Chourico vs Chorizo & why I can’t seem to find Linguica
Monday, April 21st, 2008I have a feeling that this entry is going to prove to be part rant, part sausage class and part recipe. Let us start with the rant portion and get that out of the way.
Growing up in RI and Southern MA linguica was always abundant and common place at family gatherings. My grandma often made a fabulous dish that was simply onions, peppers, red wine and the meat all boiled together and served on a crusty roll. My mom recently took the reigns and started preparing the dish for various holidays. That is when my boyfriend first tried it and fell in love with it. Now I am far away from home and the sausage and peppers supplier I call mom is unable to whip up this dish whenever my better half gets a craving. So I decided to give it a whirl. Thought it would be a nice surprise being that I don’t cook meat. So I set off in search of linguica. Who would have guessed what a difficult task that would prove.
Fast forward to me, standing in the meat section, staring wide eyed in disbelief. How could there be no linguica? Then it hit me. This very Portuguese pork product may not be so readily available at my local super market here in NYC. So I had no other choice to run home and do my research. Welcome to sausage 101.
Linguica is a Portuguese sausage that is usually mild and heavily spiced with paprika. Also, Emeril loves it! These are all facts I know. I also know that chourico (”shoor-reese”) is another Portuguese sausage and it is very similar to linguica… can’t find that either though. But I can find chorizo. What’s the difference? That is where the handy internet comes in. In situations like these having unlimited online sources at your finger tips is a godsend; it is also a confusing pain in the rump. There are conflicting accounts about what spices are in what sausage and what can really be called Spanish or Mexican and blah blah blah. Welcome to the world wide web, home of many opinions and varying facts. Here are some chorizo facts that seem to unflinching. There are 2 varieties, Mexican and Spanish. Both types are spicier than Portuguese chourico. Apparently the Spanish version is more akin to linguica. With so much information to sift though (I’ll include some helpful links at the end), I finally managed to decide on Spanish chorizo.
Thankfully, when I reached my more culturally diverse grocery store, they had a Spanish version of Portuguese linguica. If I hadn’t found that gem I would have ended up lost in a sea of about a dozen chorizo choices. This “Portuguese style smoked sausage” had a convincing enough list of ingredients, so I grabbed a package and ran home while I was still feeling brave.
Now simmering on my cook top sits the following ingredients: (this is a very vague recipe)
• one package, roughly a pound, of linguica
• one large yellow onion
• one large green pepper
That’s it for dry ingredients!
Cut the meat into large chunks, chop the onions and peppers into thick strips, toss in a large, deep pot and cover with red wine. I used Merlot. The wine is one of the very vague aspects of the list. Use whatever red you are fond of. You just need enough to cover all the contents of the pot. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and cover. Let is cook for approximately 2 hours. That’s it. I’m certainly no chef… but I know what I like, and this is yummy!
Thank you to any that actually made it through that narrative mess!
