Recipe of talo with chorizo, amama’s recipe.

Recipe of homemade talo with chorizo, finger-licking good.

After eating hundreds of talos with chorizo in azokas (fairs) all over the Basque Country, after trying all kinds of combinations (with chorizo, chocolate, bacon, bacon, bacon, cheese …), we have come to the conclusion that the talo with chorizo at home, that of amama (grandmother in Basque), is the best. And the fact is that, having some of the best raw materials on the market and an experience as extensive as hers, it shows in every bite we take of this succulent delicacy. The climate and geography of the Basque Country have always made it difficult to grow cereals such as wheat or barley, but not corn, which was born and produced very quickly in our fields. This is how corn flour became one of the fundamental foods for the elaboration of our precious bread, the talo. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, this traditional dish has been losing ground to the conventional bread, making, that it can only be tasted at home or in the popular festivals of Araba, Bizkaia, Gipuzkoa, Navarre or the French Basque Country. The talo, is usually eaten standing up, in front of the typical txosna of turn, always accompanied by a good glass of sagardo (cider) or txakoli (wine), for tastes the colors.

The Talo has gone from being one of the most consumed and traditional foods of the Basque people to being a very special food consumed only at specific moments, a delicacy. A fact that has made its price grow exponentially, costing between 5 € and 10 €. We are not criticizing the price of the thallus in the market, we simply indicate that it has become such a select food, that its price has risen to unimaginable figures. And, if they were thalli created with local raw materials and elaborated with care and detail, the price would be more than justified, but, unfortunately, this is often not the case. That is why, today, we encourage you to try both, the one in the txosnas, the one we find in any azoka and the ones at home, the ones we create from recipes like this one.

We must emphasize that the recipe we offer you today is not the best or the worst, we simply transmit the recipe of talo with chorizo that has been kept in our family from generation to generation. A very special recipe of what was once our daily bread, the talo. A recipe, that today we tell you to be able to spread it among the greatest number of people. We hope you enjoy it as much as we do. Of course, first and foremost, a good product. Txakinarto corn flour from the Errotabarri mill in Gamiz – Fika, homemade txorizos from the baserri of Laukiz and salt from Leintz Gatzaga or Salinas de Añana.

The preparation of the talo with chorizo is very simple, but like any dish we must follow some steps and know some other secret to be able to elaborate our recipe of talo with chorizo correctly. An indispensable requirement to make a Talo with chorizo as God intended.

1.- Preparation of the ingredients. It is important to have two containers prepared in advance. On the one hand the corn flour and on the other hand the water. We recommend that the flour container be as comfortable and large as possible, since it is here where we will carry out the most important part of the process, the mixing. Of course, before starting to mix these two components, remember to add a small spoonful of salt to the water.

2.- Elaboration of the dough. In order to obtain a first version of what will be the dough with which we will elaborate the talo, we must mix the corn flour and the water gently. For it, we will pour a little of the water that we have prepared previously to the container of the flour. It is best to pour little water and stir, repeating this exercise as many times as necessary until a compact and homogeneous dough is obtained. Neither too hard nor too soft, just right. There is no secret, just knead. By the way, those of you who are used to making recipes of this type, do not worry if the dough gives you bad sensations, the texture of the corn flour makes us obtain a brittle and somewhat sandy texture, a typical characteristic of the talos.

3.- Shape and preparation. Once we have the dough ready, we make balls with it, one for each stem.

Next, we put some flour on the counter or table and spread it with our hands so that the talo does not stick when we give it the shape we want. Once we have the worktop and our hands covered with a small layer of flour, we put one of these balls on it and start to flatten it with our hands until it becomes a thin corn cake.

4.-Cooking: In the past, the talo was cooked on the fire plates of the baserris, where the wood was used as energy to cook these delicacies. Unfortunately, nowadays it is practically impossible to find this type of stoves, so we recommend you to opt for two solutions: an ordinary frying pan or an electric griddle. Both are equally valid. Although our mother opts for the frying pan, we believe that a griddle is much more convenient when it comes to turning the talo. Remember that it should be placed on a low heat so as not to burn the thallus. Once on the fire, we just have to turn it over and over until both sides are browned.

5.-The chorizos. One for each thallus. Fried in the pan, without mystery.

Once you have followed these steps in our recipe for talo with chorizo, all you have to do is wrap the chorizo in the talo and enjoy every bite. Be careful not to get any stains! In case it helps you, we leave you a small video in which you can see most of the steps to follow.

History and method of elaboration: In the old days, with rationing, they hardly had bread, so if they were lucky enough to be able to eat talo, they ate it during the 3 meals of the day, breakfast, lunch and dinner. The primitive way of obtaining corn flour took families to work for more than 1 day: harvesting, roasting and grinding. All in the traditional way, by hand. When the corn was ripe, it was harvested and toasted in the wood ovens of the farmhouses. Our mother tells us that in order to heat the oven they had to wait half a morning with a good fire, while roasting all the corn took them a whole day, almost nothing! Once roasted, it was shelled, taken to the mills and the precious corn flour was obtained. There were those who did not toast the corn, but the flour obtained had neither the same flavor nor the same texture, it was considered a second-rate flour.

All Basques have tasted at least once in our lives a good talo with chorizo and you? We encourage you to come to fairs like Santo Tomás and enjoy moments like tasting a good talo while enjoying the livestock exhibitions. By the way, remember that it can be a good choice for people with celiac disease, since corn flour is gluten-free.