One and a half kilos of pork shoulder

Pork was on special on Monday, so I bought another hunk of shoulder. I didn't think, until I got home, that the freezer is getting just a little bit full. Pork's been on special a bit lately and I keep buying bits of shoulder that I put in the freezer so I can make yummy sausages closer to Christmas, for when my visitors arrive (wanting to show of my new skills as a charcutier). I've overdone it just a bit, so I had to do something with the latest bit of meat.

Mexican chorizo and a pork and bean chili is what I decided upon, with some of the chorizo to go into the last little bit of a batch of sausage skins, and some of it to be used and/or frozen loose.

Here's the pork, chopped up and ready to go:


The couple of steak-shaped bits in the top right corner are for the chili.

I used a recipe from Charcuterie again. This one requires chipotle and ancho chili powder, which I don't have. But I do have dried chipotles and ancho chilies, …


… so I zapped them for a minute or so in the microwave to get them good and crunchy …


… then whizzed them in the spice grinder and turned them into powder:

The recipe called for oregano, which I also don't have, but I have marjoram in the garden so I went out and picked some:


I also needed hot smoked paprika …


… cumin, pepper, garlic and salt:


Everything got all mixed up and left in the fridge overnight:


The rest of the pork went into the slow cooker with some salt, onion, garlic, tomato paste, what was left of the powdered chilies, and a tin of black beans that had been sitting in the cupboard for ages:


Then I turned it on and left it overnight. This is what it looked like in the morning:


It was cold enough on Tuesday to leave it on the bench for the day until I got home from work. Summer is still looking very distant. Or should I say it was looking distant - today it was quite warm, and tomorrow we are looking forward to 25°C. Not a patch on where my grandkids are though - it got to 43.2 in Adelaide today according to my daughter-in-law's Facebook. I hope it cools down a bit by the time I visit after Christmas.

But I digress, back to food.

Tuesday evening I added some water and red wine vinegar to the sausage mixture, minced and mixed it, then stuffed my tail end of casings …


… which went into the freezer, leaving this much extra sausagemeat:


I froze about half of it, but the rest I cooked up so I could fill some enchiladas:


I filled four with the chorizo and some frozen grated cheese:


And four with the bean and pork chili and cheese:


And I alternated them in this dish:


Then I was stuck - I'd put tomato paste in the chili because I'd run out of cans of tomatoes, so what was I going to use for a sauce?

Rummage rummage through the pantry. Finally I came up with this:


Perfect. I love tomatillos, which are related to my favourite jam fruit, the Cape gooseberry.

I chucked them into the blender with a bit of salt and sugar and onion (plenty of chili and spices in the stuffing, didn't want to overdo it) and poured the resulting slush over my enchiladas:


Baked them in the oven for half an hour or so, …


… then aliquotted them two per container (one of each flavour) and froze them. Yes, I still needed to find room in the freezer, but pork shoulder takes up less room cooked and in pieces.

Recipe

Mexican chorizo (from Charcuterie)

Ingredients:
2.5 kg diced pork shoulder
40 g salt
2 tbsp ancho chili powder
1 tbsp hot paprika (I used smoked)
1 tbsp chipotle powder
1 tbsp minced garlic (I used smoked)
1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp chopped fresh oregano (I used marjoram)
1/2 tsp ground cumin
3 tbsp tequila, chilled (I used water)
3 tbsp red wine vinegar (chilled)

Optional: 3 meters of sausage casings (pig intestines) soaked in tepid water for at least 30 minutes and rinsed.

Method:
Keep everything cold.
Mix all ingredients except tequila and vinegar and toss to distribute seasonings. Keep chilled until ready to use.
Grind the mixture through the small die into a bowl set in ice.
Add the tequila and vinegar and mix well with a spoon or the paddle attachment of your mixer.
Sauté a little bit of mixture to check the seasoning. Adjust if necessary.
Either stuff into the casings and twist into 6 inch links, or use loose.
Sauté or roast links to an internal temperature of 65°C, or if using loose, sauté until cooked though.