Last week I made the Easy Pork Fried Rice with Corn and Shishito Peppers from J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook.

The recipe (and some of Kenji’s other recipes) calls for “Spanish-style raw cured chorizo,” and he comments “Spanish chorizo should not be confused with Mexican-style raw chorizo or other Latin American chorizos.” I have not been able to find anything labeled “Spanish-style." The international farmers market I shop has smoked and non-smoked chorizo, but those are the only options and the only labels. I think the smoked is what I should have bought for this recipe, because of the “cured” specification, but I actually bought the non-smoked because of the “raw” specification. I didn’t sweat it since Kenji also notes for this recipe “If you don't have chorizo, don't worry—this recipe is just as tasty with ham, bacon, or no meat at all.”

In a change from the other fried rice recipes, Kenji does not use an egg in this one. The chorizo is cooked first, rendering the fat, and then the corn. After my experience with stir-frying corn in the Cheesy Congee with Bacon, Charred Corn, Scallions, and Cilantro recipe, I kept a close eye on it this time. Once it began to pop, I put a lid on the wok to keep things contained. That seemed to work pretty well.

We liked the amount of chorizo, corn, and peppers in the fried rice, but once again we thought it lacked flavor. I think doubling the sauce in many of these fried rice recipes would go a long way in improving them. I find this critique a little funny, because in the introduction to his section Kenji advises against adding “too much sauce.” If I make this one again, I’ll certainly try increasing the sauce ingredients.

I am cooking my way through J. Kenji Lopez-Alt’s The Wok cookbook. Read more about it.