I never was a die-hard hot dog fan, don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed grabbing one at a baseball game or at an occasional cook out; they have always been more of a situational food for me; if I happened to be in a situation where it would be stranger to not eat a hot dog than not. How could you go to a game at Fenway or Wrigley and not have a hot dog? I never really sought hot dogs out though. Then I met the Choripan.
Throughout Argentina, the little brother to the large, massive hunks of steak that are common in the Parrillas there, see Parrilla: Argentinian Opus for more on that topic, is the Choripan—a grown up hot dog. When you look at a sausage, it is hard to imagine it without a bun. What else would you put all the toppings on? I will confess I lived in Chicago for a while and often count to make sure all the seven ingredients are on dogs purporting to be Chicago dogs. No sport peppers? Not a Chicago dog. I digress, without the bun you don’t have the vehicle for the things that make the Chicago dog shine.
What if you didn’t have a hot dog on a hot dog bun? Crazy, right? Well, some ingenious person decided to buck the traditional bun pushed by the Big Hot Dog Bun Lobby and did the unthinkable. They sliced it in half lengthwise. Genius. You wouldn’t put a regular sausage between two pieces of bread because it would roll around, but what if it didn’t roll?
The Choripan is the combination of a Chorizo sausage (Chori) and Pan (bread in Spanish). One disclaimer, the Argentinian Chorizo version is very mild but rich; the spice replaced with fat. The grilled Chorizo is sliced in half and put of a toasted square bun, similar to a ciabatta. The texture is firm but airy with a slight crunch from the toasting. It is loaded with green or red chimichurri, better with both. The unctuousness of the fat drips into the bread which has the structure to hold the oil from the sausage as it rests and marries with the chimichurri. A traditional hot dog bun might fall apart from all the juice, but the porous Pan soaks it up and keeps its shape until it is gone, which is pretty quickly.
The Choripan also has a brother, the Moripan or Morcipan. Same concept only swap the Chorizo for a Morcilla, the Argentinian blood sausage. Even more decadent and almost, almost, too rich. I prefer the Choirpan, but I never refuse a bite of a Moripan.
You can’t go wrong with either. Like the hot dog, there are variations to the toppings and composition of the Choripan, even esoteric versions that dance between nuance and sacrilege, and the best place in Buenos Aires to try these reimaginings of the classic are at Chori in Palermo. If you want the traditional, blow your mind, Choripan, go to Nuestra Parrilla in San Telmo, more information on both are on the S4DF Buenos Aires Restaurant List.
If you go to Buenos Aires, take a break from eating steaks 24/7 and make room for a light snack, the Choripan. If you’re really hungry, try a Moripan too. Make sure to check out Parrilla: The Argentinian Opus.
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