"chorizo" news and stories

Each Thursday, we round up a selection of scrumptious links from our friends over at YumSugar. Here's what they've got cooking this week:

• It's about time famous toques do the tipping.
• Comparing one apple-cinnamon oatmeal to another.
• Starbucks had a baby, and its name is Roy Street Coffee & Tea.
• Making chorizo at home is easy, even if you don't have a meat grinder.
• When life gives you strawberries, make strawberry vodka cocktails.

Pork is a must-have food for the holidays. Heck, it's a must-have meat for the home cook. Below are two pork recipes for those with little time to cook, especially families, during the holiday rush.

This Tex-Mex-inspired dish is the easier of the two and adapted from a recipe by the blogger's mother-in-law, Robin Ringland. Since she doesn't have all day to spend in the kitchen, she gets the dish going first thing in the morning. By the time she returns home beat from the corporate grind, it's practically ready to eat.

There is a whole slew of cooking shows on the web that showcase newbie cooks that can show off a good meal, but can't necessarily give you some great background information that a chef can. Above you can watch Dallas' Master Chef David McMillan prepare halibut and clams with chorizo and black bean sauce -- and he not only discusses the dish, but the particulars of what is going into the meal. For example, he explains the different flavors that can be coaxed out of garlic, and the differences between curly and flat-leaf parsley.

It's the debut show, so I imagine there will be lots of great cooking info to come in the future. Enjoy!

VIA: ilhuicamina's Flickr

I'm posting images of sausage counters the world over each weeknight (and occasionally weekend) witching hour (until I run out), so please use the comments section to post links to your Flickr or personal site faves, and perhaps you'll see 'em posted here late some evening.

Previously -- Midnight Sausage: Polish Village, Chicago

We're all fans of the easy summer barbecue: inviting a few friends over for an afternoon of hanging around the backyard, tossing some Hebrew Nationals on the Weber, spilling mustard on your shirt, falling asleep in the lounge chair and waking up redder than a gas station footlong.

But sometimes you want a little more from an outdoor meal. Something that doesn't involve sodium nitrite or a mushy bun. Something that shows off your cooking chops without ruining the casual, social nature of the backyard barbecue. I've collected a few of my favorite grilled sausage recipes from around the globe, stuff that will get you out of your hot dog rut without chaining you to the stove.

- Grilled sausages sandwiches with caramelized onions and Gruyere. This Bon Appetit recipe uses pre-cooked packaged sausages (it suggests white bratwurst) for a luxe take on the street fair classic. Serve them with a German wheat beer and a rustic apple tart for dessert.

- Grilled merguez with fried leeks and French fries on baguette. Merguez, a spicy red sausage of Algerian or Tunisian origin, brings some vim to the barbecue. The We Are Never Full blog has a step-by-step recipe for a great-looking merguez sandwich, the ne plus ultra of French-African street food. If you're not feeling up to frying your own French fries, I imagine they would taste just dandy without.

- Grilled chorizo tacos. This Food Network recipe pairs Mexican pork sausages with roasted poblano peppers, roasted tomato salsa and pepperjack cheese. The DIY nature of individual taco construction is perfect for a big all-ages party.

- Catalan sausage on grilled tomato bread. Pa amb tomaquet - grilled or toasted bread rubbed with garlic and tomato, is a staple of Spain's Catalonia region. Grill thick slices of bread side-by-side with some pork sausages (Catalonian butifarra are ideal, but chorizo would work as well) and you're good to go.

- Polish sausages with onions and sweet potato mash. My Polish grandmother might not approve, but the sweet-salty-meaty combo is pretty awesome.