Recreating the flavour of chorizo without using chorizo

[MabelBee]

I might have gone mad, but is this possible? I want to cut processed meat out of our diet but quite a few of our favourite slow cooker meals have chorizo in them. Is it possible to recreate the flavour using spices?

Smoked Paprika might work

Yep, smoked paprika. Look in the world food aisle of the supermarket, you're after the one in a metal tin with red colouring on it.

Smoked paprika, salt and olive oil.

If you get an authentic chorizo though it's not that processed. Pork, pork fat, bread and spices. You could even (this would impress me v much!!) try making your own sausages? That way you could guarantee what's in them.

Good call. And yes, I had considered making my own pork sausages. It's a staple for the toddlers but after watching Horizon this week I can't feed them processed meat anymore. I'm going to have to boil my own lunch ham as well. Ignorance is bliss, clearly. I don't know enough about processed meat to know how to avoid the health dangers by making my own chorizo though. There is something about extending shelf life, preservatives, smoked meat and obviously the salt content.

So the recipe I've found for chorizo has smoked paprika, oregano, cayenne, garlic, white wine vinegar. If I was making one of our favourites which is hot spanish beans, usually it has chorizo in it but if I omitted it and added just the herbs and spices, would I just add ordinary pork? Like a pork chop?

HFW has a recipe for homemade chorizo sausage...google might be your friend.

Yes to smoked paprika. I use it in a lot of recipes. Brought a large tin back from Spain . paprika

Pork will work - pork steak, chop. Whatever.

Mmmm - thinking of a veggie beany version of something similar for dinner now myself!

I'd use cubes of pork belly so you keep the fat levels similar to sausages/chorizo. Goes wonderfully soft in a meal like that.