# "REAL" Basque Chorizo



## couger78

After having made several successful batches of traditional Polish kielbasa (my wife’s family are Polish), I decided to investigate some sausage recipes that would reflect MY own *Basque* heritage.

I have made a number of _‘Basque-style’_ dishes before, but never looked into the ‘tube-meats.’ However, that was to change.

Last weekend while at Lake Tahoe, a friend who knew I was making sausages at home, asked me if I made any _‘Basque’_ sausages yet. I naively told him I wasn’t aware of any particularly ‘basque-style’ sausage.

So we wander into a local butcher shop to pick up some nice steaks and I see a magazine in a rack _(“Edible Reno-Tahoe”_) with a cover depicting…(what else?)…Basque chorizo! Produced locally at a Basque deli in Carson City, Nevada.

Cover of the magazine I have showing a batch of Basque chorizo:








A trip to that deli ensued & I met one of the sausage makers. I sampled the chorizo. Great stuff—not surprisingly, it is much closer to the fresh Spanish-style versus the Mexican chorizo: peppery, garlicky; some were sweet while others quite hot(!). We spoke for a while and he generously shared with me the ingredients he uses in his popular chorizo recipe. They crank out over 200lbs of this stuff weekly. Some of the ingredients may be hard to get, I was told, but if I was serious about making it_ ‘authentic,' _and the _REAL DEAL,_  it was worth the effort.

Once I had my ingredients list, I was off & running.

Pork & beef mixture.

Here's 5 pounds of pork butt and 1 pound of beef chuck, well-chilled (near-frozen) & ready to grind:







Other key ingredients included:

*Espelette pepper* (Basque: _Ezpeletako biperra_) — _“the beloved chile pepper of the Basque country_.” A variety of pepper that is cultivated & dried traditionally in the northern territory of the Basque people. Flakey ground dry red pepper; Mildly sweet at first taste with a bit of a kick afterwards.







*Choricero red pepper* —a red pepper utilized in cooking and making of sausages like chorizo. The ‘pimiento choricero’ is typically sold dried. To use it, it must be rehydrated over the course of a few hours, and then the flesh is scraped out. It is also sold in glass jars as a paste. Finding dry choriceros was next to impossible, but I did locate jars of the ‘paste.’







Here's the rest of the ingredients. I acquired some nice Sweet Spanish paprika _(preferred)_ but a good Hungarian sweet would do just as well, I was told._  Fresh Garlic, Red wine, Black pepper (tellicherry variety preferred), Kosher salt, Sugar, Pinch of nutmeg or allspice ‘to taste’ and Cure#1 (if smoking— which I plan to, although the cure is not pictured below:_







Added all the ingredients to the ground meat (4.5mm plate), including the pink Cure#1:







All mixed & ready to go:







I'm letting this sit overnight as I have other obligations to attend to so the stuffing & smoking will have to wait until tomorrow. I did fry up a small piece to test the overall flavor. It needed a bit more salt & a touch more sugar to offset the bit of paprika 'bitterness', but the flavor I was after _('red-peppery, garlicky, bit of heat') _was pretty much there. The smoking will, I believe, only enhance the final product.

To be continued.....
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





—Kevin


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## moikel

Absolutely love it & Ive been to Espellete ! No joke spent a week on the  French side of Basque country back in 92. St John d pi por ,Esterauncuby(??) ,St John d Luze, & Espellete. Good food, ham ,chorizo & Brebis cheese. Lovely people have some great & funny memories.

Cant wait for your progress.


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## scarbelly

Now that is something that perks my interest. I will be watching this one for sure.


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## chef jimmyj

That sounds like a very tasty version...I realize the Butcher may have taken you in to his confidence, but I have to ask, on behalf of the rest of us Foodies, do you have permission to share the Specific Quantities in the Recipe?...JJ


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## couger78

Chef JimmyJ said:


> That sounds like a very tasty version...I realize the Butcher may have taken you in to his confidence, but I have to ask, on behalf of the rest of us Foodies, do you have permission to share the Specific Quantities in the Recipe?...JJ


Chef JJ, when I spoke with the butcher, he listed the ingredients but no real specific nor exact quantities. What I did was take his list and matched them up best I could to a published recipe I came across for basque chorizo by Bruce Aidell. Adjustments made to taste. Slight variation on Bruce's with ingredients being more native to the Basque region. Once I finish 'tweaking,' I'll post the amounts I used and my impressions how they compare to the fine product the Basque butcher makes.

