Recipes welcome for each but main questions are. With Chorizo in lieu of vinegar has anyone just substituted citric acid powder for it to give it a little zing and how much would you use for say 5 lbs of chili grind beef and yes I know most chorizo is made from pork but I am experimenting.
Anyone have a good spice recipe for hot and spicy chicharrones. HEB carries some with their Hill Country Fair label and they are very good imho. I've got the pork skin and looking for the seasoning blend. Any ideas appreciated.
Along those experimentation lines, I've made beaux cou cured Cajun Tasso over the years and got a wild hair to make a "mexican seasoned" version. The pork is in a bag in the fridge as I write this. I've used Ruhlman and Polcyns method and recipe for the Cajun tasso and am tweaking it for the Mexican "tasso"

The citric acid is one of the worst ideas I've ever seen posted on this board. I won't even eat store bought hummus because of citric acid. Turning meat into a Trolli worm isn't adding zing.

Chicharron en salsa verde is one of my favorite things

I often use a bit of citric acid as a direct replacement for lemon juice when I am out of lemons. Imperceptible when substituting appropriate amount. Citric acid and fish sauce are two of my secret weapons.

No recipe to add but if you make them, chicharrones, with fresh lime juice squeezed over them, then drizzled with a hot sauce like Crystal or Salsa Botanera, then sprinkled with Tajin powder is a very common botana (snack). I am hispanic and that combination of acid (lime juice), spice (from the hot sauce or botanera), and then sprinkled with tajin or a similar powder is used for a number of thing, like on Lay's potato chips or fresh cucumber slices or spears. Making my mouth water as I type. Good luck with the chicharrones and chorizo.

Vinegar is in Mexican chorizo to stop the bind from happening, and results in the crumbly texture when you cook it. My fear would be if you add enough acid to give it the zing you're after, you will end up curing the meat. To get what you're looking for, I would squeeze on some lime juice after cooking it.

What I am experimenting around with as respects the chorizo are mexican versions of red beans and rice, jambalaya and gumbo using it, along with the "mexican tasso" and some chicken fajitas for the meat in either. I could use cubed beef for the chorizo but I already had three or four packages of course ground beef in the freezer. I guess since Fido poo pooed the citric acid idea I'll just go with vinegar.......

You can use citric acid, but I think it's going to throw off the flavor profile of the meat. Honestly, this sounds like a solution looking for a problem. If you've got a good chorizo recipe, just stick with it and swap it out for the meat in the recipes you're toying around with.

HTownAg98 said:

---

You can use citric acid, but I think it's going to throw off the flavor profile of the meat. Honestly, this sounds like a solution looking for a problem. If you've got a good chorizo recipe, just stick with it and swap it out for the meat in the recipes you're toying around with.

---

Problem is the only chorizo recipes I have are from the internet and I've not made any of them so I don't know whether they are good, bad or just mediocre and you can't always trust the stars. It wouldn't be the first experiment I screwed up so there's that. I'm not talking about adding a teaspoon to a pound of meat. Maybe half a pinch to brighten things up a bit

If you want to try it, you obviously don't need our approval, but there's a reason folks are steering you away from it. If it turns out good and you like it, great!

For the record, here's Kenji's chorizo recipe. I haven't personally made it, but his recipes are trustworthy.

https://www.seriouseats.com/easy-fresh-mexican-chorizo

I've made this one many times and like it, primarily because it's easy.


Also, since you have Charcuterie, the chorizo recipe that Ruhlman and Polcyn have in that book is good as well.

Thanks ......