Blood sausage and alternate realities

If you have never had blood sausage and do not know what it is about, this is a sausage that can really mess with your expectations.
Blood sausage, referred to as morcilla in Latin America and blood pudding in Ireland, is sold in Latino groceries and some mainstream supermarkets with heavy Hispanic traffic. It's not a food item Mexicans have adopted, but other Latin peoples have, especially the Argentinians.
There are some brands that come up from Miami, and San Antonio (to my surprise) has a supplier -- GauchoGourmet.com sells Mr. Tango, a brand I've seen in Florida.
Blood sausage is sold in the refrigerated meat section or butcher shop of a grocery, but it has no meat to speak of. Most of the content is cereal, usually rice or oatmeal. There are spices, but the main ingredient is blood. Depending on the source and the audience, this could be pork, goat or beef blood. Check the label. If it is sold as an Argentinian style, it's beef blood.
European styles use pork blood.
The cereal is soaked with blood and packed into an edible intestine (sausage casing). It is served as an appetizer or as a side to a protein. You steam or oven cook it for about 20 minutes.

As presented here, the blood sausage was used as a topping on a plate of spaghetti.  After leaving the links in the oven for 20 minutes, we mixed them into a skillet where we had mushrooms and onions cooking in olive oil and a couple of dashes of balsamic vinegar.

We then topped this with fresh chopped green onions.

I have to say it was not a satisfying meal. My son prepared the dish on the assumption that the blood sausage was our protein. Even though we knew it was mostly cereal.

We had an unrealistic expectation that the blood would somehow compensate for that feeling you get of biting into meat. But there is no discernible meat. It's mushy and the iron taste of the blood can be overwhelming.

I did a bit more research and decided we didn't use enough onions and we should have had another meat protein. One site I visited had it served with chunks of ham. Another site had it served as a garnish atop a slice of white chicken breast and topped with fried slices of apple and bits of fresh serrano pepper.

Okay! So, lesson learned. Don't expect to fill up on blood sausage. Use it as an appetizer or garnish, or as a side to your main dish.

Finding some Mexican in Georgia

Norcross, Ga., a northwestern suburb of Atlanta, is home to Ole Mexican Foods.

Living in the South Florida communities of Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, my first introduction to Ole Mexican Foods was La Banderita corn tortillas.

If you're in the Southeastern United States, La Banderita is the most common white corn tortilla brand. The major grocery chains like Publix and Winn Dixie do not carry any other brand that is produced this close to Florida.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but the very Latino communities of South Florida depend on most of their Hispanic food items from New York City, New Jersey and Norcross, Ga. There are some items tailored to South American-based communities that get made in Miami or Opa-Locka, but nothing in the Mexican-style.

Ole Mexican Foods' Chorizo Fino Sausage is a standard Mexican-style chorizo. It is ground very fine, so it is easy to break up in the skillet. It doesn't taste as good as the premium Texas-based Mexican chorizos, but it's not a premium chorizo. Nevertheless, it is definitely suitable if you're living on the East Coast.

It does have some shrinkage, but not so much that you end up with nothing but grease. On a scale of one to five stars, I'd give it a respectable three.

I do wish these chorizo makers would dispense with the "natural spices" description on the ingredients list. I'm assuming it has no cayenne. But I compensate with the near unanimous overuse of paprika in East Coast chorizos by adding cayenne and finely chopped fresh poblano pepper. Now we're talking Mexican!

Here is an excerpt on the history of Ole Mexican Foods from their website:

The story of Veronica Moreno and OLÉ Mexican Foods reads like a tale of the American dream realized. Her drive and devotion to her quality products have propelled OLÉ to a level of success few could hope for. From a humble start, Veronica relied on her will to succeed and her devotion to providing authentic tortillas to an eager and growing market. Her family played a big part in that journey, and today they have critical roles in the company. She was supported by them when things were at their toughest. Once when the budget was especially tight, her ten-year-old made the sage comment, “Well, if we don’t get sick this will work.” And work it certainly has! Today, OLÉ Mexican foods is one of the largest tortilla manufacturers in America.