A Global Field Guide to Sausages: From Merguez to Chorizo
12 Well-Traveled Sausages: The Field Notes
Matthew Kronsberg
Chorizo Criollo
Natural Habitat: Argentine Pampas
Identifying Flavors: wine, garlic
Found in the Company of: chimichurri
Spanish and Italian influences reveal themselves in this Argentine fresh chorizo flavored with garlic, wine and just a hint of paprika. Prick with a fork to prevent bursting, said chef Francis Mallmann, then “grill it very slowly. A good chorizo should take 30 minutes. You want the dripping of the fat, and crunchiness all around.” $15 for 14 ounces, tienda.com
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Matthew Kronsberg
Chorizo Criollo
Natural Habitat: Argentine Pampas
Identifying Flavors: wine, garlic
Found in the Company of: chimichurri
Spanish and Italian influences reveal themselves in this Argentine fresh chorizo flavored with garlic, wine and just a hint of paprika. Prick with a fork to prevent bursting, said chef Francis Mallmann, then “grill it very slowly. A good chorizo should take 30 minutes. You want the dripping of the fat, and crunchiness all around.” $15 for 14 ounces, tienda.com
Ibérico de Bellota Pork Sliders
Michael M.
Okay these were seriously some of the best sliders I’ve had. They are juicy and taste simply like amazing burgers. Maybe it’s the acorn fed pork? And while we’re on that subject, how exactly is that occurring? I mean my cousin had a farm and pigs eat anything. And whose job is it to feed them acorn by acorn…
Anyway, no matter, this is one of those indulgent purchases that is well worth it. A 6 pack for $19 and you basically have better burgers than you’ll get at the local place. Plus burgers are the latest trend so I’d rather spend as much as I would in the restaurant and get a pack of sliders for the family!
Check out La Tienda to order some.
Read more
Okay these were seriously some of the best sliders I’ve had. They are juicy and taste simply like amazing burgers. Maybe it’s the acorn fed pork? And while we’re on that subject, how exactly is that occurring? I mean my cousin had a farm and pigs eat anything. And whose job is it to feed them acorn by acorn…
Anyway, no matter, this is one of those indulgent purchases that is well worth it. A 6 pack for $19 and you basically have better burgers than you’ll get at the local place. Plus burgers are the latest trend so I’d rather spend as much as I would in the restaurant and get a pack of sliders for the family!
Check out La Tienda to order some.
What America Eats: Tailgating Time!
Alison Ashton
As football season prepares to kick off, there’s one thing fans may be anticipating even more eagerly than the action on the gridiron: tailgating. Win or lose, they’re still guaranteed some great food and drink, says Daina Falk. She’s the author of The Hungry Fan’s Game Day Cookbook, coming out this week, just in time to help fuel all the crazy football fun, from face- and body-painting in team colors to friendly corn hole and beer pong games.
The daughter of legendary sports agent David Falk, she grew up around professional athletes but didn’t discover the joys of tailgating until she was a student at Duke University in the early 2000s. “It was the fun thing to do on a Saturday, because Duke football was just so bad,” she recalls. “We weren’t going to win the game, so the fun to be had was actually in the parking lot before, during and after the game.”
She caught the tailgating bug, big time, and went on to make a career creating — and chronicling — the food by fans of all sports. They’re raising the bar on their eats, she notes, as new trends joining beloved tailgating classics like burgers, hot dogs, wings, chili and brats. “On the one hand, you have a growing number of people who are more concerned about the quality of the food they’re eating,” she notes. That may, for example, translate to tailgaters grilling and barbecuing with grass-fed beef and pasture-raised chicken or pork.
On the flip side, thanks to Instagram, there’s also this growing trend of completely outrageous foods,” she adds, “where you’ve got, like, 10 burger patties stacked on top of each other and sandwiched between donuts.” She credits that craze to younger millennial fans, who love showing off their tailgating creations on social media. “Whether or not people are actually eating these crazy, outrageous foods, it draws a lot of attention and a lot of eyeballs when they post it,” says Falk.
Whether you’re feasting in a stadium parking lot, on a college quad or in your own back yard, Falk brings it all into the tailgating tent—or what she calls “fangating.”
Daina’s Tailgating Tips
The early bird gets the best location. Whenever you think you should arrive, plan to get there even earlier. “I went down to a Houston Texans game in October last year, and people literally were lined up around the side of the highway,” says Falk. “They’d been there since 2 or 3 in the morning.”
Get an accurate head count. “One of the worst things you could do is not have enough food for everybody,” says Falk. So find out who’s really planning to show up, and factor in a little extra food and drink for “drop-ins.”
Appoint a point person. For many fans, tailgating means a potluck, and you’ll want someone to coordinate setup, food and drink.
But share the cost. Between the food and booze, the cost of tailgating adds up quickly. Apps like Venmo and PayPal make it easy for tailgaters pay their share right in the parking lot.
Celebrate the other team, too. “I’m a big fan of celebrating the food cultures of both teams that are playing,” says Falk. It’s a fun—and delicious—way to add variety to your usual tailgating lineup.
Get the Gear!
“A portable grill is a must,” says Falk. We’re fans of the Blue Rhino CrossFire ($89), which can use charcoal or gas.
Keep those beers cold in the sturdy, classic Coleman 54-Quart Steel-Belted Cooler ($81) will last many seasons.
Your guests will have it made in the shade with SportsUnlimited’s 9-foot square Tailgating Tents ($200), available with NCAA and NFL team logos.
Have a seat. Folding chairs are fine, but we’ve got our eye on the WooHoo Inflatable Lounger ($50), which inflates in seconds into a 7-foot couch.
Woolrich’s Cedar Spring and Hudson’s Bay 100-percent wool blankets ($149-$395) are perfect to lay down on the grass — or snuggle under when the weather turns cool.
La Tienda’s Extra-Large 26-inch Traditional Steel Paella Pan ($50) is perfect for our “Big Tex” Frito Pie.
Keep chili, gumbo—or our sliders—warm in Black + Decker’s new 7-Quart Chalkboard Slow Cooker ($40).
