papas con chouriço
I’ve been thinking about home a lot lately. Usually, when this happens, I wind up cooking since so much of my childhood memories are filled with the home-cooked goodness of my mom’s kitchen.
So, last week went to our nearby grocery store to find chorizo to make one of my favorite dishes, papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo). One of the things I love about our neighborhood is that so many immigrants have made their homes in the Boston area so it’s usually very easy to find foods from all over the world. In particular, folks from Portuguese speaking countries (Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde) have immigrated and remained here in large numbers. In fact, the second most commonly spoken language in the entire state of Massachusetts is Portuguese and not Spanish like every other place I’ve lived.
Naturally, I found chorizo, but it wasn’t the Spanish or Mexican variety that I’m used to. Instead, it was the Portuguese version of this delectable pork sausage–chouriço. I thought I’d give it a go and try to make papas con chorizo chouriço I knew this simple (but delicious) breakfast food wouldn’t be like mom’s, but I had to try it.
The results were surprising. First, the consistency of chouriço is much tougher than the mexican version. Also, Portuguese chouriço is far less oily than it’s fatty Mexican cousin. The Portuguese chouriço has a much stronger smokey flavor, while the Mexican chorizo has a bit more of a chile kick to it. I like the flavor of the Portuguese chouriço with potatoes, but it’s not the same as the drippy, fatty stuff of my childhood. Still, this newfangled culinary mixed breed has done the trick and satiated my taste for home, for now.
I’ve been thinking about home a lot lately. Usually, when this happens I wind up cooking since so much of my childhood memories are filled with the home-cooked goodness of my mom’s kitchen.
So, last week I went to our nearby grocery store to find chorizo to make one of my favorite dishes, papas con chorizo (potatoes with chorizo). One of the things I love about our neighborhood is that so many immigrants have made their homes in the Boston area so it’s usually very easy to find foods from all over the world. In particular, folks from Portuguese speaking countries (Portugal, Brazil and Cape Verde) have immigrated and remained here in large numbers. In fact, the second most commonly spoken language in the entire state of Massachusetts is Portuguese and not Spanish like every other place I’ve lived.
Naturally, I found chorizo, but it wasn’t the Spanish or Mexican variety that I’m used to. Instead, it was the Portuguese version of this delectable pork sausage–chouriço. I thought I’d give it a go and try to make papas con chorizo chouriço. I knew this simple (but delicious) breakfast food wouldn’t be like mom’s, but I had to try it.
The results were surprising. First, the consistency of chouriço is much tougher than the mexican version. Also, Portuguese chouriço is far less oily than it’s fatty Mexican cousin. The Portuguese chouriço has a much stronger smokey flavor, while the Mexican chorizo has a bit more of a chile kick to it. I like the flavor of the Portuguese chouriço with potatoes, but it’s not the same as the mushy, fatty stuff of my childhood. Still, this newfangled culinary mixed breed has done the trick and satiated my taste for home, for now.
Here’s a photo of the version I’m used to along with a link to a site that has a good recipe for papas con chorizo tacos.
papas con chorizo recipe courtesy of taste of home.com
