Gayla
Mar 17, 2006, 4:22 PM
Post #2 of 6
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Back in November I had the opportunity to tour the Alianza Chorizo factory in Toluca. Factory is probably something of an understatement since their "factory" was in the basement and and consisted of a large mixing vat and stuffing machine. But this is a high voume, family owned, high quality carneceria/chorizo maker. The mixing vat was standard commerical kitchen equipment but specialized for the bakery business, not meat packing. It had one, large rotating paddle that turned and incorporated the meat and spices. I would assume it mimics the kneading action for bread. The owner of the company said they found this piece of equipment more efficient for their needs than the pieces of equipment deisgned to do the job. The vat was loaded with lean meat, mostly pork, proprietary spices, and two ingredients that I had no idea went into chorizo -- pine nuts and raisins (this was for their top of the line product). The mixing took about 7-8 minutes and there is a master sausage maker who determines when the mixing is complete. Also much like a good baker knows when the dough is ready, the sausage foreman could tell when the had the mixture had reached the right texture just by feel. Natural casings (imported from the U.S.) were loaded onto the fill nozzle, the meat dumped into the hopper overhead, and, voila.....ropes and ropes of beautiful chorizo. The ropes were then moved over to an attachment machine that didn't twist them into links, but made deep indentations at regular intervals for the links.
After being suitably impressed we were shown the green chorizo. The meats and spices are pretty much the same with the addition of spinach, parsley and chard for the green color. This was an all natural product so the color was a nice normal shade of green. The vivid to lurid green chorizos often seen hanging in butcher stalls, grocery stores and restaurants, I learned, is the result of artifical coloring, much to the distress of this chorizo making family.
It was then on to the Hacienda Paisen (I don't think I spelled that right, but I think you can get the drift) for a chorizo feast. Queso fundido with red and green chorizo, plain chorizo slices, ensalada de nopales con chorizo, gorditas con chorizo, mushroom soup thick with mushrooms but bereft of chorizo and some of the tenderest skirt steak imaginable. Oh, and there was an Obispo, which is best described as sort of a loose Mexican interpretation of Scottish haggis. Chorizo, meats, innards, veggies, etc. where all combined and cooked in the pork stomach. It was better than it sounds, though probably an acquired taste for those with the "oh my god, offal is awful" mindset.
One of my biggest excuses to come to Mexico is to be able to eat good chorizo :-)) because it sure isn't readily available NOB.
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