No electrical outlet? Falk’s collapsible Hungry Fan Portable Slow Cooker 3-in-1 Fangating Bag ($57) acts like a soft-sided Thermos to keep hot food hot or cold food cold.
Is glass banned at your favorite tailgating spot? Decant your favorite brew into the stylish copper 64-ounce Asobu G2G Stainless Steel Growler 2 Go ($30).
Serve drinks in Camerons’ Deco Stainless Steel Party Cups ($23 for a set of 6), an eco-friendly version of the iconic red Solo cup.
Read more
As football season prepares to kick off, there’s one thing fans may be anticipating even more eagerly than the action on the gridiron: tailgating. Win or lose, they’re still guaranteed some great food and drink, says Daina Falk. She’s the author of The Hungry Fan’s Game Day Cookbook, coming out this week, just in time to help fuel all the crazy football fun, from face- and body-painting in team colors to friendly corn hole and beer pong games.
The daughter of legendary sports agent David Falk, she grew up around professional athletes but didn’t discover the joys of tailgating until she was a student at Duke University in the early 2000s. “It was the fun thing to do on a Saturday, because Duke football was just so bad,” she recalls. “We weren’t going to win the game, so the fun to be had was actually in the parking lot before, during and after the game.”
She caught the tailgating bug, big time, and went on to make a career creating — and chronicling — the food by fans of all sports. They’re raising the bar on their eats, she notes, as new trends joining beloved tailgating classics like burgers, hot dogs, wings, chili and brats. “On the one hand, you have a growing number of people who are more concerned about the quality of the food they’re eating,” she notes. That may, for example, translate to tailgaters grilling and barbecuing with grass-fed beef and pasture-raised chicken or pork.
On the flip side, thanks to Instagram, there’s also this growing trend of completely outrageous foods,” she adds, “where you’ve got, like, 10 burger patties stacked on top of each other and sandwiched between donuts.” She credits that craze to younger millennial fans, who love showing off their tailgating creations on social media. “Whether or not people are actually eating these crazy, outrageous foods, it draws a lot of attention and a lot of eyeballs when they post it,” says Falk.
Whether you’re feasting in a stadium parking lot, on a college quad or in your own back yard, Falk brings it all into the tailgating tent—or what she calls “fangating.”
Daina’s Tailgating Tips
The early bird gets the best location. Whenever you think you should arrive, plan to get there even earlier. “I went down to a Houston Texans game in October last year, and people literally were lined up around the side of the highway,” says Falk. “They’d been there since 2 or 3 in the morning.”
Get an accurate head count. “One of the worst things you could do is not have enough food for everybody,” says Falk. So find out who’s really planning to show up, and factor in a little extra food and drink for “drop-ins.”
Appoint a point person. For many fans, tailgating means a potluck, and you’ll want someone to coordinate setup, food and drink.
But share the cost. Between the food and booze, the cost of tailgating adds up quickly. Apps like Venmo and PayPal make it easy for tailgaters pay their share right in the parking lot.
Celebrate the other team, too. “I’m a big fan of celebrating the food cultures of both teams that are playing,” says Falk. It’s a fun—and delicious—way to add variety to your usual tailgating lineup.
Get the Gear!
“A portable grill is a must,” says Falk. We’re fans of the Blue Rhino CrossFire ($89), which can use charcoal or gas.
Keep those beers cold in the sturdy, classic Coleman 54-Quart Steel-Belted Cooler ($81) will last many seasons.
Your guests will have it made in the shade with SportsUnlimited’s 9-foot square Tailgating Tents ($200), available with NCAA and NFL team logos.
Have a seat. Folding chairs are fine, but we’ve got our eye on the WooHoo Inflatable Lounger ($50), which inflates in seconds into a 7-foot couch.
Woolrich’s Cedar Spring and Hudson’s Bay 100-percent wool blankets ($149-$395) are perfect to lay down on the grass — or snuggle under when the weather turns cool.
La Tienda’s Extra-Large 26-inch Traditional Steel Paella Pan ($50) is perfect for our “Big Tex” Frito Pie.
Keep chili, gumbo—or our sliders—warm in Black + Decker’s new 7-Quart Chalkboard Slow Cooker ($40).
No electrical outlet? Falk’s collapsible Hungry Fan Portable Slow Cooker 3-in-1 Fangating Bag ($57) acts like a soft-sided Thermos to keep hot food hot or cold food cold.
Is glass banned at your favorite tailgating spot? Decant your favorite brew into the stylish copper 64-ounce Asobu G2G Stainless Steel Growler 2 Go ($30).
Serve drinks in Camerons’ Deco Stainless Steel Party Cups ($23 for a set of 6), an eco-friendly version of the iconic red Solo cup.
Labor Day Weekend Recipe Round-up
Pork Sliders
Theresa Pickett
If you’re traveling for Labor Day, you might have already checked out 7 Labor Day Vacation Spots You’ll Love. For everyone else, staying home can be an amazing experience too. Invite friends and family over, pull out the grill, and enjoy one last summer get together. This round-up of 5 Labor Day weekend recipes will help you enjoy your leisurely staycation.
Whether you’re looking for pork, chicken, seafood, or fresh fruits, I’ve picked out some very unique recipes that will satisfy your guests.
Pork Sliders
Grill gourmet pre-made pork sliders for a simple, savory appetizer that is a complete crowd pleaser. Since such a small amount of preparation is involved, these are ideal for a relaxing Labor Day Weekend! Buy Ibérico de Bellota Pork Slider patties for a gourmet, rich flavor and a juiciness that you can’t find with other types of pork.
Created with Ibérico de Bellota pork from Spain, the pigs wander freely in the countryside and graze on grass and sweet acorns. The result is a delightful, acorn-flavored pork that will make your sliders taste incredible. Top with some Gruyere and slider buns for a delicious appetizer.
Read more
Theresa Pickett
If you’re traveling for Labor Day, you might have already checked out 7 Labor Day Vacation Spots You’ll Love. For everyone else, staying home can be an amazing experience too. Invite friends and family over, pull out the grill, and enjoy one last summer get together. This round-up of 5 Labor Day weekend recipes will help you enjoy your leisurely staycation.
Whether you’re looking for pork, chicken, seafood, or fresh fruits, I’ve picked out some very unique recipes that will satisfy your guests.
