I had never seen it before. We had only had one previous experience with chorizo, per se, and it was actually SoyRizo. I wouldn't really suggest that product to anyone. It was overly spicy, and incredibly crumbly. But what attracted my attention to this was that it was not only gluten free, but PORK free. It's actually made from veal. And this is not just any veal. Per their website, their group raised veal is 100 percent tether and crate free, group raised, never administered hormones, and raised in the United States. Now those are things that I can get behind. Yeah Mamacitas.
The chorizo was not the only product that they had. They also had a taco seasoned veal. In all honesty, I chose the taco seasoned meat for two reasons- 1) it had a lot less fat and 2) my stomach can't handle the spicy chorizo.
So I buy my hard shell tortillas, my salsa and other fixings, and cook up the meat. It was a beautiful red color, fragrant and spicy....and still really greasy. I took a couple of paper towels and soaked up the extra grease, deep orange in color. I probably took away a lot of the spices as well, but I just couldn't handle seeing that much grease in the pan. So we got all of out taco fixings together and set down to dinner. It's just the two of us, so we only used half of the cooked veal.
The tacos were wonderful. With the crispy, warm hard shell tacos, it was wonderful, albeit a little messy. [But hey, they're tacos, so who cares right?] We finished our dinner, cleaned up, and headed off to our prayer meeting at church.
And then two hours later, my stomach hurt. Now, I'm not knocking the product. My husband really enjoyed it. The only issue was I had gluten free oats, which still make me sick, the day before, and I didn't know if what I was experiencing was still a delayed reaction from that oats, or from the meat.
So I experiment the next day and we use the rest of the cooked meat in a breakfast casserole along with the other chicken sausage and some leftover hashbrowns we had in the refrigerator. At first, no problems. But then half way through handbells, after choir practice, I started to feel light headed. Then came the feeling that I had a rock in my stomach. I hate that feeling.
So, here I am writing about my experience. I wasn't sure if I should, because I had a bad reaction. But someone else who doesn't have health issues won't [ my husband didn't] and I think it's a really neat product. Especially because of the humane way that they raise their veal. So Dos Mamacitas, thanks for being pork free. Not so sure about the gluten free labeling, or maybe you use GF oat flour that's undeclared in your label. Either way, thanks for not taking the animals who provide you a living for granted, and for treating them with respect. Uno thumbs up.