Penzey spices ? tooooooo many choices

[kfin]

Allright guys and gals, I have been smoking in the bradley for a few years now. Last year I got all my "stuff" to begin making my own sausages. After Reading over Ryteks book I have decided to get busy in the next few weeks and finally crank some out. (Too hot to do anything outside!)

My wife was kind of curious why I had all of her penzey spices out taking inventory a few minutes ago....little does she know! Here is where I need a little guidance.

One recipe calls for paprika, now in my mind you go to the store and buy a jar of paprika. However I am going to buy the "better" stuff to see what it is like. Penzey's has at least 4 different varieties of paprika!! California sweet, Hungarian half sharp, hungarian sweet kulonleges, and smoked spanish. LOL, I am totally lost and out of my element here. The chorizo recipe calls for 5 tb of this for 10 pounds of meat. Don't want to put the wrong one in.....what do you say?

Hot ground pepper is another one on the same recipe. Is this just cayenne? Or one of the 427 other spicy hot ground peppers? :):):)

What do you all do? Try small batches until you get something you like?
Thanks,

Keith

[hal4uk]

I've got a few in the cabinet --- if I remember right, the "Half-Sharp" is really HOT (for paprika).
If the recipe just says "paprika"...  Maybe don't use THAT one (unless the rest of the recipe seems mild).
if it wasn't specified, I would expect it to mean plain old Spanish paprika, but that doesn't mean you can't kick it up.
It's YOUR sausage.
;D

[squirtthecat]

Half-sharp is killer hot!!    Trust me on that..   ::)

[kfin]

Well, I like spicy and it is going in chorizo....however since it calls for 5 tbsp of paprika and 3 tbsp of hot ground pepper in 10 pounds of meat, maybe I better not get that one if I want the wife to try it.

[NePaSmoKer]

Paprika is going to give you the nice dark redish color with some very mild heat (depending on which one). Cayenne is whats going to give you the heat.

[kfin]

I am going with the Spanish paprika this time. Use the cayenne to spice it up if necessary.

Thanks for the info.

[Kevin A]

What do you all do? Try small batches until you get something you like?

Keith

One of the things I do is make sure the spices I use are FRESH. Some spices, like Paprika for example, tend to get bitter & brackish-tasting as they age. This bitterness is very evident in the end product (bitter sausage :P)...
For me, its worth investing in fresh spices when going to all the trouble & expense of making sausage.

[OU812]

You cant wrong with Penzeys Spices,,,,,,,,,,,,, Thats all I use.

Spanish Paprika is Oak smoked paprika and I use it in allot of my sausage

The Hungarian Sweet Paprika has the most flavor, thats what I use in most my rubs.

Hungarian Half Sharp does have some kick to it, I use this one if the recipe needs a little kick.

The Californian Sweet I use on stuff like deviled eggs.

Thats just me,,,,,,, make a small batch and see witch one YOU like.

Cant wait to see and here how your chorizo turns out.

[smoke em if you got em]

WOW! This is some good info. I'll be bookmarking this page.

Mike