—Kevin


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## laszlo

You are onto something really good! Can't wait for a smoking sequel and money shots.







Cheers.


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## mballi3011

Now that sausage looks awesome I would really like to try some tho. I bet it will be good


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## chefrob

looks like a good start!


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## SmokinAl

Love the color Kevin, looking forward to seeing the finished sausage.


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## jak757

Wonderful looking so far -- I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product!


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## slownlow

awesome start.


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## roller

Very nice !!!!


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## venture

That looks an awful lot like my Basco friend in Fresno makes.  He dries his rather than smoking.  His meat is a little more coarse.  Looks great from here.

I agree, that sweet Spanish paprika is great stuff!

I had no idea you were Basco!  LOL

Good luck and good smoking.


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## boykjo

SmokinAl said:


> Love the color Kevin, looking forward to seeing the finished sausage.




Ditto........ looking good







Joe


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## couger78

5:00am.....Got an early start this morning and began the stuffing process. Using 30-32mm natural pork casings.

Six pounds ready for the smoker:







6:45am: Managed to dangle the load over two dowels, trying to keeping 'touching' to a minimum. I couldn't find any more dowels as they've mysteriously wandered off—so I made do with the two.No smoke for the first hour—just 130° temp to dry them a bit...







Used my A-maze-n smoker with 2.5 lanes of maple dust. I wanted something 'light' so as not to overwhelm the sausage flavor. Kind of silly of me, really, considering all the spices in the chorizo...

10:00 am After two hours of smoke, took a peek...







3:30pm — I finally hit the IT after 7.5 hours so its time to pull the chorizo....







Bloom time. I had some weird twist and 'curls' on some due to my chorizo-wrangling on the dowels. The color came out nice—that dark, rich mahogany red.

They''ll cool & bloom here for about an hour...







Sample time!

Although they turned out not as spicy as the samples I had in Carson City, this is still a very tasty chorizo. Nothing like the Mexican variety.

Plenty of garlic with a strong 'red peppery' bite. NOT hot—which I was concerned about using the* espelette pepper* for the first time. More importantly, my wife  and boys really liked it.

It would go great with eggs, or in a good paella. Heck I might even get some good crusty bread & make a tasty sandwich with some!

—Kevin


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## moikel

You nailed it.
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





  Certainly looks as good as anything out the Portuguese butcher shop near me & they have been doing them for 2 generations in this country alone.


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## bmudd14474

Loos great. Good Job.


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## venture

Looks great to me?

Finer grind than some.

This is the real deal from Europe.  Almost no relation the the vinegar laden Mexican chorizo we like with our eggs!

Good luck and good smoking.


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## laszlo

Looks awesome, and no doubt it tastes great. Well done.

Perhaps next time try 8mm plate for coarser texture. I did my first chorizos with 8mm, then second batch with 12mm. I liked the second batch better, but I guess it is personal choice. If you like it fine textured, then all is good.

Also did you rapidly cool them down with cold shower when taken out from smoker? That helps to keep them looking less wrinkly. Eventually they will wrinkle as they naturally lose the moisture, but for a while they stay nice and plump.


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## boykjo

Great open shot Kevin.........Man that looks tasty.........
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





Joe


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## SmokinAl

Awesome Kevin!!!


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## realtorterry




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## DanMcG

Wow Kevin that slice view looks excellent, I would love to give that recipe a try sometime.


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## chefrob

great lookin' links!


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## slownlow

looks awesome,  Nice money shot!


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## chef jimmyj

Looks great!...Are you happy with the Spice Proportions?...JJ


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## couger78

Chef JimmyJ said:


> Looks great!...Are you happy with the Spice Proportions?...JJ


Personally, I like a bit more heat in my chorizo. But this batch seems to hit all the right chords with the rest of the family.

Next time I do this, I'll probably split the batch: to half, I would add more of the espelette pepper for the kick.

Another choice next time is to possibly use a coarser grind.

—Kevin


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## irie

wow that turned out amazing, nice job


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## BGKYSmoker

AWESOME KEVIN


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## isutroutbum

Looks fantastic! Great color on them after the smoke!

Thanks for posting this. I am going to give 'er a try!


