Whether at the fore or as a gentle hint, smoked paprika always plays its part quite nicely. It has a deep, savoury hit, and using a little can go a long way.
One of the things I’ve done for years, and encourage people to try, is make my own chorizo sausage. It’s super easy and quite rewarding. But it all starts with some good free-range, organic minced pork, preferably belly or shoulder, and some really good paprika. I add three types: a really good smoked paprika, a sweet paprika, and a hot paprika. Then I mix in fennel seeds, garlic, a little bit of red wine and salt, then give it a really good tumble. If you add enough salt, say 2% (so, for 1kg of mix, add 20g salt), it will actually preserve the mixture, and you can pop it in the fridge, and it will last for a week to 10 days. Or you can freeze batches of it, too.