Pork Sliders
Grill gourmet pre-made pork sliders for a simple, savory appetizer that is a complete crowd pleaser. Since such a small amount of preparation is involved, these are ideal for a relaxing Labor Day Weekend! Buy Ibérico de Bellota Pork Slider patties for a gourmet, rich flavor and a juiciness that you can’t find with other types of pork.
Created with Ibérico de Bellota pork from Spain, the pigs wander freely in the countryside and graze on grass and sweet acorns. The result is a delightful, acorn-flavored pork that will make your sliders taste incredible. Top with some Gruyere and slider buns for a delicious appetizer.
These Are the Juiciest Pork Sliders of All Time
Amanda Gabriele
When it comes to pork, it doesn’t get much better than rich, juicy Ibérico. Indigenous to Spain, Ibérico pigs wander the countryside where they graze on grass, herbs and sweet acorns. The resulting meat is almost incomparable to other pork on the market—it’s deep in color, unbelievable juicy and has a rich, sweet acorn-flavored fat. It’s our go-to Spanish ham whether we’re feasting on tapas or packing a picnic for our next adventure. And now, there’s an Ibérico pork for the burger-obsessed.
La Tienda just introduced the world’s first Ibérico pork slider, seasoned only with salt and pepper to let the meat’s rich flavor shine through. An artisan sausage maker perfectly grinds the Spanish pork so it’s ready for the perfect sear whether you throw it on the grill or in your favorite cast iron pan. Each patty is made with 80% Spanish Ibérico de Bellota pork and 20% humanely-raised American pork for the correct fat to lean ratio.
Like any meat, we prefer these sliders cooked on the grill. For the perfect flavor, get them brown and crisp on the outside with a pink middle. Because the pork is so juicy, it’s best to cook them on indirect heat so their drippings don’t flare the fire. Serve them simply on a brioche bun with a white, salty cheese and pickle slice.
Grab a six pack for $19.95 at LaTienda.com.
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When it comes to pork, it doesn’t get much better than rich, juicy Ibérico. Indigenous to Spain, Ibérico pigs wander the countryside where they graze on grass, herbs and sweet acorns. The resulting meat is almost incomparable to other pork on the market—it’s deep in color, unbelievable juicy and has a rich, sweet acorn-flavored fat. It’s our go-to Spanish ham whether we’re feasting on tapas or packing a picnic for our next adventure. And now, there’s an Ibérico pork for the burger-obsessed.
La Tienda just introduced the world’s first Ibérico pork slider, seasoned only with salt and pepper to let the meat’s rich flavor shine through. An artisan sausage maker perfectly grinds the Spanish pork so it’s ready for the perfect sear whether you throw it on the grill or in your favorite cast iron pan. Each patty is made with 80% Spanish Ibérico de Bellota pork and 20% humanely-raised American pork for the correct fat to lean ratio.
Like any meat, we prefer these sliders cooked on the grill. For the perfect flavor, get them brown and crisp on the outside with a pink middle. Because the pork is so juicy, it’s best to cook them on indirect heat so their drippings don’t flare the fire. Serve them simply on a brioche bun with a white, salty cheese and pickle slice.
Grab a six pack for $19.95 at LaTienda.com.
Ibérico de Bellota Pork Slider
LaTienda.com just introduced Ibérico de Bellota Pork Slider patties ($19.95) - Ibérico, known as the world's finest pork, can typically only be found in Spain where the indigenous Ibérico pigs wander the countryside grazing on grass and herbs, and feasting on sweet acorns. The result is a deeper color pork with acorn-flavored fat that lends an unrivaled juiciness.
Working with a Spanish artisan sausage maker to grind imported Ibérico pork, La Tienda has crafted these slider patties offering a more elevated alternative to your typical beef sliders for BBQs and summer entertaining. The site features six (6), ready-to-throw-on-the-grill, patties simply seasoned with Sea Salt and black pepper to let the Ibérico flavor shine.
Available for purchase online and ships nationwide.
Bocadillo Sandwich Kit from La Tienda
I love this idea. Basically back in Europe, this kind of sandwich is a staple. Bocadillo rolls, serrano jam and good cheese. It’s simple but oh so good!
La Tienda is capitalizing on it by making one you can have ordered and ship right to you. Your own little sandwich kit. It has the real ingredients straight from Europe so you know the quality is authentic.
That said, it tastes just like I remember when I flew to Europe. I love the idea that I can actually make a few of them with the kit too. But I pile it high so I can’t make too many! I also, did my own variant of toasting the bread, but that’s up to you.
Ground Ibérico Pork Sliders to Sizzle at Home
Florence Fabricant
Sometimes this column prompts me to discard personal shibboleths like: Never buy pre-made hamburger patties. I could not resist these simple, chubby sliders made mostly of excellent ground Ibérico pork from Spanish pigs that feast on acorns. Modest salt and generous black pepper stoke the meaty flavor. Let them sizzle on a grill, or better yet, in a heavy pan so you get an ample pool of fat for frying potatoes. You’ll want them cooked to medium before tucking them into little buns. An appropriate garnish would be slices of piquillo pepper: Ibérico de Bellota pork sliders, six (one pound) for $19.95 (shipped frozen), www.tienda.com.
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Sometimes this column prompts me to discard personal shibboleths like: Never buy pre-made hamburger patties. I could not resist these simple, chubby sliders made mostly of excellent ground Ibérico pork from Spanish pigs that feast on acorns. Modest salt and generous black pepper stoke the meaty flavor. Let them sizzle on a grill, or better yet, in a heavy pan so you get an ample pool of fat for frying potatoes. You’ll want them cooked to medium before tucking them into little buns. An appropriate garnish would be slices of piquillo pepper: Ibérico de Bellota pork sliders, six (one pound) for $19.95 (shipped frozen), www.tienda.com.
Recipe: Paella Fried Rice With Romesco and Garlic Aioli
Adapted from Jason Neroni of Rose Café in Venice, Calif.
