Question About Chorizo

Based on the discussion of Tyler Florence have been flipping through his cookbook. One recipe is arroz con pollo with salsa verde.

The recipe calls for cutting "chorizo" into one inch pieces and then saute until it begins to render fat and gets crsipy" You remove it, then cook chicken for a bit in the residual fat of the chorizo. Lastly you stir in some veggies and rice, crushed tomatoes and chicken stock - and then put the chicken and chorizo back in and throw the whole thing in the oven for 25 minutes.

I never know when it means cooked or uncooked chorizo. I see lots of "hard chorizo" like a pepperoni in stores.....but I assume in this recipe they are talking about a raw sausage (like an Italian sausage?)

Thanks for helping me with my chorizo ignorance

Based on the discussion of Tyler Florence have been flipping through his cookbook. One recipe is arroz con pollo with salsa verde.

The recipe calls for cutting "chorizo" into one inch pieces and then saute until it begins to render fat and gets crsipy" You remove it, then cook chicken for a bit in the residual fat of the chorizo. Lastly you stir in some veggies and rice, crushed tomatoes and chicken stock - and then put the chicken and chorizo back in and throw the whole thing in the oven for 25 minutes.

I never know when it means cooked or uncooked chorizo. I see lots of "hard chorizo" like a pepperoni in stores.....but I assume in this recipe they are talking about a raw sausage (like an Italian sausage?)

Thanks for helping me with my chorizo ignorance

It depends largely on the nationality of the chorizo. Spanish chorizo is usually a hard, cured sausage, whereas Mexican chorizo is sold raw, in casing. So, if the recipe is Mexican in origin, I'd assume that raw sausage is what's called for.

Mark Lipton

Since it says to cut the chorizo into 1" pieces, I would guess it is hard chorizo. Recipes that include raw chorize require that you remove it from the casing before cooking, as it's fairly crumbly and if you cut it and fry with the casing on, the casing will shrink and the contents will spill out into the pan anyway.

I'm with Jo Ann. If you're supposed to cut it up and fry until it's crispy, I'm pretty sure they're referring to the Spanish version. I haven't worked much with Mexican chorizo, but I don't know that you could really get it to be crispy. (?)

[Jenise]

Based on the discussion of Tyler Florence have been flipping through his cookbook. One recipe is arroz con pollo with salsa verde.

The recipe calls for cutting "chorizo" into one inch pieces and then saute until it begins to render fat and gets crsipy" You remove it, then cook chicken for a bit in the residual fat of the chorizo. Lastly you stir in some veggies and rice, crushed tomatoes and chicken stock - and then put the chicken and chorizo back in and throw the whole thing in the oven for 25 minutes.

I never know when it means cooked or uncooked chorizo. I see lots of "hard chorizo" like a pepperoni in stores.....but I assume in this recipe they are talking about a raw sausage (like an Italian sausage?)

Thanks for helping me with my chorizo ignorance

It depends largely on the nationality of the chorizo. Spanish chorizo is usually a hard, cured sausage, whereas Mexican chorizo is sold raw, in casing. So, if the recipe is Mexican in origin, I'd assume that raw sausage is what's called for.

Mark Lipton

The cooks divide!

I'm with Mark--is this supposed to be the Mexican version of the dish? Though I understand Jo Ann's caution that the contents of the casing of any Mexican Chorizo I've worked with would spill out, I can't imagine cutting Spanish cured chorizo into something as large as one inch chunks. Even the nomenclature seems wrong for that kind of sausage--'cut' vs. slice, that is.

[Jenise]

Mystery solved. On the off chance that the recipe was on the net somewhere, I googled it and found it on the Food Network website where the sausage element is described as "dried chorizo sausage" so yes, it's the cured, Spanish type. My google search also turned up this review of the book on Amazon.com, which mentions this recipe: " I really enjoy watching Tyler Florence on the Food Network, and the other recipes of his that I've tried from the Food Network website have turned out well. However, I've just finished making the Arroz con Pollo recipe in this book, and I'm so annoyed that I had to write. The cookbook really could've used more careful editing. The rice to liquid ratio was so off that the rice ended up a gloppy mess. I know I shouldn't have followed the recipe blindly, since if I had stopped to think about it for a second, I would've realized that there was no way that the proportions were correct, especially when compared with the Arroz con Pollo recipe on Epicurious.com. What's even more frustrating is that the flavors of the dish were excellent, and the dish had the potential to be outstanding. Thus, I'm wary of trying another recipe in the book, but if I do, I'll be a lot less blindly trusting. "

Your recipe, John, if it's identical in the book, calls for 2 cups of rice for 3 cups of chicken broth and one 15 ounce can tomatoes which is pretty wet. I'd back off about one cup of liquid. Your choice where to cut, but to emphasize the sofrito and spicey sausage flavors I'd probably lose the juice from the tomatoes.

