Are We Ready for Chorizo as a Health Food?

Now comes the worst threat yet to lovers of greasy food: chicken chorizo.

I suppose it had to happen. But I feel betrayed. This stuff ought to be drowned in a red sea of hot spices. Deep fried in a vat of lard. Washed over the side by three or four kegs of beer. Pulverized by . . . well, you get the idea.

Chicken chorizo is the brainchild of a Vernon businesswoman who is marketing her product in the L.A. area right now. Worse yet, it has already received a favorable reception in Mexico.

Health food chorizo?

After all, when I say chorizo, I’m talking pork.

My relationship with this most popular of the Mexican-style, reddish-colored sausages is like that of most Latinos who grew up with its warm aroma and spicy taste. Usually on Saturday mornings, the chorizo--fried and scrambled with eggs--was the centerpiece of a traditional Mexican breakfast at our house.

Pork chorizo was a trusted friend who got the day off to a warm and loving start. Sometimes, it showed up in lunch burritos, dinner salads and even in desserts.

By the time I got to high school, chorizo to me was as American as cheeseburgers.

Sure, there are drawbacks. Pork chorizo, as well as beef and some other varieties, is very greasy. It does more to harden arteries, pile on unwanted body fat and put stains on clothes than most foods.

In this era of health consciousness, it has been argued that Latinos, who face a greater chance of developing ailments like diabetes than the general population, should avoid such traditional foods.

I know this better than most. As a diabetic, I have to jog at least five days a week to fight a successful battle against the bulge.

But you can’t turn your back on a friend. Fellow reporter Monica Rodriguez put her finger on my dilemma the other day when she quipped, “Mexican food is supposed to kill you. Otherwise, it isn’t good food.�

It is here that chorizo aficionado Laura Balverde-Sanchez steps in with her revolutionary idea. In a modest two-story factory in Vernon, she and her workers at El Rey Sausage Co. Inc. have created chicken chorizo.

Caramba!

For a while, they toyed with the idea of turkey chorizo. But, Balverde-Sanchez and her employees concluded, it tasted too much like, well, turkey.

Not so with chicken, she says.

A mixture of “secret ingredients� (maybe a little lemon?) added to chilis and spices gives the closest thing to an authentic-tasting chorizo while, at the same time, killing the chicken aftertaste. “That was the toughest part,� she admits.

The chicken chorizo, under the label of “The Original El Rey Chicken Chorizo,� has been on store shelves for a year. Balverde-Sanchez hopes it will be an eventual windfall for El Rey, which she and her husband took over in 1983 after the company suffered financial reverses.

Her product is relatively expensive, selling for as much as $2.99 a pound. Pork chorizo sells for as little as $1.19. But the chicken variety claims to be 85% fat free, low in cholesterol, low in sodium, high in protein--and containing only 50 calories per one-ounce serving, about a third of the calories in other types of chorizo.

I was skeptical during a recent visit to the Vernon factory.

“Why do you want to mess with chorizo?� I whined.

“I’m not messing with chorizo,� Balverde-Sanchez patiently replied. “I’m offering an alternative. Chicken chorizo tastes just as good as the regular chorizo. It’s authentic tasting. . . .

“And,� she concluded proudly, “it’s healthy . . . no more grease.�

I wasn’t convinced.

If people are committed to an old friend, I reasoned, an occasional visit for reassurance could do no harm. So what if there’s a little grease?

“When we eat greasy things, it settles in the hips,� she countered, patting her own flanks for emphasis.

I have to admit that the chicken chorizo tasted spicier than the pork variety. Also, it was tasty--and virtually greaseless. In short, it was pretty good.

But I am left with this nagging doubt: If chicken chorizo succeeds, what comes next? Diet burritos? Low-cal machaca? Lite fajitas?

Think about it.