Rodney

This is mainly a US question, but I'd be curious to hear from Canadians, Europeans, and others:

How widely spread is linguicia, the great Portuguese sausage? I grew up half-Portuguese, and ate a lot of it all my life. And in California and Massachusetts I was always able to get it in restaurants -- usually with breakfast -- and find it in the stores. But I always wondered whether it was popular nationwide, or just in those areas?

It is, of course, my favorite sausage. Good for breakfast, in a roll (along with a glass of red, the Portagee way :-)), in beans, in stew, and any damn way.

maleficent

chorico is more common around here and its yummy...

I love it in black bean soup... or in mac and cheese - it just gives some extra kick....

One of the things i miss about nj - -is the number of quality portuguese restaurants in newark... chorico in garlic ... and shrimp in garlic i could happily live the rest of my life on...

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little_tippler

I have no idea! I'm in Portugal and it's of course readily available. I know that chouriço is widely available but most think it's spanish, but we make it great here too. And it's written linguiça.

I don't eat that much of either really, and chouriço isn't that commonly used as an element in a meal, but more as a flavouring thing (although it is present in stews and feijoadas), or eaten on its own. There is also a typical portuguese dish called cozido where it's boiled (believe it or not this is actually an excellent way to eat it).

My favourite is when you put it over a clay assador and put alcohol in the assador and light it...tastes wonderfully charred. Linguiça is usually something you eat before a meal with friends, like olives or crisps and such, grilled or fried. I find them too heavy at breakfast but to each his own!

Also, in Brazil, linguiça is something entirely different altogether. It's a small fat pink sausage that tastes divine barbecued!

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In what we show ourselves we are ignored.
The abyss from soul to soul cannot be bridged
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Lucifer

what is the name of the vegetarian sausage in Portugal. I can't remember what was in it, but it had a sort of vinegar flavour and it was fat and orange.
I used to live in Vila Nova de Gaia, and we used to get it for lunch sometimes.

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Rodney

Yes, you're right about the spelling. Guess my brain slipped. Out here on the west coast chourico is spelled chorizo, and is used mainly in Mexican-style cooking, usually broken up -- I've never had it served in the casing.

Charlatan

You can get it in Toronto with little difficulty but you would have to go to one of the following:

Little Portugal (in the Dundas and Ossington area)
A specialty meat shop
An upper end grocery store (Pusiteri's, Sun Foods, Whole Foods, Longos and some Loblaws)
St. Lawrence Market (essentially the farmer's market)

You can pretty much get anything you want in Toronto if you look hard enough.

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snowy

Around here you can get it at the Asian markets (oddly enough), some groceries carry it, the Italian deli downtown, and the butcher's. Some of the pizza places in town even have it as a topping (I like to order a linguiça/Italian sausage pizza...mm). Chorizo is far more common (and it's spelled chorizo because that's the Spanish spelling). Every grocery here carries chorizo.

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Rodney

That's very interesting. I'll have to check Asian markets around here (California). The Portuguese made it to Asia early and kept a small colony there (Macao) until very recently. Perhaps they brought the sausage with them?

I was also wondering whether linguica was common in Hawaii, which might also account for the Asian connection. A lot of Asians _and_ Portuguese immigrated there.

snowy

It's so common in Hawaii they just call it Portuguese sausage. They usually eat it with breakfast. And yes, the colonial connection was my thought too.

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