Learning about Colombian "chorizo"

Mr. Paisa Colombian style chorizo is made by Jim Food, a Venezuelan-owned company based in Miami. This brand name sausage is packed in Opa-Locka, Fla.

I am reluctant to call this a "chorizo," as that is a type of sausage name I reserve for Mexican or Spanish style sausages that are spiced and colored with some variety of dried red chilis.

It would be easier on consumers if Jim Food would call this "salchicha," also an acceptable Spanish words for sausage.But for Colombians (and I suppose Venezuelans), this is chorizo.

It has a different flavor profile, one that I had to experiment with. Since it is uncooked meat, I treated it like a Mexican chorizo, took it out of its casing and grilled with a little canola oil and some shallots, red hot pepper and mushrooms.

The result was palatable, but it wasn't great. Anyway, this is the dish:

According to Wikipedia, Colombian sausage is traditionally grilled and served with a side of arepa, which is something like a corn pancake with a gooey mozzarella-type cheese in the middle.

I found a really good looking recipe at GlobalGourmet.com. This one involves preparing a Colombian salsa called aji rojo. I'll have to try it sometime. It looks very appetizing.

Mr. Paisa is a rather ambiguous sausage. It says it has pork, green onions, spices and powdered garlic, among other things. The ones I cut open revealed a very coarse pork meat and pork byproducts. I wouldn't do that again. And I'm not to crazy about powdered garlic versus using fresh ingredients, but since there isn't any choice in Colombian sausages (you'll have to go to New York to find South American custom butcher shops), this will have to do.

The Colombian recipe at GlobalGourmet.com says Colombian sausages use garlic, green onions, cumin and cilantro. I've no way of knowing if Mr. Paisa had cumin, but it did have something.

I don't recommend chopping up this Colombian chorizo unless you've got some kind of sauce or salsa to put on it. Hence the aji rojo. Cut open and grilled, it dries out and its flavor profile as a stand alone is not impressive. But, guess what?

This sausage comes in a natural casing. You can just grill it a long time on a low heat. My third attempt at a tasty meal was my best effort. I had a pot of smoky, spicy red beans and that made the difference.

The sausage was grilled on low heat. Just kept rolling it around and kept it simmering. Again, I went with mushrooms, red hot chili and shallots for my veggies, but this time I had a pan that I poured the beans into and cooked them with the beans (red beans that were cooked with a chipotle chili, fresh chopped garlic and salt).

I boiled until the bean soup water that came with the beans was slightly reduced and I had a thicker, saucier gravy-style "soup" in the pan. It helps to mash the beans a little with a big spoon to spread the starch of the beans into the water.

I didn't cut open the sausage until it was cooked on all sides and served onto the plate. Now this is a Latin-style pork and beans!

Buen provecho.