Sarah Digregorio
This clever spin on fried rice is made with squid ink, a seasoning that makes rice creamy, delicately briny-savory and jet black. You can get squid ink at many fish markets, or order it online at La Tienda. The recipe replicates the best part of paella—the bits that get crunchy and caramelized on the bottom of the pan.
Total Time: 1 hour Serves: 4
For the rice:
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for serving
1/4 white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Kosher salt
1 cup Arborio or bomba rice
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons squid ink
3 scallions, thinly sliced
Red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
For the romesco:
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds
1/2 cup roughly chopped roasted red peppers
1 anchovy fillet
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate, such as Baker’s, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons Sherry vinegar
1 small clove garlic
2 teaspoons Sriracha or other chile sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the garlic aioli:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1. Make rice: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic to pan and lightly season with salt. Sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice to pan, stirring to coat with oil, onions and garlic. Add wine and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Cook until wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup stock and bay leaf, and continue to gently simmer, stirring frequently, until rice has absorbed stock, 5-8 minutes. Add remaining stock and squid ink. Cook until rice is tender and has absorbed all of liquid, 10-12 minutes.
2. Scrape rice out onto a rimmed baking sheet, spreading in a thin, even layer to cool. Once fully cooled, proceed with recipe, or cover rice with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 2 days.
3. Make romesco: In a food processor, pulse all ingredients except oil until roughly puréed. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil until creamy.
4. Make aioli: Stir together all ingredients until combined.
5. Fry rice: Heat 1/3 cup oil in a large skillet over high heat. Once very hot, spread cooled rice out in pan, pressing down so rice covers pan almost like a pancake. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook undisturbed until rice crackles, dries out and forms a crust on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Once rice has formed a crisp crust on the bottom, break rice apart with a spatula. Continue to cook, stirring, until you have clumpy, crisp fried rice, about 5 minutes.
6. To serve, dollop romesco and aioli into bowls, then place crispy rice on top. Top with scallions and season with red pepper, salt and pepper. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
—Adapted from Jason Neroni of Rose Café in Venice, Calif.
Read more
Sarah Digregorio
This clever spin on fried rice is made with squid ink, a seasoning that makes rice creamy, delicately briny-savory and jet black. You can get squid ink at many fish markets, or order it online at La Tienda. The recipe replicates the best part of paella—the bits that get crunchy and caramelized on the bottom of the pan.
Total Time: 1 hour Serves: 4
For the rice:
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for serving
1/4 white onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
Kosher salt
1 cup Arborio or bomba rice
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups chicken stock
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons squid ink
3 scallions, thinly sliced
Red pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
For the romesco:
1/2 cup roasted, unsalted almonds
1/2 cup roughly chopped roasted red peppers
1 anchovy fillet
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate, such as Baker’s, finely grated
1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons Sherry vinegar
1 small clove garlic
2 teaspoons Sriracha or other chile sauce
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
For the garlic aioli:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1. Make rice: Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic to pan and lightly season with salt. Sauté until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add rice to pan, stirring to coat with oil, onions and garlic. Add wine and bring to a simmer, stirring frequently. Cook until wine has evaporated, about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup stock and bay leaf, and continue to gently simmer, stirring frequently, until rice has absorbed stock, 5-8 minutes. Add remaining stock and squid ink. Cook until rice is tender and has absorbed all of liquid, 10-12 minutes.
2. Scrape rice out onto a rimmed baking sheet, spreading in a thin, even layer to cool. Once fully cooled, proceed with recipe, or cover rice with plastic wrap and refrigerate up to 2 days.
3. Make romesco: In a food processor, pulse all ingredients except oil until roughly puréed. With motor running, drizzle in olive oil until creamy.
4. Make aioli: Stir together all ingredients until combined.
5. Fry rice: Heat 1/3 cup oil in a large skillet over high heat. Once very hot, spread cooled rice out in pan, pressing down so rice covers pan almost like a pancake. Reduce heat to medium-high. Cook undisturbed until rice crackles, dries out and forms a crust on the bottom, about 5 minutes. Once rice has formed a crisp crust on the bottom, break rice apart with a spatula. Continue to cook, stirring, until you have clumpy, crisp fried rice, about 5 minutes.
6. To serve, dollop romesco and aioli into bowls, then place crispy rice on top. Top with scallions and season with red pepper, salt and pepper. Finish with a drizzle of olive oil.
—Adapted from Jason Neroni of Rose Café in Venice, Calif.
Grilled Padron Peppers (Pimientos de Padron)
Clint Cantwell
Recently I was introduced to a simply amazing site, La Tienda, that specializes in making the very best of Spanish cuisine readily available to US consumers. Clicking through the site, you'll find an entire section of grilling pork, tons of amazing Imberico and Serrano ham, Spanish olives, cheese, seafood, bread, and on and on and on.
One item in particular caught my eye as it is seasonal and just became available this month -- pimientos de padron (padron peppers). A spicier distant cousin to shishito peppers, these too are best when charred on the grill then served with a simple dash of Spanish olive oil and salt.
From the La Tienda site: Pimientos de Padrón are tiny fresh peppers originally from Galicia in northwest Spain. Sizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, they have a delicious flavor and most are mild. But once in a while you will bite into a spicy pepper - the reason The New York Times coined them "Spanish Roulette!" Our Pimientos de Padrón are grown from Spanish seeds by a family farmer in the U.S. and hand harvested and shipped fresh to our customers July through October.
GRILLED PADRON PEPPERS (PIMIENTOS DE PADRÓN)
Ingredients
1 pound Padrón Peppers, washed and dried
Pinch Spanish sea salt
2 tbsp Spanish olive oil
Instructions
Heat outdoor grill to high. Place peppers in a bowl, add the olive oil, and toss to coat.
When the grill is hot, place peppers on grill in a single layer. Grill uncovered, turning occasionally, until the peppers start to char and blister, about 6 to 8 minutes total.
Remove to a serving plate, sprinkle immediately with sea salt and serve.
Read more
Recently I was introduced to a simply amazing site, La Tienda, that specializes in making the very best of Spanish cuisine readily available to US consumers. Clicking through the site, you'll find an entire section of grilling pork, tons of amazing Imberico and Serrano ham, Spanish olives, cheese, seafood, bread, and on and on and on.
