Perhaps you've tried Katson's chorisos Chamorro.
Crumbly, red, spicy. At one time it was such a best seller that the family went into business making and selling it, with USDA approval!
Nowadays it is no longer sold commercially but different people make their own chorisos Chamorro for domestic use.
How did the Katsons start it all up?
Vicente Calvo Aflague, of the Katson branch of Aflagues, was actually a jeweler by trade and profession. His work adorned the ears, necks, wrists and fingers of many a lady on Guam, as well as men.
But he also raised pigs at his ranch in Dededo. With all that pork available, Vicente wondered how to make good use of the meat. He and his wife, the former Ruth Lujan Tydingco, decided to make sausage, or chorisos, with the pork. At first, these sausages were not encased like link sausages. They were loose and crumbly. Everybody fell in love with it.
Vicente and Ruth used parts of the pork best suited for sausage. The butt, belly and thighs. In Chamorro, the posuelo (the front chest area) and the pietna (legs or thighs) were used. To give it some fat, the skin (lassas) was added to the mixture in due proportion. This was all ground in a molino (grinder), hand-driven at first and then they switched to an electric one when the business took off.
Essential to the recipe are garlic (in generous amounts), white vinegar, achiote (the seeds, not the powder from a package), paprika, salt, black pepper and as much, or as little, chili pepper (the donne' såli kind) to suit one's taste. Chicken can also be used to make chorisos Chamorro.
When the family was still running the business, they supplied Payless and other local stores with it, and even the military commissaries, both Navy and Air Force. Casings were ordered from the US and some of the sausages were made into links. Many people, however, still preferred the loose kind which was pan fried, cooked with vegetables or eggs, or added to fried rice. It could also be found on the menus of some local restaurants.
You can find on the internet a few recipes for chorisos Chamorro and some people do make their own. But it all started after the war with Ton Vicente'n Katson and his wife Ruth.
Katson's Chicken Chorisos Chamorro
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