Mexican Cuisine: Sausages

By Robert Nickel


We know the Spanish arrived in the Americas and made a historical impact on the indigenous cultures there. We also know they brought the concept of cattle and dairy to the region for the first time. Growing, crushing and fermenting grapes was a new idea in the New World, thanks to the Spanish. Another Spanish concept that made a lasting impression on the Mayan and Aztec people was the idea of sausage. Here we will look at the two major kinds of sausage found in Mexico cuisine today, 500 years after Christopher Columbus landed.

Chorizo originated in Spain and Portugal, then making its way over to the Americas. The word chorizo is a category of pork sausage seasoned with Spanish paprika that is either cooked or fermented cured smoked. In the early days of the Spanish conquistadors, pork and paprika were becoming increasingly difficult to bring across the Atlantic. With the East India Trading Company blocking ships and pirates accosting the rest, there grew a need to make chorizo in the New World. Thus, Mexican chorizo was born.

The first Mexican chorizos were fashioned after the uncooked varieties from Spain. Fatty pork was the main source of protein, but it was ground rather than chopped. Toluca, Mexico is generally considered the chorizo capital outside of Spain and Portugal. The manufacturers there specialize in a green chorizo using the following ingredients: tomatillo, cilantro, chilis, garlic and pork. This recipe is endemic to Toluca. Most Mexican chorizo is red in color (from the paprika) and made in either fresh or smoked varieties.

Moronga is a sausage made of pig's blood. It is a familiar sausage in all of Latin America, and considered a delicacy. The pig's blood is mixed with ruda, oregano, mint, onions, chili peppers and boiled in the pig's intestines for six or seven hours. After boiling the sausage is portioned and served with chili sauce. In Mexico, moronga is pan fried with fresh onions and jalapeno peppers, and then used as a filling for gorditas.

The key to Mexican cuisine is simplicity, along with the use of plants and animals found in the area. The concept of stuffing the meat of an animal into their intestinal track and eating it may have come over the Atlantic Ocean with the Spanish, but the Mexican people made it their own. Now it is more common to find chorizo made in the Mexican style in North American grocery stores than it is to find Spanish.




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