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## werdwolf




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## couger78

Laszlo said:


> Perhaps next time try 8mm plate for coarser texture. I did my first chorizos with 8mm, then second batch with 12mm. I liked the second batch better, but I guess it is personal choice. If you like it fine textured, then all is good.
> 
> Also did you rapidly cool them down with cold shower when taken out from smoker? That helps to keep them looking less wrinkly. Eventually they will wrinkle as they naturally lose the moisture, but for a while they stay nice and plump.


Next time I'll probably go for coarser—as that probably more closely matches the chorizo I had in Nevada.

I didn't cold-shower these—something I normally do after I hot-water poach a batch. Surprisingly, even a day or so later in the fridge, there's not much of the 'prune effect' going on as these links maintained they're plumpness. Next step is to 'food-saver' the majority and keep a few on hand.

—Kevin


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## shoneyboy

Some fine work their !!!!


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## kingkoch42

gone


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## billyj571

Nice Job look awesome


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## denny74

That looks fantastic!!!


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## couger78

Kingkoch42 said:


> Looks great.
> 
> Just for information here is what fresh "piments d'Espellette" look like :
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> The dark ones on the left in the background have been drying for about a year.
> 
> Cal


Thanks for posting the pic, Cal. I wondered what those peppers looked like 'fresh.'

I had some of the chorizo this morning scrambled with eggs, onions, bell pepper, tomatoes and a healthy sprinkle of the powdered _Piment d'Espelette_ on top for a little extra zing! 

Tasty way to start the day! 
	

	
	
		
		



		
		
	


	





—Kevin


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## fourthwind

Fantastic posting job.  The sausage looks awesome!


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## billebouy

Beautiful.


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## frosty

BEAUTIFUL work, nothing but excellence there.


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## couger78

Thanks for all the kind words!

My sons have been using this chorizo in everything: mixed with eggs, sliced & tossed in mac n' cheese, in black bean soup.

The chorizo really added a nice touch to the paella my wife made last Friday! Not overly hot, but the peppery-garlic flavor really was great!

I've had a few requests from folks for this recipe—or at least MY estimations of the amounts—so here they are. For a guideline, I used some of the amounts listed in Bruce Aidell's "Complete Sausage Book" but since some of the ingredients in THIS version were a bit different, I adjusted accordingly.

*Country Basque Chorizo*

_makes SIX pounds_

Ingredients: 

5 lbs. pork butt/shoulder

1.0 lb. beef chuck 

1/2 Cup (126g) Sweet Spanish paprika (or _Hungarian_) 

1/2 Cup (128g) Choricero Pepper puree

1 Tbl (10g) Espelette Pepper powder (_more for added hea_t)

1 Cup fresh minced garlic

6 Tbsp dry red wine

20g sugar

44g kosher salt

11g coarsely ground black pepper (_tellacherry_ preferred)

Pinch of ground clove or allspice

1&1/4 tsp Cure#1 (pink salt, dissolved in ¼ cup water) 

30-32mm hog casings

Directions:

Grind pork and beef through a 3/8” plate. 

Combine ground meat with all ingredients.

Let stand overnight in refrigerator.

Stuff the next day. Hang links to dry at room temperature for one hour (or hang in smoker @120° with no smoke for 45-60minutes) until exterior is dry to touch). Add smoke. Well-seasoned sausage can take hardier-flavored woods so use personal preference. 

After sausage has dried, increase the heat to 130-140 degrees F, and apply 2-3 hours of smoke. Continue raising temp over the course of the next 4-6 hours (top out @170°) until the desired IT (155°) is reached. Plunk ‘em in ice-bath & let them bloom for a hour or so before refrigerating. Refrigerate or freeze for longer storage.

————————————

That's pretty much it. Next time I'll add more of the espelette powder for more kick.' 

—Kevin


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## uzedupstan1

How can I get this recipe, with pictures, to print?


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## SmokinAl

uzedupstan1 said:


> How can I get this recipe, with pictures, to print?


Copy & paste into Word, then print.


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## Dutch

Kevin-great recipe and nice pictures. This is definitely going into my "sausage to do" list!.


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## scarbelly

Thanks for the recipe - Man those really came out nice


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## uzedupstan1

That'd be great if I knew how to "copy and past". I'm better at smokin' than I am computers.


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## tom c

Great post, thanks.


