Spicy Beef Chorizo
The day I found out that commercial chorizo was primarily composed of salivary glands and lymph nodes was the day I stopped eating it. Later I started to make my own from pork I ground myself. These days I tend to limit my pork consumption because it’s so much harder to trace what really went into it; grass fed beef is a whole lot easier to deal with in that regard. As a result I tend to keep it for the odd treat meal rather than as an everyday food. So lately I’ve been making beef chorizo. It’s Whole30 compliant, has no fillers at all and is absolutely delicious! Did I mention easy? Because it is ridiculously so: just season your beef, add some apple cider vinegar and mix! It’s not particularly photogenic so I’ve given you a picture of one of my morning chorizo hashes above – yum!
You can cook and eat this straightaway, or you can allow the flavors to mellow out overnight before cooking. What I tend to do is make a batch and then split it up into single servings and freeze them. That way, it’s super easy to take out of the freezer the night before so that it’s ready to cook in the morning. It also prevents wayward “taste testers” from oversampling…
The way I’ve seasoned this is the way we personally like it, but it may be too hot for littles or non-spicy-food people, so feel free to adjust the amount of chile powder to suit your tastes. All you need to do is measure out all your seasonings into a bowl like this:
Mix them together and then add your beef. I find the easiest way is to pull on a pair of disposable gloves and work the spices into the meat by hand. You don’t have to worry too much about overworking the meat like you might if making burger patties because you’re going to add the vinegar to the meat mix which will help tenderize it. Once it’s evenly mixed, you can cook it straightaway or save it for later – totally up to you!
- 2.5 lbs ground grass fed beef
- 1 tb ground cumin
- 1 tsp ground coriander seed
- ½ tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tbs oregano
- 2 tbs garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground black pepper
- 5 tbs ancho chile powder
- 6 tbs apple cider vinegar
- Measure out all seasonings into a large bowl.
- Add ground beef to the bowl; pour over the apple cider vinegar.
- Use (gloved) hands to work the seasonings into the meat evenly.
- Can be cooked immediately or left in the refrigerator overnight for the flavors to develop.
- If freezing, do so immediately.
[...] / Posted on: January 18, 2013meatified – The day I found out that commercial chorizo was primarily composed of salivary glands and [...]
Yum! I’ve made my own turkey sausage meatballs (turkey, Italian seasoning, paprika, cayenne pepper and nutmeg) but didn’t think to add apple cider vinegar. Will have to try it and see the difference.
I’m borderline phobic about vinegar (I usually can’t be in the same room as the stuff, can’t stand the smell) but it really does make a difference. Somehow it amps up the flavors and makes the beef much more tender than normal ground beef would be. The downside of that is that it doesn’t make good patties / meatballs as a result. One day I mean to try making a chorizo burger, just haven’t quite gotten around to figuring it out yet
What did you put in the hash that’s pictured? I’d love the recipe for that
It’s chorizo, roasted broccoli, spinach and eggs, but I don’t have an exact recipe as I was just using up all the leftovers I had in the fridge!