Of the many reasons to celebrate modern life, one in particular stands out: we live in an age of spreadable sausage.

North Country Charcuterie introduced its Hoguera spreadable chorizo earlier this spring. As the name indicates, it’s chorizo sausage, only not for slicing, but for spreading on things. What sorts of things? Well, you get to decide. It made a splashy debut on the menu of Cosecha Cocina, but you can buy it at retail outlets for unsupervised use as well.

Lots of North Country’s products are shelf stable, but the spreadable chorizo can be found in the refrigerated section of stores. The sausage is packaged in several layers of brown paper which yields to a conventional vacuum packaged plastic. Inside that wrapper is a plump, dark red sausage in casing.

It’s not until you slice through the casing (the instructions say it should be removed, by the way) that you really appreciate the sausage’s uniqueness. It’s smooth, like butter. And it’s spreadable . . . like butter. The similarities end there, though.

It offers layers of experience. First, there’s the smooth fattiness of the chorizo, followed by a pronounced chipotle accent, followed by the urge to yell, because things get super-spicy.

For label-readers, the first ingredient is pork fat, which is what makes the concoction so incredibly spreadable. The rest of the list is comprised of pork, salt and seasoning, as expected. The directions suggest using on a baguette or in cooking. It worked just fine on a cracker, but it’s fun as a fat substitute in frying eggs too.

North Country Charcuterie offers hand-cured meats and salamis made right here in Columbus, Ohio. It uses Ohio ingredients, including spices from the North Market. Its products include traditional salamis and edgier options, such as coffee bacon. You can find its products a local eateries as well as gourmet grocers.

For more information, visit northcountrycharcuterie.com.

by Miriam Bowers Abbot
Source: Columbus Underground