Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Food, Cooking, and Game Preparation Chorizo

I got this recipe on another hunting site which went south and I lost the only copy I had a few years ago. After some trial and error I made a 15lb batch over the holidays and this is damn close to the original which was great IMO. Anyway it was posted by a guy named Jorge so cheers to him! I make patties out of it for breakfast, or brown up a pound in a big skillet, once the meat is done add a can of pinto beans (drained) mash up some of the beans with a big spoon and let it crust up a bit and eat it with cornbread – awesome.

Ingredients for a 5 lb batch. Use whatever ratio of fat to game meat you want. I usually use venison about 15% pork trimmings.

Chili Powder 1/3 cup
Paprika 1/3 cup
Salt 1 Tbs
All Spice 1 Tsp
Black Pepper 1 Tbs
Cumin 1 Tbs
Garlic Powder 1 Tsp
Flour ¼ cup
White Vinegar ½ cup

Grind meat and fat with coarse plate. Add ingredients, mix by hand and grind with medium plate.
I usually package it in 1 quart Ziplocs.

I'm going to have to try a batch, I love chorizo but most of the varieties at the store are super greasy and made from mystery bits.

Agreed. I usually make my sausage on the lean side. Most like it that way. I don't like adding domestic trimmings but the pork fat seems to go well with venison. Hope you enjoy it!

If you have a good mercado close enough to make a trip once in a while check to see if they make green chorizo. Green chorizo tends to have a lot of heat to it from the serranos, but often as not it will be mild. I use it in burgers. I mix it into the venison burger according to the heat. If it's really hot I use half a chorizo to a pound of burger, maybe 1/3. Mild, maybe a whole chorizo. Peeling the casing off is easiest when it is just starting to thaw. It's great in scrambled eggs, all kinds of casseroles (hot dish if you're from Minnesota), hash etc.

Burger mixed with green chorizo and then the patties with blue cheese and lingon berry preserve stuffing is damn hard to beat.

Gave it a go. Was shopping at Costco and they had pork loins on sale so I figured a 50/50 mix of pork loin and 80/20 beef would do the trick.


Course ground loin and beef, seasonings ready to go.



Seasonings all mixed in. I made a fee tweaks, no garlic powder so used onion powder, added ~1t red pepper flakes and I can't seem to use cumin w/o coriander so added 1T coriander.



I made a few test paddies, good stuff! I can think of few better ways to start the day than chorizo and eggs, so I should be set for awhile.

Damn! Looks awesome! I have a stuffing attachment for my Hobart but have never gotten the hang of it. Did you stuff them on your grinder?

Yes I used the grinder to stuff them. The key I found is I have a foot on/off switch that I used that I could have both hands to handle the casing and adding meat and cycle the stuffer on and off. Before using the pedal it was really tough to try and cycle the stuffer on and off.

I'm about ready to make another batch. I've used it with eggs for breakfast, chorizo tacos and nachos with chorizo. Still have the other pork loin in the freezer just need some more ground beef.

I think next time I'll increase the red pepper flakes to 1/2 T and add 1/2 t cayenne pepper. On the flip side my wife likes it as is and if I kick up the heat to the way I like it she won't.

That's the problem I've had with the on/off cycle. Not sure I can put a foot switch in unless I can plug it into the power cord. I have a 1950's model grinder.

http://www.harborfreight.com/momentary-power-foot-switch-96619.html

Found one!

Yep, that's the sort I have it plugs in line.

Damn that looks good. I need to dig out my never used grinder I bought 10 years ago... I am thinking elk and pork.

Thanks for the tip on the foot pedal!

Thanks for the recipe!

Chorizo... I don't care for it ...seems to me that they came up with the spices/mixture ..so as a way to make bad/near bad meat edible

To the OP it sounds good but I prefer the Spanish version. Not Ground meat look at www.tienda.com for reference

I was at Coscto and picked up a pork loin on sale. So I made a fresh batch and figured I'd bring back this thread. Because I can't leave well enough alone, I've made a few tweaks to the recipe to bring up the heat a little. I was also looking through the spice rack and added a few things that I thought would compliment the recipe, and I was out of allspice hence the omission.

2 1/2 pounds pork loin
2 1/2 pounds ground beef
Chili Powder 1/3 cup
Paprika 1/3 cup
Pepper flakes 1 tsp
Cayenne powder 1/2 tsp
Salt 1 Tbs
Black Pepper 1 Tbs
Cumin 1 Tbs
Corriander 1 Tbs
Garlic Powder 1 Tbs
Onion flakes 1 Tbs
Flour ¼ cup
White Vinegar ½ cup

I put the coriander, cumin, pepper flakes and onion flakes in a coffee grinder.

Cube and coursely grind the pork, then add spices, flour and ground beef (hold the vinegar for now) Kneed the meat and spices the thoroughly mix them, then add the vinegar and kneed some more. Run through a fine grinder blade and either stuff casings or just put in ziplock bags and freeze what you won't use in a few days. I found the flour tends to lump when you put the vinegar in at the same time, easier to mix it in later.

sure sounds good

We spent the summer at our place in north Idaho. The store we shop, Yokes, makes a pretty darn good Chorizo. Lean with proper flavor. We had a few tacos for breakfast...

I love most ground meat products, but nearly all the chorizo I've tried has tasted like over spiced guts.

To be fair it has all been commercial stuff.

There used to be an old Basque butcher shop in Battle Mountain NV that had the best Chirizo I've ever tasted....made with Lamb, Beef, and Pork fat....pretty sure you would have liked it but alas...he's long gone.....
I never failed to stop and stock up on my frequent trips between Reno and Elko....boy do I miss his Chirizo...I haven't tasted anything that's even come close since.....

Never been through that part of the country. I should take a road trip.

It's high desert (Great Basin).....I love that country but don't miss living there....
The country's full of descendants of the old Basquo's that came over as indentured herders for the big sheep outfits back in the early 20th century...some of the most honest hard working people I've ever been around.....
Dam good cooks too...especially when sheep are involved....

That's the problem with most commercial stuff, it's scraps, fat and spice. Which is why I don't mind making my own, because I know it's real meat and I don't have to poor half of it off as rendered fat when I cook it.

Fieldgrade, Pete, the fellow who made the Chorizo at Lemiere's (sp?) in Battle Mountain moved to Carson City, and has a breakfast and lunch restaurant called the "Basque Deli". He brought his chorizo recipe with him, and has a meat counter in the restaurant.
We used to drive to Battle Mountain and fill up an ice chest to bring home. Now he's down the street.
You are correct, though, best chorizo ever.

I made some out of elk one year. We ran out really quickly. Good meat.

I knew he moved to Carson but I heard recently that he was out of it and relatives were now running the show....don't know if it's true or not though as I retired to ID twelve years ago......if true I hope they haven't "modernized" anything....

I know what you mean about filling the cooler with orders for friends....I usually bought about 10 pounds on my way to Elko and another 50 on my return home......

Sure miss that Chirizo.....good memories though....