HOW TO MAKE CHORIZO FROM SCRATCH

Mexican chorizo is one of my favorite dishes. Nothing better than chorizo for breakfast, with scrambled eggs or frijoles refritos. Great for tacos with either corn or flour tortillas, although it tastes better with flour. My mother never bought chorizo; she made it herself, and I learned from her. This is basically her recipe except that she always used chili powder instead of whole dried chilis (and she never added cocoa powder). I created this recipe a number of years ago after a visit to San Miguel de Allende where a talented woman taught me how to make red chili sauce.
Note 1: If you don’t want to use whole dried chiles, feel free to use chili powder, but you’ll have to figure it out for yourself.
Note 2: You don’t have to use chiles de arbol. They tend to be hotter (spicier) than the other chiles, so you might want to experiment first, starting with only one or two.)
Here’s what you will need:
½ pound ground meat (pork or beef or both)
1 ½ cups of vinegar
5-8 whole cloves
Salt to taste
2-3 dried chiles guajillo
2-3 dried chiles ancho
2-5 dried chiles de arbol
1 tbs cocoa powder
1 tsp whole comino seeds
1 tsp dried Mexican oregano
Here’s how you do it:
1. Heat the vinegar in a saucepan
2. Remove the stems and most of the seeds from the dried chiles
3. On a heavy skillet or comal roast the chiles until they turn a deep dark red (a few minutes; any longer and they may burn.
4. Place the roasted chiles in the vinegar and allow them to soak long enough for them to become soft.
5. Roast the cloves and other spices briefly and place them in the vinegar mixture
6. Pour the chiles and vinegar mixture into a blender.
7. Add salt to taste (about a tsp is all you need).
8. Add the cocoa powder
9. Blend on high for a minute or two until you have a smooth creamy paste.
10. Place the meat in a bowl and pour the mixture over it.
11. With your hand or utensil, mix well the chili sauce with the meat. Make sure it is thoroughly mixed.
12. Cover the mixture and let stand unrefrigerated for a couple of hours.
13. Refrigerate.
14. That’s it. It’s ready to cook. It will last for a while, refrigerated.