Thursday, 2 October 2014

Don Emilo - Argentine Style Chorizo

Don Emilio – Argentine Style Chorizo

I was at Moore Wilsons and purchased some chorizo from a maker I had not heard of before – Don Emilio. As it says on the packaging…

Don Emilio’s mission is to deliver authentic Argentinian flavours using the best products of New Zealand. Our handcrafted chorizos are made with 100% free range pork, bringing kiwi homes a taste of Las Pampas.

The ingredients are listed as free range pork 86% pork fat 14%, natural casings, pepper garlic chilli flakes and Spanish paprika. This all looks good.

These are short chunky snarlers, they smell good and are tied with string. They have an artisan feel and appearance.
 

When they were cooked and cut open the meat in side reflect the chunkiness of sausages. There are lots big pieces of fat and meat that clearly visible.

Eating these they tasted good, but they are not spectacular. I love eating chorizo and I would describe these sausages as above average. The flavour of the paprika is dominant, my wife thought they were very nice, Sausage Boy thought they were ok.
 

While these sausages are good they do not rise to same heights as chorizo criollo from Park Avenue Quality Meats in Lower Hutt, see link, and pimento sausages from Zamora, in Queenstown, see link, they both make superior chorizo. From my perspective, and this is very subjective, it is about getting the balance between complex flavours infused into quality meat. While Don Emilio is a superior sausage, there are better examples out there.

These snarlers are also expensive at $45.50 a kilo. I paid $13.20 for the serving of four. On the packaging a website is listed, however this is not current. When googling the company, an address in Miramar, Wellington comes up. Don Emilio the Argentinian sausage maker  obviously likes to keep a low profile.

Cost per kilo: $45.50, four chorizo $13.20

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