I am slowly, ever so slowly, finding stores within a 50 mile radius of where I live that have the ingredients I need to make Colombian and also Japanese foods. The first 30 miles of that travel is through a foodie wasteland so don’t be impressed with the distance I travel for food :-).
One ingredient that I have found that reminds me of my childhood is this pack of sausages from Colombia called “Chorizo Montañera”. The spices are exactly like the salchichas I remember my grandmother and mother making and then hanging from the “rafters” in the kitchen. They would dry and release this transcendent aroma.. exactly like these sausages.
If you are a Colombian far from home or your abuela or mamá, try to find some of these and give them a try.
Technorati Tags: ingredient, Colombian, Chorizo Montañera, salchicha, abuela, mamá
7 comments for this entry ↓
1 Culinary Fool // Mar 4, 2007 at 2:12 pm
Nika:
Do you know what makes these different from Mexican or Spanish chorizo? I’m assuming there is a combination of spices used for these that is slightly different but I’m wondering if you know what the primary differentiator is.
~ B
2 Kalyn // Mar 4, 2007 at 4:51 pm
Nika, thanks for the reminder! I just changed my Bloglines subscription to the new url.
3 Lisa (Homesick Texan) // Mar 5, 2007 at 10:21 am
Have you ever made homemade Colombian chorizo?
4 Nika // Mar 5, 2007 at 10:34 am
B- I have been trying to track down specifics but let me be more general (sausages are very regional.. so this cant be a perfect answer!)
Colombian chorizos - Pork, fat back, garlic, green onions, cumin (lots!), cilantro and they are AGED (this is a very important part of Colombian chorizo making.. gives it a tart almost citric flavor). No chilis.
Mexican chorizos - hot pepper powder, various other chilli powders and fresh chopped, garlic, oregano, cilantro, cumin, and generally NOT AGED (but remember, you will probably find ALL kinds of chorizos in Mexico, I am thinking of the ones I have had, I have not had them all!)
Spanish Chorizos - I have not had much experience with Spanish chorizos but here is a link on how to make them ( http://www.marketuno.com/products/chor_article_2.htm ) From that link it says they use “paprika, garlic, salt and a dash of sherry” Then they hang it to dry and age. So their “chili” is the paprika (which they didnt get until the new world was explored.
I just learned recently that my family and my family name likely originated from the Basque region of Spain (and thus has affected the way that Colombian spanish sounds in the region I come from and thus the bit of spanish I speak sounds different from other Colombians, definitely different from Mexican, Puerto Rican, Cuban, and other south american sorts of spanish) I am going to be looking into Basque food as well as jewish dyaspora food in spain and south america to see how it compares to the Colombian food I know.
Lisa: yep, we made it several times when I lived at home. Sometimes straight from a fresh pig carcass.
5 Culinary Fool // Mar 6, 2007 at 12:08 pm
Interesting about the lack of chili or heat but the cumin/cilantro would make a lot of sense.
My experience with Spanish vs Mexican is that the spices are different as you’ve called out, I’ve had both aged (mostly) and fresh Spanish but Mexican is always fresh. The textures are much different though- at least in the ones I’ve had. Mexican is more of a finely ground mixture, while Spanish is a bit chunky and has a real texture.
I find it so amazing how all that early travel and conquering can be seen in the food, drink, customs, language etc. People have been mixing cultures for years - what people think of as “native” to a region is so often influenced by whoever happened to be traveling through.
I think the Basques are really interesting - that should be fun research!
6 Nika // Mar 7, 2007 at 1:03 pm
B - Yeah, Colombian sausages are chunky, I like that more than homogenous non-chunky types (like your average American hot dog).
I grew up with a sensitivity to multi-culturalism (in food and other cultural aspects) because my mom is American (which in her case means european caucasian mixed with native american) and my dad was from Colombia (mix of Spanish [which in itself is a huge mix itself] and south american native groups). I guess I grew up asking my mom “Where did this food come from, here or Colombia?” Maybe I should have gotten a PhD in ethnocuisines or something instead of cell biology huh?
7 colombian food // May 19, 2008 at 1:26 am
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