Chaurice
Makes about 12.
By Dennis W. Viau; modified from several recipes.
Having learned to make sausages, I wanted to make some chorizo. The Cajun/Creole sausage chaurice is a close relative, being Spanish in origin and also highly spiced. For the following recipe I combined what I thought might be the best seasonings, but there is no one way to season chaurice. You can choose your own preferred spices.
Ingredients:
2 hog casings; rinsed, soaked, and rinsed again inside and out
2½ pounds (1.1kg) pork butt
2 teaspoons kosher or coarse salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper (medium grind)
2 tablespoons chili powder
½ teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon dry thyme
1 teaspoon cayenne
½ teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon fennel or anise seed, ground or cracked
1 teaspoon sugar
½ cup (70g) onion, minced
6 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup (15g) parsley, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup (60ml) dry red wine
1 tablespoon brandy
½ tablespoon red wine vinegar (optional)
Directions:
If possible, assemble your meat grinder attachment with the medium or the large disk and store in the refrigerator overnight. Rinse two hog casings well, running water through the inside of the casing, and then soak in a bowl of clean fresh water. Store in the refrigerator until needed.
Cut the pork and fat into cubes about ¾ to 1 inch (2 to 2.5cm) in size, arrange on a small tray, and place in the freezer for 20 to 30 minutes.
Place all the seasoning ingredients in a large bowl. (I don’t care for the sour flavor of vinegar; so I listed it as “optional.”)
Grind the pork and place the ground meat in the bowl with the spices. Turn and mix well to distribute the seasonings thoroughly in the meat. Cover and refrigerate for three hours to let the seasonings flavor the meat.
Attach the spacer and sausage stuffing tube to the meat grinder and attach it to your stand mixer. Rinse a hog casing and gently feed it onto the stuffing tube. Start passing seasoned meat through the grinder. When it begins to fill the casing, tie the casing closed with a piece of kitchen string.
Continue pushing meat through the grinder, gently filling the casing to fill it completely without bursting the casing. This might require a little practice.
When one casing is full, tie the end closed with a piece of string and repeat the filling process with the second casing. (I found two casings to be just right for this amount of filling.)
Pinch the sausage at 4-inch intervals, two pinches at a time, and twist the section between the two pinches 2 or 3 times to shape a sausage link. Repeat until all the links are formed. Cover and store in the refrigerator for several hours or overnight to rest the meat before cutting apart.
These sausages contain no preservatives; so they should be cooked within 1 or 2 days, frying about 5 minutes per side, until cooked all the way through, or to an internal temperature of at least 160°F (71°C). Unused sausages can be wrapped and safely stored in the freezer for a few months.
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