THE CHORIPAN
Being an Argentinean implies love for meat… meat in Argentina implies barbecue… and a proper Argentinean barbecue does imply Choripan. Simple equation. There are only few chances to find someone in this country who doesn’t enjoy a good Sunday barbecue, and probably there’s not a single “Asado” (Argentinean barbecue), where they don’t serve Choripan, or “Chori” as they call it as well, as starter.
Choripan, an abbreviation for CHORIZO (sausage) + PAN (bread), is the most common starter of every single Sunday barbecue. As in many other places of the planet, the marriage between sausage and bun is one of the happiest and will last forever, either if they call it Hot Dog, Würstl, or “Chori”. It is a real winner, delicious, cheap, fast and especially simple. Just grab a nice fresh chorizo perfectly grilled as the street vendors do, put it on a white baguette and spread a full spoon of chimichurri (an olive oil topping sauce with garlic, oregano, parsley and chili) all over it.
WHERE DID CHORIPÁNS ORIGINATE FROM
Chorizo sausage are thought to have come from the Iberian Peninsula, with the Spanish and Portuguese cultures having there own twist of chorizo sausage. Sausage making is dated back to the roman and Greek times as a form of efficient butchery. With the Spanish colonization of South America brought the culture of Spain and their love of sausage. As to who put a bun around could be anyone´s guess.
HOW TO MAKE YOUR VERY OWN CHORIPÁN
For this you need a lot of patience or a sausage maker. If using a sausage maker, I like to put all the equipment into the freezer to get it as cold as possible, this will make life easier. Start with meat. Any meat really the cheaper the better, there is going to be so much other flavors going on to hide it that it does not matter. I like pork butt, mince it in your meat and lay it out on a flat surface. Dice pork back fat into approximately 1 cm cubes and add it to the meat. Mix together salt, black pepper, oregano, paprika, cayenne pepper (if u want it hot) and fennel seeds. Sprinkle over the meat and knead it like bread until it sticks to your hands. Cook onions and garlic in red or white (any cheap wine) and reduce it until it tastes good and cool it down. Once cool add in parts to the meat, making sure it is mixed in well before adding more. Put it in the fridge overnight. Next day prep your sausage skins and start filling it very tightly. (if you do not have a sausage maker or skins and want to make it, you can use cling film and poach it in water). Once your skins are filled tie it up and hang it/dry it for 2 weeks keeping an eye on it as it may mould. Grill your sausages over charcoal to get the true Argentine flavor. Cut it in half slap it on a baguette cut in half length ways. Eat immediately and eat a lot of them!
ENJOY IT WITH AN ARGENTINE MALBEC!
