spain: September 2007 Archives

This week I bring you a more-ish warm salad, inspired by that Moorish London restaurant on Exmouth Market. This one's for Tara, who has abandoned me at Chez Panisse to go and work at Moro for a while. Hopefully I'll get some more yummy Spanish recipes from her as a result.

All still goes well in the restaurant kitchen. I've had good days (another soup proclaimed 'delicious' by the chef), bad days (a soup proclaimed only fit for the compost), fun days (sausage-stuffing, lemon-preserving, chicken-boning kinda days) and bizarre days (such as the day I lost my bra strap somewhere in the restaurant, lord knows how or when, but it must be there somewhere...).

Chorizo is pronounced ‘chorissoh’ or, in some parts of Spain, ‘chorithoh’, but never ‘choritzoh’, please.

It comes in all sorts of varieties in many countries around the world, notably Spain, Portugal and Mexico, but also India (Goa, due to Portuguese colonial presence), Argentina and the Philippines.

Spanish chorizo is usually, but not always, cured, and therefore edible as is, sliced.  It’s made from coarsely chopped fatty pork and flavoured with garlic and smoked paprika.  It can be hot - ‘picante’, or sweet - ‘dulce’.

Mexican chorizo, on the other hand, is a very different sausage - made from ground pork, flavoured with additional spices such as cinnamon, and importantly, requires cooking.