Linguica Sausage
Linguiça is a form of smoke cured
pork sausage seasoned with
garlic and
paprika in Portuguese-speaking countries.
Linguiça, like many other sausages, is generally served as part of a heavy meal, typically accompanied by
rice,
beans, and other pork products. Feijoada, for example, is a traditional Brazilian dish, also common in Angola, that incorporates linguiça with beans, ham hocks, and other foods.
In Brazil, one variant is specially popular, the linguiça calabresa or simply calabresa, prepared originally with Calabrese pepper (nowadays with South American pepper) by Italian immigrants and particularly used in pizzas as a spicy sausage. Its popularity compares with pepperoni in the United States. Thus its common to differentiate the linguiça calabresa from its counterpart linguiça portuguesa, prepared from the original Portuguese recipe and also served in pizzas as mild sausage, generally with
egg slices.
Outside of continental Portugal, Azores Islands, Madeira Islands and Brazil, linguiça is also popular in Goa, Southeastern Massachusetts, Massachusetts' North Shore, Rhode Island, California, Oregon, Seattle, New Jersey, Hawaii, and Okinawa. It is also available in many grocery stores in southern and central New Hampshire, and southern Maine. In these regions it is typically sliced before being braised or grilled.
Linguiça is also used in Francesinha, a traditional Portuguese dish, from Porto. The linguiça is incorporated in its sauce, giving it a distinct flavor.
In Hawaii, McDonald's restaurants serve breakfasts featuring linguiça. Hawaiian linguiça, also known as Portuguese sausage, is usually smoked using banana leaves.
Linguiça is a popular dish in Mangalore among the Catholic community. Mangalorean linguiça is spicier than Portuguese linguiça, and is more closely related to Goan chouriço. It is strongly flavored with
red chillies,
peppercorns,
turmeric, and
salt. It is typically prepared by half frying
onions, adding
sugar and
vinegar to the meat, and cooking over a low flame, preferably wood fire.