[Jenise]

[quote="Jenise"]Mystery solved. On the off chance that the recipe was on the net somewhere, I googled it and found it on the Food Network website where the sausage element is described as "dried chorizo sausage" so yes, it's the cured, Spanish type. My google search also turned up this review of the book on Amazon.com, which mentions this recipe: " I really enjoy watching Tyler Florence on the Food Network, and the other recipes of his that I've tried from the Food Network website have turned out well. However, I've just finished making the Arroz con Pollo recipe in this book, and I'm so annoyed that I had to write. The cookbook really could've used more careful editing. The rice to liquid ratio was so off that the rice ended up a gloppy mess. I know I shouldn't have followed the recipe blindly, since if I had stopped to think about it for a second, I would've realized that there was no way that the proportions were correct, especially when compared with the Arroz con Pollo recipe on Epicurious.com. What's even more frustrating is that the flavors of the dish were excellent, and the dish had the potential to be outstanding. Thus, I'm wary of trying another recipe in the book, but if I do, I'll be a lot less blindly trusting. "

Your recipe, John, if it's identical in the book, calls for 2 cups of rice for 3 cups of chicken broth and one 15 ounce can tomatoes which is within the tolerance for the standard 2:1 liquid to rice ratio for conventional American rice cookery, but still on the wet side. I personally never cook rice more than 1.5:1 so I'd back off about 3/4 cup of liquid. Your choice where to cut, but to emphasize the sofrito and spicey sausage flavors, and to get a lighter rice I'd probably lose the more viscuous juice of the tomatoes, adding only the drained chunks.

Your recipe, John, if it's identical in the book, calls for 2 cups of rice for 3 cups of chicken broth and one 15 ounce can tomatoes which is pretty wet. I personally never cook rice more than 1.5:1 so I'd back off about 3/4 cup of liquid. Your choice where to cut, but to emphasize the sofrito and spicey sausage flavors I'd probably lose the juice from the tomatoes.

I disgree, Jenise. When you are cooking rice alone you can make the adjustments you suggest (if you want rice that is a tad bit more al dente). However, this is a rice dish. The other ingredients in the dish will absorb some of the liquid as well making the liquid available to the rice somewhat closer to the ratio you suggest. The rice should come out just fine with this amount of liquid, unless the tomatoes are swimming in liquid and/or some other liquid (like wine) is also called for. I would follow the recipe pretty closely, perhaps holding back on about 1/4 c liquid, gauge the doneness of the rice in the last 15 minutes of cooking, and add the reserved liquid at that point if needed (heating in the microwave first to bring it to temperature).

[Jenise]

I disgree, Jenise. When you are cooking rice alone you can make the adjustments you suggest (if you want rice that is a tad bit more al dente). However, this is a rice dish. The other ingredients in the dish will absorb some of the liquid as well making the liquid available to the rice somewhat closer to the ratio you suggest. The rice should come out just fine with this amount of liquid, unless the tomatoes are swimming in liquid and/or some other liquid (like wine) is also called for. I would follow the recipe pretty closely, perhaps holding back on about 1/4 c liquid, gauge the doneness of the rice in the last 15 minutes of cooking, and add the reserved liquid at that point if needed (heating in the microwave first to bring it to temperature).

Actually, if I'm making rice alone I use pretty close to 1:1. By suggesting that he cut the liquid by that much was certainly reflecting my personal preference for textured rice, but also my experience with rice dish recipes that turn out "gloppy", as the reviewer described her result. But hey, tastes vary, and you and I are only half a cup apart here.

Since it says to cut the chorizo into 1" pieces, I would guess it is hard chorizo. Recipes that include raw chorize require that you remove it from the casing before cooking, as it's fairly crumbly and if you cut it and fry with the casing on, the casing will shrink and the contents will spill out into the pan anyway.

Ditto. Your recipe is screaming for Spanish chorizo.

rwj