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## uzedupstan1

Cougar78 where can I buy the Choricero paste and the D'Esplette powder. I live in the SF Bay Area and would love to make this sausage.


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## bikes blues bbq

uzedupstan1 said:


> That'd be great if I knew how to "copy and past". I'm better at smokin' than I am computers.


Move your cursor to the area you want to copy.   Left click and hold while you mouse over the area you want to copy.  The selection should be highlighted (usually in blue).  After you have selected, release your left click,   right click and select "Copy".      Then open Word (or whichever word processing program you use),    Right click again,   select "Paste".     Your selection should appear on your document.


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## couger78

uzedupstan1 said:


> Cougar78 where can I buy the Choricero paste and the D'Esplette powder. I live in the SF Bay Area and would love to make this sausage.


Hi Uzed

I found them online at several online stores:

In California— http://www.laespanolameats.com

In NY: http://despananyc.com

and this place...

https://www.simplygourmand.com

Did I already say this chorizo goes great in paella?

Let me repeat myself: _THIS STUFF GOES GREAT in PAELLA!_

I made two batches: one with shellfish (mussels, clams & shrimp), the other without. Both had the chorizo, serrano ham & chicken; added to short-grain spanish rice, olive oil, splash of dry white wine, artichoke hearts, piquillo peppers, peas, onions, garlic, saffron, smoked paprika & spices. The chorizo adds a nice smokiness (along with the paprika) and a nice garlicy kick.

Here's the one sans-shellfish. Next investment: BIGGER Paella pans!


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## uzedupstan1

Thanks a lot.  Just placed an order for both and will be making the great looking sausage as soon as they arrive and I have time.

I used to buy some great Basque sausage at a meat smoking place in Susanville, CA where two old guys had been smoking meat for years.  Haven't been that way in a while, but always wanted to find a good recipe to try and make my own. Thanks again. That Paella looks great as well.


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## big twig

Everything looks great!


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## wkydog

Looks awesome. I could almost taste them, now I need a beer. I better get busy.


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## smokey j

I just cannot wait to see the final product and review of how it taste. It is a good way to start making these sausages.  Can you tell us the recipe of your spice blend? It's pretty hard to figure out the specifics on what you have done by taking a picture of the spices you have used for this recipe.


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## red dog

Dang that looks good! Well done.


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## mckay

Looks very good! 

I know the thread is years old but a source of dried choricero peppers is *one of my favorite shops,*

http://www.tienda.com/search/?perpage=24&sort=relevance&feed=products&p=0&q=Choricero+

Not sure I would go dried over paste that as it looks like alot of trouble skinning those little peppers.


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## dirtsailor2003

Wow! This Chorizo looks great!


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## basquegrl96

Do you sell them??  if so where?

Casey


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## chef jimmyj

basquegrl96 said:


> Do you sell them??  if so where?
> 
> Casey


Casey, Welcome to SMF. Cougar is a long time member and a resident Sausage Guru but as far as I know, has not gone into the Sausage business. Cougar has posted the Recipe and details on how it's made. This is not hard but takes some technique and equipment that we can help you with. If interested, do some reading, in our Sausage Forum, on making sausage and start asking questions. Good Luck and stop by Roll Call and give us some info on yourself, experience, equipment you have and your ambitions...JJ


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## Desilejf

Excellent recipe, I learned about the chorizo 50 plus years ago growing up in SE Oregon with a large Basque community. When I couldnt find good chorizo anywhere I would drive over and get a batch from the local market, they get them from Boise, The Basque Market.
It seemed easier to make them than to drive 600 miles.
Love the recipe, La Tiende has everything you need andebay providea ll the different Paprika.
I took this  a step farther and actually dry cured this recipe. If it gets monld, anything but black mold just wipe them down with a vinegar and water solution. Going to do another batch today, I gave the lst batch away and had return requests.


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## Desilejf

Great recipe: I learned about the chorizo growing up in SE Oregon in a large Basque community. Having found nothing that compared to those handmade chorizos of my youth I found this recipe and I dry cured the chorizo. Simple enough, if and when they develope a little white mold wipe them down with a vinegar and water solution. Basicly keep them from becoming moldy, and of course if you have ever seen sausages hanging in France, Italy or Spain you know they get moldy. Doesnt hurt a thing unless it is black mold, NOT GOOD


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