One item in particular caught my eye as it is seasonal and just became available this month -- pimientos de padron (padron peppers). A spicier distant cousin to shishito peppers, these too are best when charred on the grill then served with a simple dash of Spanish olive oil and salt.
From the La Tienda site: Pimientos de Padrón are tiny fresh peppers originally from Galicia in northwest Spain. Sizzled in olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt, they have a delicious flavor and most are mild. But once in a while you will bite into a spicy pepper - the reason The New York Times coined them "Spanish Roulette!" Our Pimientos de Padrón are grown from Spanish seeds by a family farmer in the U.S. and hand harvested and shipped fresh to our customers July through October.
GRILLED PADRON PEPPERS (PIMIENTOS DE PADRÓN)
Ingredients
1 pound Padrón Peppers, washed and dried
Pinch Spanish sea salt
2 tbsp Spanish olive oil
Instructions
Heat outdoor grill to high. Place peppers in a bowl, add the olive oil, and toss to coat.
When the grill is hot, place peppers on grill in a single layer. Grill uncovered, turning occasionally, until the peppers start to char and blister, about 6 to 8 minutes total.
Remove to a serving plate, sprinkle immediately with sea salt and serve.
T-List: Mike Isabella
Sparkle this Fourth of July with this ‘Top Chef' alum's essential entertaining gear
Mike Isabella
La Tienda Hand-Blown Sangria Pitcher
“We like to serve a lot of red and white sangria at our summertime gatherings, and this pitcher is a stylish way to do so,” Isabella shares of the elegant vessel ($35) made from recycled glass. May we also suggest this effervescent rosé sangria?
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Mike Isabella
La Tienda Hand-Blown Sangria Pitcher
“We like to serve a lot of red and white sangria at our summertime gatherings, and this pitcher is a stylish way to do so,” Isabella shares of the elegant vessel ($35) made from recycled glass. May we also suggest this effervescent rosé sangria?
What’s So Great About Tapas? They’re Democratic
Spain’s prized culinary ritual adapts easily to any culture
Jason Wilson
A few weeks ago, Spain announced that its Ministry of Culture will seek protective status for tapas, its prized culinary ritual. This protection would come by way of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List, which aims to safeguard “traditions or living expressions” of cultural knowledge, practices and skills. Flamenco, for instance, is already listed. So is the violin making of Cremona, Italy; Chinese shadow puppetry; Estonian smoke saunas; Slovakian bagpipe culture; and the Mongolian coaxing ritual for camels.
Traditional food ways, to date, have made up only a small part of the UNESCO list: Croatian gingerbread, Armenian lavash bread, cuisine from the Mexican state of Michoacán and the vaguely worded “gastronomic meal of the French” are all recognized. But more and more regions have pushed to list and protect their traditional foods. Naples, for instance, has been aggressively trying to add Neapolitan pizza making to the list.
Smoked salmon and quail eggs were inspired by pintxos in San Sebastian. This tapa, nectarines with anchovies, is adapted from one of chef-restaurateur José Andrés favorite salads.
“Tapas are the very model of food,” Rafael Ansón, Royal Academy of Gastronomy president, told the Local, Spain’s largest English-language news network. Ansón insisted that tapas are not a specific type of dish but a “way of eating” and a living cultural practice that deserves preservation.
Now, I’m all for safeguarding fragile practices and traditions, but this move by Spain sounded like a bad idea. Of all the world’s foods, tapas don’t seem as if they’d need protection. What makes tapas great and strong is that they are so open-source and open-ended, ready to be adapted by any culture.
Reading about tapas as a protected species led me to think about one of the strangest trips of my life, which took place several years ago when I was invited to be a judge at Spain’s national tapas competition — the Concurso Nacional de Pinchos y Tapas — in the city of Valladolid.
The invitation came as a surprise. Sure, in my time I’d enthusiastically sampled quite a lot of tapas and their toothpicked cousins, pinchos, at bars all over Spain. Usually the tapas were a means of soaking up whatever I happened to be sampling: tortillitas de camarones (mini shrimp omelets) in Sanlúcar de Barrameda to soak up the manzanilla, embuchados (lamb intestine) in Logroño to soak up the Rioja, classic patatas bravas in Madrid to soak up the vermouth, croquetas de cecina (cured-beef croquettes) in Léon to soak up the rosé. Tapas, it seemed, were often more of an accompaniment to the wine or beer or spirit, and not the other way around — the opposite of how food and drink are usually paired.
Still, I was no expert. I didn’t even speak Spanish very well (or, like, at all). Regardless, I arrived in Valladolid and was whisked onstage in the city’s odd, fluorescent Millennium Dome, was fed more than a dozen tapas in front of television cameras, announced to the host that the plates in front of me were “¡muy bueno!” and scribbled my opinions on very official score sheets. My panel was specifically judging the dishes of culinary students from around the world, from as close as neighboring Portugal to as far away as South Korea. Student chefs from Israel, Turkey, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Mexico and the United States sent out their best interpretations of tapas. As the plates arrived one by one, the bubbly television host boasted about how wonderful it was that tapas had become so “international” and that they were “Spain’s great culinary gift to the world.”
Among the judges there was much solemn discussion (some of it in English, luckily for me) of what defined tapas. There was general agreement that they should be small enough to eat in one or two bites and should not require a utensil beyond toothpicks or fingers. “Would I eat this standing up?” someone asked. When one young chef served us a delicious poached fish in a soupy broth, served in a bowl, to be eaten with a spoon, the judge next to me pushed it aside and declared, “This is not a tapa.”
One of the key judging categories was “Productos,” with an asterisked explanation that this meant we were to judge the use of “products and ingredients typical of Spanish gastronomy.” Apparently there had a been vigorous debate at the prior year’s Concurso in which a member of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy had vehemently insisted that “tapas must be prepared using Spanish products.”
The winner was a young woman from Seattle whose tapa, “Delicias del Pacífico,” was both Spanish and not. It was a trio of cured fish, skewered with potato spheres, that included traditional ingredients such as bacalao, saffron and anise. But it also invoked the flavors of the Pacific Northwest by using wild salmon, raising a few Spanish eyebrows.
