for far too much to ensure it is mixed in. This can be avoided by increasing the mixing time. This stuff can be expensive.
i am a HUGE chorizo fan, but more of the spanish kind. this recipe is a keeper for us. by the way, can you recommend where we could find casings? should normal grocers carry them? should i try to get them off the internet?
i just love chorizo, i add everywhere: pizza, pasta, bread recipes or sautéed veggies.;thanks for sharing the recipe, i’ll probably try to do if i have enough courage
Charcutiere: I agree with you on the Bactoferm and the cost of setting up (I have expensive tastes), but the way I do the links you do not need to change directions when twisting — I essentially pinch out every other link, and the twisting automatically creates the link in between. It’s kinda hard to write clearly.
And WANF, try Butcher & Packer or the Sausage Maker online for high-quality casings. You can get sausage-making stuff at either source; I get my Bactoferm from Butcher & Packer. BUT…if you live in a large place, try real butcher shops for hog casings — every one of them here in Sacramento sells casings.
I took a course at CIA on sausage making and Chef LeBlanc pointed us to who supplies their stuffers, their grinder is an attachment to the big Hobart. Northern Industrial, they have a lot of food equipment.
Oh yes, now that looks like some greasy-good grub in the makin’…
Nice work.
- Farmer
I have purchased the sausage-making attachment to go on the meat-grinding attachment for my KitchenAid (whew!), so I think I’m in like Flynn. But I do have a nice long batch of chorizo that I picked up at the carniceria awhile back, so first thing’s first!
Very cool.
Great post! One day I’ll do this, one day fer sure. (I’ve been saying that about sausage-making for a while, but yr example nudges me a step closer…) Thanks for the inspiration. BTW, chorizo is also good melted into a sauce for steamer clams with vermouth, diced peppers and onions, cilantro, and cumin. Here’s a recipe:
http://fat-of-the-land.blogspot.com/2008/04/dig-it.html
LOVE IT!… I’ve been making mexican style pork chorizo for years but never could master it. I just recently had my freezer stuffed with a javalina. I’ll be a-tryin’ this for sure, yep.
Thanks for the great post and obviously well tested recipe…. can’t wait to try it.
Oooh, javalina! Never eaten it, and have always wanted to. How is it different from pork?