Chorizo.
That highly flavored Mexican sausage that everyone seems to love. Perfect to accompany any breakfast. When I worked in a kitchen, it was a big deal to have chorizo in house. And let me tell you, they didn’t bring that cheap chorizo either. They bought expensive chorizo, which is why it was a big deal. This chorizo had less fat, more quality muscle-based meat in it, was darker in color, and tasted multitudes better.
We almost always paired it with eggs, onions, and jalapenos. That mixture was then put in some corn tortillas with either tobacco or homemade salsa. I’m not afraid to admit that I took advantage of these breakfasts. I sure miss those days with my Mexican and Guatemalan comrades.
Today I’m going to show you how to make wild game chorizo without a grinder.
Before we really dive in, I have to mention that this isn’t going to be an absolutely beautiful chorizo. Why? Well, because we don’t have a grinder. Instead, we are going to be using a food processor. Some of your meat is going to come out grind-like, but some of it is also going to come out as mush. Personally, I think it works really well with this application. The mixture of textures isn’t so great to inhibit cook quality, but it great enough to give a rustic texture. I will say that if you like that super cheap chorizo from the grocery store that you will have no problems with this chorizo, as the texture of that stuff is awful.
Type of Chorizo
The type of chorizo we are making here is Mexican chorizo – a fresh, uncured, raw, fatty form of chorizo that can be sold in both ground and cased form.
Spanish chorizo is the other type of chorizo, which is cased, cured, and hung. We aren’t doing that.
Type of Game
I have many bags of cubed pork from a pig I butchered several months ago that I’m using for chorizo.
I’m going to categorize 3 types of meat for the application of making chorizo. The differences between these meats is the presence of fat. Traditionally, Mexican chorizo has a ton of fat. Well, most wild game doesn’t have a ton of fat. There are some exceptions out there, and those exceptions will be in the main category that we are calling “pork-like”. These meats can have up to 5% of fat added, or can be just made without any additional fat. This includes wild boar, mountain lion, beaver, bobcat, and duck.
The next category is “light fat needed”. This category should 5-10% fat added to the mixture in order to get that chorizo fattiness. This includes leaner red meats, including venison, elk, bison, etc.
The last category is “high fat needed”. This category of meats needs 10-15% fat added, as these meats bring almost nothing to the table. These meats include any white meat, including rabbit, turkey, chicken, and others.
In order to figure how much fat you need, choose your percentage and multiply that times the total weight of your meat.
If you have 2lbs of elk, multiply 2 by 0.05 (5%), and you will get .1lbs of fat added.
Type of Fat
When it comes to the type of fat being used, you should really be using pork fat. You could probably use other fat sources like bear fat, but pork fat is going to be more readily available.
Grinding the Meat
When it comes to grinding the meat, you need a powerful food processor. If you only have a cheap, weak food processor than I wouldn’t try this, as it will burn it out. Personally, I use a Ninja. This worked well.
The reason why a Ninja works so well is because of it’s many blades. A normal blender will not work for this application.
You want to make sure that your meat is cold before grinding, but not ice cold like with a normal grinder. A normal grinder can grind meat that is near frozen, but not a food processor. Your meat should be kept in the fridge until ready to be ground.
Your meat should also be cubed into pieces no larger than 1” x 1” x 1”. Your fat and whole muscle pieces should be mixed together – this will help give you a more homogenous mixture later. I would also only do a pound or two at a time – any more and you risk burning out your food processor.
When its time to grind, put the meat inside the food processor only a little at a time. You don’t want to grind a bunch at a time or you will get some chunks and we don’t want that.
Put your meat in and turn the food processor on. Process until the largest pieces are small, grind-like pieces. These should be no larger than 1/8”.
Remove this meat from the processor and put into a bowl and repeat until all your meat is ground up.
Seasoning
Add all of your seasoning and vinegar to the bowl with your meat and start mixing. Get your hands dirty and mix really well. During this process, feel for any larger pieces that you may have missed and remove them. Your hands are going to stain red but it’s worth it.
A note on this seasoning; the salt content of this seasoning is a little low but that’s because I wanted to let you add more salt when it’s time for cooking.
Let it Sit
THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PART.
Let your chorizo sit, covered, in the fridge for 24-36 hours. This allows the flavors to come together, intermingle, and flavor development to occur. This is the difference between a trash chorizo and a great chorizo.
Trust me. Let it rest. Your patience will be rewarded.
Package
Once it has sat, it’s time to package. I’ll usually make 3-5lbs at a time will then use my vacuum sealer to package 8-16oz at a time. I like a vacuum sealer for this application because any kind of food that has a lot of fat will retain flavors from the freezer if not airtight. This isn’t to say that you can’t use plastic wrap and butcher paper, but you need to wrap everything as well as possible.
Always label with the product name and date, but I will add the weight, too.
Conclusion
That’s it for today’s article, and the recipe follows below. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy this recipe and I know that you will, too. This recipe is so flexible that you can make chorizo out of just about anything, including some meats that aren’t listed here.
Recipe
Wild Game Chorizo
Prep Time: 15-20 Minutes
Total Time: 30 Minutes
Ingredients
1 lb Ground Meat
3.5 Tablespoons Paprika
3/4 Tablespoon Ground Cumin
2 Tablespoons Chili Powder
2 teaspoons Dried Oregano (preferably Mexican)
1/2 teaspoon Kosher or Sea Salt
1/8 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
2 Teaspoons Garlic Powder
2.5 Tablespoons White Vinegar
1.) Begin by grinding meat in food processor as spoken about in the above instructions
2.) Put ground meat into large bowl
3.) Add all ingredients to large bowl and mix thoroughly until well incorporated
4.) Cover and let rest for 24-36 hours
5.) Use within 2-3 days or pack and freeze. Will keep packed well in freezer for 3 months