After I returned from my experience as a tapas judge, I became hyper-aware of how the word “tapas” is used at home. Here, it has simply become a synonym for small plates, which years ago became a ubiquitous form of popular dining, even at decidedly non-Spanish restaurants. But real tapas are more than just small plates, and perhaps the Spanish have just finally had enough of the term’s misuse.
Even in Spain, however, there’s disagreement about the origin of the term. Tapa literally means “cover” or “lid.” Some say “tapas” was derived from the practice of covering a glass of wine with a bread slice or small plate to keep out fruit flies. Others say it dates to a 17th-century king who ordered tavern owners to cover wine servings with a snack meant to ward off drunkenness. Still others say unscrupulous innkeepers used to offer strong-smelling cheese bites to cover the smell of bad wine.
I decided to consult with someone who was a true tapas expert: the premier tapas expert in the United States, José Andrés, who once wrote, “I won’t be happy until there is a paella pan on every backyard grill in America.”
At our lunchtime meeting at his Washington, D.C., restaurant Jaleo, Andrés told me that “UNESCO can try to protect everything, but at the end of the day, what tapas has become doesn’t necessarily reflect what tapas is in Spain. But, you know, Spain as a whole is also still in need of defining itself, too.”
It’s strange to think about how recent a phenomenon tapas are for Americans. In 1993, when Andrés opened his first Jaleo, the word was still relatively unknown, though interest in all things Spanish was growing after the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. “Tapas has been a Trojan horse, bringing Spanish cooking into the mainstream,” he said.
As he and I talked, Andrés really tried to get at the heart of the philosophical question “what are tapas?” He clearly had not been asked the question for a while, and he took a few stabs at a suitable answer. “What is the box where tapas lives? How do you define it? If you ask 50 million Spaniards, they will give you 50 million definitions,” he said. “Is tapas a whole bunch of dishes, or a way of enjoying life? I would say both.”
While we talked, we were served plates of Iberico ham, anchovies, croquetas de pollo, razor clams, garlic shrimp, and ensaladilla rusa (Russian salad) with potatoes, tuna, aioli and trout roe. At one point, Andrés proposed what he called the “20-inch rule.” “If you put it here” — pushing the ensaladilla rusa to the middle of the table — “it’s tapas. If you put it here” — pulling it in front of himself — “I’m now not sharing. So that’s not tapas.”
So perhaps in a restaurant or bar it’s straightforward enough, but what about at home? For a home cook, what makes a dish a tapa? That seems even more difficult to say. Outside of the basic rules of being one or two bites that can be eaten standing up with toothpicks or fingers, I guess it should always be served with drinks. I might venture that daring flavor combinations are part of it. And at least according to the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, tapas need Spanish ingredients. Aioli and anchovies seem to be good rules of thumb.
That lack of specificity is why the recipes I’ve included from Andrés are purposefully vague. They call for some Spanish ingredients — piquillo peppers, chistorra sausage, membrillo — but is a stuffed pepper or a fancy pig-in-a-blanket specifically “Spanish”? A nectarine is decidedly American produce, but if you put a Spanish anchovy on it, does it become a tapa?
As I was pondering all of that, Andrés suddenly said: “Let’s not sit down. Come with me.” And he took the plates to the bar. He cleared out all the chairs at one end of the bar and then we stood facing one another. “OK, my friend,” he said. “This is tapas. This is the spirit of tapas, anyway. The informality of the moment, sharing the same plate.”
He talked about tapas being “a commitment of people, being together, going from place to place, sharing experience.” And that, in the end, may be the part of tapas that’s hardest to capture at home. In Spain, you rarely stop at one spot for an entire evening of tapas. Spanish cities boast a mass of bars with lots of different house specialties, and the tradition of the tapeo (or tapas crawl) is about crowds, movement, eating standing up, and being so casual that you often just toss your toothpicks and napkins on the ground when you’re finished.
Andrés took a toothpick in his hand. “To make people eat with a toothpick. Now, that’s cultural,” he said. “In the U.S., in the end, they all want to sit. It’s cultural. Sometimes you try not to fight certain cultural things.”
POTATO-WRAPPED CHORIZO WITH MEMBRILLO AIOLI
Serves 4 or 5
Think of these as tapas pigs in blankets, with a luscious dipping sauce. You'll need toothpicks and an instant-read thermometer for monitoring the frying oil.
To avoid any possible salmonella risk from raw eggs, use a pasteurized brand.
Chistorra chorizo is a dry-cured, mildly spiced, Basque-style sausage available through various online purveyors, including LaTienda.com and Amazon.com. The links are thin. You also can cut standard-size cured chorizo links lengthwise into quarters to achieve the effect needed here. Membrillo (quince paste) is available in the cheese department of large supermarkets.
Make ahead: You'll have leftover aioli, which can be refrigerated for up to 3 days in advance.
Adapted from "Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen," by José Andrés (Clarkson Potter).
For the aioli:
1 large egg (see note above)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon water (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Kosher or sea salt
6 ounces membrillo (quince paste)
For the chorizo:
8 ounces cured Spanish chorizo, preferably chistorra (see note above)
1 large russet potato, peeled
3 cups Spanish olive oil, for frying
For the aioli: Break the egg into a mini food processor. Add 2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil, the garlic and lemon juice. Purée until smooth.
With the motor running, gradually drizzle in the remaining extra-virgin olive oil. If the mixture seems very thick before you begin adding the vegetable oil, add the water to loosen the sauce. With the motor running, drizzle in the vegetable oil, blending until you have a rich, creamy aioli that's a lovely light yellow color. Season lightly with salt; the yield is about 1 cup. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup; reserve the rest for another use.
Return the 1/2 cup of aioli to the food processor and add the membrillo; purée until creamy and well combined. Transfer to a serving bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to 3 days).
For the chorizo: Unless you're using chistorra chorizo, cut the links lengthwise into quarters, then cut each quarter into 2-inch lengths; you'll need a total of 20. For the chistorra chorizo, simply cut into 2-inch lengths.
Fill a mixing bowl with ice cubes and water. Use a mandoline to thinly slice the potato lengthwise, transferring the slices to the bowl as you work. You'll need 20 of the largest slices; reserve the small ones for another use.
