Cowgirl Chorizo

Normally I wouldn’t just post a picture of raw meat, but look how beautiful this is! See the flecks of blackish red? That’s the Ancho chile. The red is the famous Basque red pepper, piment d’Espelette.

Today, I made my own chorizo, and I’m planning to cook it up and mix it with scrambled eggs for Saturday morning breakfast tacos, put bits of it in a Texified fougasse, and I may keep some in the freezer, too, to add to lentils, or black beans, and a recipe that I make with chicken and chorizo that cooks up perfectly in little cocottes.

Like the regular, all-purpose flour that I found recently at the English shop down the street, I don’t know why I didn’t think of this before. Just go to the butcher and ask him to grind up a bit of pork with fat for you, take it home, and mix it up with the spices, and that’s it.

Cowgirl Chorizo

1 pound ground pork shoulder
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon oregano
3 Ancho chiles
3 teaspoons piment d’Espelette
1 t jalapeno powder
4 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup red wine vinegar
¼ water

Remove the stems and seeds from the Ancho chiles, and chop finely (you may need to use kitchen scissors to cut them into strips first, and then chop as fine as you can with a sharp knife).

Add all of the dry ingredients, the vinegar, and water and combine.