What It Is ~ Linguiça is a Portuguese sausage consisting of pork and spices such as white pepper, paprika and garlic. It’s smokey with a tang to it. It comes in regular and spicy varieties depending on the maker you find.
Where To Find It ~ It can be difficult to find unless you’re in the west of the U.S. (CA, OR, WA, NV, UT, MT, ID, WY), the Boston area (not sure about the rest of Massachusetts) and Hawai’i and it’s Islands
The two primary makers I know of in the states are Silva out west and Gaspar’s in the east.
I also know Whole Foods carries Silva and it can be purchased in a few other states (FL, CO, KS, NE, MO, NM, LA, OK, AR, AZ). I’d also look for Portuguese meat markets. I’m blessed here in central FL that not only can I get it through Whole Foods but I have the Açores Distributing Co in Palm Coast
How To Cook It ~ Start with a small amount of water in the bottom of a frying pan and it doesn’t matter if it’s whole, sliced or uncased and crumbled, boil it for a little bit to pull some of the fat out then let that water and fat evaporate until it’s slightly browned in color. If the skin is left on, the skin will take on a goldish hue. You can also grill it.
What To Do With It ~ I use it for so much!! My Thanksgiving stuffing isn’t right if there’s not crumbled linguiça in it. I will pull it from it’s casing crumble it up and use it in soups and omelets. I will slice it up in its casing and put it on pizza. Leave it whole or slice it in half and make linguica dogs served with mustard.
Try these recipes ~ Caldo Verde calls for it, I’ll also add it to a bowl of Portuguese Beans for even more protein pack and flavor.
Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Broth)
Ingredients
- 1 tbsp butter
- ¼ lb linguiça or chouriço or andouille thinly sliced or remove from casing and crumble
- ¼ cup boiling water
- ½ medium onion thinly sliced
- 1 medium potato peeled and thinly sliced
- ¾ cup chicken broth I use a chicken bouillon cube in water
- 6 oz kale or spinach or collards
Instructions
- Place linguiça into pot with butter and water into pot on medium-high, bring to a boil, turn heat down to medium and cook until water and grease evaporate and sausage is cooked through. Drain on paper towels and leave remaining grease in place
- Turn stove to medium-high, to the pot add onion and soften slightly
- Add potato, broth, bring to boil, cover and simmer till tender, about 25 minutes
- While this is cooking, remove stems from your chosen greens and cut into thin, short shredded ribbons and set aside
- When potato is done, take immersion blender to pot (or pour into blender, ninja, whatever) and mix till smooth (put back in pot if removed to blend)
- Add greens and cook on low about 3 minutes till wilted but still bright green
- Add linguiça back to pan and cook through
Portuguese Beans (Helen’s Beans)
Ingredients
- 3 slices bacon you can use 2-4
- 2 cloves garlic pressed or diced super fine
- ½ small onion diced
- ¼ tsp whole cumin seed
- ½ tbsp red wine vinegar, white wine vinegar or distilled vinegar
- 8 oz can tomato sauce
- 15 oz can small red beans
- salt & pepper to taste
Instructions
- Set stove to medium high
- Fry bacon till crisp, set aside, keep grease
- Add onion, fry till translucent
- Add garlic and fry till fragrant (a minute or two)
- Add tomato sauce, juice from beans, cumin, vinegar, salt & pepper,
- Turn heat down to simmer and allow this to simmer for about 10 minutes
- Add beans & crumbled bacon, heat through (just a few minutes)