Remove a potato slice from the ice water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Lay it on a clean work surface and place a piece of chorizo in the center. Fold the potato slice over it, like a soft taco shell. Pinch the slice closed around the chorizo, and secure it by threading a toothpick or two through the edges of the potato. Repeat with the remaining potato slices and chorizo, creating a total of 20 bundles.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat to 325 degrees. Working in batches, fry the bundles until the potatoes are golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer them to the paper-towel-lined baking sheet to drain as you work. Allow the oil temperature to return to 325 degrees between batches.
Carefully remove the toothpicks while the bundles are still warm, to prevent the potato slices from breaking. Cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep them warm until ready to serve.
Spoon some of the membrillo aioli onto small dishes; serve under or alongside the potato-chorizo bundles.
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Jason Wilson
A few weeks ago, Spain announced that its Ministry of Culture will seek protective status for tapas, its prized culinary ritual. This protection would come by way of UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List, which aims to safeguard “traditions or living expressions” of cultural knowledge, practices and skills. Flamenco, for instance, is already listed. So is the violin making of Cremona, Italy; Chinese shadow puppetry; Estonian smoke saunas; Slovakian bagpipe culture; and the Mongolian coaxing ritual for camels.
Traditional food ways, to date, have made up only a small part of the UNESCO list: Croatian gingerbread, Armenian lavash bread, cuisine from the Mexican state of Michoacán and the vaguely worded “gastronomic meal of the French” are all recognized. But more and more regions have pushed to list and protect their traditional foods. Naples, for instance, has been aggressively trying to add Neapolitan pizza making to the list.
Smoked salmon and quail eggs were inspired by pintxos in San Sebastian. This tapa, nectarines with anchovies, is adapted from one of chef-restaurateur José Andrés favorite salads.
“Tapas are the very model of food,” Rafael Ansón, Royal Academy of Gastronomy president, told the Local, Spain’s largest English-language news network. Ansón insisted that tapas are not a specific type of dish but a “way of eating” and a living cultural practice that deserves preservation.
Now, I’m all for safeguarding fragile practices and traditions, but this move by Spain sounded like a bad idea. Of all the world’s foods, tapas don’t seem as if they’d need protection. What makes tapas great and strong is that they are so open-source and open-ended, ready to be adapted by any culture.
Reading about tapas as a protected species led me to think about one of the strangest trips of my life, which took place several years ago when I was invited to be a judge at Spain’s national tapas competition — the Concurso Nacional de Pinchos y Tapas — in the city of Valladolid.
The invitation came as a surprise. Sure, in my time I’d enthusiastically sampled quite a lot of tapas and their toothpicked cousins, pinchos, at bars all over Spain. Usually the tapas were a means of soaking up whatever I happened to be sampling: tortillitas de camarones (mini shrimp omelets) in Sanlúcar de Barrameda to soak up the manzanilla, embuchados (lamb intestine) in Logroño to soak up the Rioja, classic patatas bravas in Madrid to soak up the vermouth, croquetas de cecina (cured-beef croquettes) in Léon to soak up the rosé. Tapas, it seemed, were often more of an accompaniment to the wine or beer or spirit, and not the other way around — the opposite of how food and drink are usually paired.
Still, I was no expert. I didn’t even speak Spanish very well (or, like, at all). Regardless, I arrived in Valladolid and was whisked onstage in the city’s odd, fluorescent Millennium Dome, was fed more than a dozen tapas in front of television cameras, announced to the host that the plates in front of me were “¡muy bueno!” and scribbled my opinions on very official score sheets. My panel was specifically judging the dishes of culinary students from around the world, from as close as neighboring Portugal to as far away as South Korea. Student chefs from Israel, Turkey, Sweden, Italy, Canada, Mexico and the United States sent out their best interpretations of tapas. As the plates arrived one by one, the bubbly television host boasted about how wonderful it was that tapas had become so “international” and that they were “Spain’s great culinary gift to the world.”
Among the judges there was much solemn discussion (some of it in English, luckily for me) of what defined tapas. There was general agreement that they should be small enough to eat in one or two bites and should not require a utensil beyond toothpicks or fingers. “Would I eat this standing up?” someone asked. When one young chef served us a delicious poached fish in a soupy broth, served in a bowl, to be eaten with a spoon, the judge next to me pushed it aside and declared, “This is not a tapa.”
One of the key judging categories was “Productos,” with an asterisked explanation that this meant we were to judge the use of “products and ingredients typical of Spanish gastronomy.” Apparently there had a been vigorous debate at the prior year’s Concurso in which a member of the Royal Academy of Gastronomy had vehemently insisted that “tapas must be prepared using Spanish products.”
The winner was a young woman from Seattle whose tapa, “Delicias del Pacífico,” was both Spanish and not. It was a trio of cured fish, skewered with potato spheres, that included traditional ingredients such as bacalao, saffron and anise. But it also invoked the flavors of the Pacific Northwest by using wild salmon, raising a few Spanish eyebrows.
After I returned from my experience as a tapas judge, I became hyper-aware of how the word “tapas” is used at home. Here, it has simply become a synonym for small plates, which years ago became a ubiquitous form of popular dining, even at decidedly non-Spanish restaurants. But real tapas are more than just small plates, and perhaps the Spanish have just finally had enough of the term’s misuse.
Even in Spain, however, there’s disagreement about the origin of the term. Tapa literally means “cover” or “lid.” Some say “tapas” was derived from the practice of covering a glass of wine with a bread slice or small plate to keep out fruit flies. Others say it dates to a 17th-century king who ordered tavern owners to cover wine servings with a snack meant to ward off drunkenness. Still others say unscrupulous innkeepers used to offer strong-smelling cheese bites to cover the smell of bad wine.
I decided to consult with someone who was a true tapas expert: the premier tapas expert in the United States, José Andrés, who once wrote, “I won’t be happy until there is a paella pan on every backyard grill in America.”
At our lunchtime meeting at his Washington, D.C., restaurant Jaleo, Andrés told me that “UNESCO can try to protect everything, but at the end of the day, what tapas has become doesn’t necessarily reflect what tapas is in Spain. But, you know, Spain as a whole is also still in need of defining itself, too.”
It’s strange to think about how recent a phenomenon tapas are for Americans. In 1993, when Andrés opened his first Jaleo, the word was still relatively unknown, though interest in all things Spanish was growing after the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. “Tapas has been a Trojan horse, bringing Spanish cooking into the mainstream,” he said.
As he and I talked, Andrés really tried to get at the heart of the philosophical question “what are tapas?” He clearly had not been asked the question for a while, and he took a few stabs at a suitable answer. “What is the box where tapas lives? How do you define it? If you ask 50 million Spaniards, they will give you 50 million definitions,” he said. “Is tapas a whole bunch of dishes, or a way of enjoying life? I would say both.”
While we talked, we were served plates of Iberico ham, anchovies, croquetas de pollo, razor clams, garlic shrimp, and ensaladilla rusa (Russian salad) with potatoes, tuna, aioli and trout roe. At one point, Andrés proposed what he called the “20-inch rule.” “If you put it here” — pushing the ensaladilla rusa to the middle of the table — “it’s tapas. If you put it here” — pulling it in front of himself — “I’m now not sharing. So that’s not tapas.”
So perhaps in a restaurant or bar it’s straightforward enough, but what about at home? For a home cook, what makes a dish a tapa? That seems even more difficult to say. Outside of the basic rules of being one or two bites that can be eaten standing up with toothpicks or fingers, I guess it should always be served with drinks. I might venture that daring flavor combinations are part of it. And at least according to the Royal Academy of Gastronomy, tapas need Spanish ingredients. Aioli and anchovies seem to be good rules of thumb.
That lack of specificity is why the recipes I’ve included from Andrés are purposefully vague. They call for some Spanish ingredients — piquillo peppers, chistorra sausage, membrillo — but is a stuffed pepper or a fancy pig-in-a-blanket specifically “Spanish”? A nectarine is decidedly American produce, but if you put a Spanish anchovy on it, does it become a tapa?
As I was pondering all of that, Andrés suddenly said: “Let’s not sit down. Come with me.” And he took the plates to the bar. He cleared out all the chairs at one end of the bar and then we stood facing one another. “OK, my friend,” he said. “This is tapas. This is the spirit of tapas, anyway. The informality of the moment, sharing the same plate.”
He talked about tapas being “a commitment of people, being together, going from place to place, sharing experience.” And that, in the end, may be the part of tapas that’s hardest to capture at home. In Spain, you rarely stop at one spot for an entire evening of tapas. Spanish cities boast a mass of bars with lots of different house specialties, and the tradition of the tapeo (or tapas crawl) is about crowds, movement, eating standing up, and being so casual that you often just toss your toothpicks and napkins on the ground when you’re finished.
Andrés took a toothpick in his hand. “To make people eat with a toothpick. Now, that’s cultural,” he said. “In the U.S., in the end, they all want to sit. It’s cultural. Sometimes you try not to fight certain cultural things.”
POTATO-WRAPPED CHORIZO WITH MEMBRILLO AIOLI
Serves 4 or 5
Think of these as tapas pigs in blankets, with a luscious dipping sauce. You'll need toothpicks and an instant-read thermometer for monitoring the frying oil.
To avoid any possible salmonella risk from raw eggs, use a pasteurized brand.
Chistorra chorizo is a dry-cured, mildly spiced, Basque-style sausage available through various online purveyors, including LaTienda.com and Amazon.com. The links are thin. You also can cut standard-size cured chorizo links lengthwise into quarters to achieve the effect needed here. Membrillo (quince paste) is available in the cheese department of large supermarkets.
Make ahead: You'll have leftover aioli, which can be refrigerated for up to 3 days in advance.
Adapted from "Made in Spain: Spanish Dishes for the American Kitchen," by José Andrés (Clarkson Potter).
For the aioli:
1 large egg (see note above)
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon water (optional)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
Kosher or sea salt
6 ounces membrillo (quince paste)
For the chorizo:
8 ounces cured Spanish chorizo, preferably chistorra (see note above)
1 large russet potato, peeled
3 cups Spanish olive oil, for frying
For the aioli: Break the egg into a mini food processor. Add 2 tablespoons of the extra-virgin olive oil, the garlic and lemon juice. Purée until smooth.
With the motor running, gradually drizzle in the remaining extra-virgin olive oil. If the mixture seems very thick before you begin adding the vegetable oil, add the water to loosen the sauce. With the motor running, drizzle in the vegetable oil, blending until you have a rich, creamy aioli that's a lovely light yellow color. Season lightly with salt; the yield is about 1 cup. This recipe calls for 1/2 cup; reserve the rest for another use.
Return the 1/2 cup of aioli to the food processor and add the membrillo; purée until creamy and well combined. Transfer to a serving bowl; cover and refrigerate until ready to use (up to 3 days).
For the chorizo: Unless you're using chistorra chorizo, cut the links lengthwise into quarters, then cut each quarter into 2-inch lengths; you'll need a total of 20. For the chistorra chorizo, simply cut into 2-inch lengths.
Fill a mixing bowl with ice cubes and water. Use a mandoline to thinly slice the potato lengthwise, transferring the slices to the bowl as you work. You'll need 20 of the largest slices; reserve the small ones for another use.
Remove a potato slice from the ice water and pat it dry with a paper towel. Lay it on a clean work surface and place a piece of chorizo in the center. Fold the potato slice over it, like a soft taco shell. Pinch the slice closed around the chorizo, and secure it by threading a toothpick or two through the edges of the potato. Repeat with the remaining potato slices and chorizo, creating a total of 20 bundles.
Line a baking sheet with paper towels. Heat the olive oil in a medium pot over medium heat to 325 degrees. Working in batches, fry the bundles until the potatoes are golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer them to the paper-towel-lined baking sheet to drain as you work. Allow the oil temperature to return to 325 degrees between batches.
Carefully remove the toothpicks while the bundles are still warm, to prevent the potato slices from breaking. Cover loosely with aluminum foil to keep them warm until ready to serve.
Spoon some of the membrillo aioli onto small dishes; serve under or alongside the potato-chorizo bundles.
