Foodie’s Guide to Regional Gastronomy: Linguiça and Chouriço

In this series, we hope to highlight and showcase in as interesting a way as possible, the stories behind our favorite, mouth-watering local dishes. While we’ll focus on greater New Bedford and the South Coast, we will occasionally “travel” to places like Plymouth, Providence or even Boston. I will attempt to keep it light-hearted, fun and easy to read. While I can’t promise to keep you compelled and pull you along with prose – that would take a professional writer – I will promise to be liberal with the drool-inducing images of these dishes.

I grew up in a Sicilian household where everyone – man, woman, child – was participating in preparing meals. It was a “trick” to get everyone together, talking, laughing and, of course, the occasional heated debate. Food was a huge part of our identity, where we came from, who we were. There was something special about the atmosphere that revolved around a meal that we prepared.

You haven’t lived until you’ve had at least one Chouriço Bombeiro! (Catavino.net)

This is certainly not unique to a Sicilian household. Every ethnic group in the country has a proud culinary tradition that they grew up around. You can easily replace “Sicilian” with Irish, Vietnamese, Portuguese, Ethiopian, Greek or anything else. This is why food as a topic is always so popular. We humans love our food and that passion goes beyond the gustatory or taste – we crave the aromas, delight in the presentation, are fueled by the atmosphere, and relish – pardon the pun – discussion about our favorite dishes, restaurants or cuisines.

One thing that is often not discussed, is glossed over, or barely touched upon, is the history or background of these dishes. Now, to some, this conjures up the voice of the guy from the “dry eyes” commercial. The terms, for many, are synonymous with “boring,” “dull,” or “It’s time to go.” However, the background can be interesting, fun, or funny and it can be so without being facetious, dumbed-down or popular. I will make every attempt to maintain a fresh balance with this series.

As always, feedback is encouraged. Anecdotes are wanted. Discussion is paramount. Please join in.

In this inaugural installment, I felt it was fitting to cover something Portuguese. It is perhaps the largest ethnicity in New Bedford and linguiça/chouriço are something we’ve all tried and likely devour frequently. While both are so ubiquitous in this area, outside of Portuguese communities mention either one and you’ll get silence and puzzled faces.

Imagine the horror of never having had Portuguese food, especially linguiça? These poor deprived souls. They must wander through life feeling a sort of emptiness inside but never able to place a finger on what exactly it is. If there is such a thing as hell on earth, it must be a place without Portuguese food.

Little treasures of smoked happiness curing in preparation for your plate or “pop”

Hyperbole aside, linguiça and its sister chouriço, are part and parcel of our everyday lives, whether we are Portuguese or not. It’s like the greater New Bedford’s “Oreo Cookie” in the sense that there is no end to the debate on how one should eat them. Should they be grilled? Slapped on a pop? With mustard or without? Cheese or no cheese? On pizza? Should they just be heated up lightly or cooked until charred? Are they mildly spicy or without heat? Who makes the best? These are fighting words! Epa!

Linguiça and chouriço are of course, types of sausage. The Portuguese excel at a variety of sausages – what they call enchidos – with these two just being the most popular. Other enchidos include the ancient Alheira made with chicken and created to make it a bit easier for Jewish people to convert, morcela or blood sausage, or presunto, their version of Italian prosciutto, to name a few. The word linguiça is derived from the Italian word luganega, from the ancient Lucanians who used to make linguiça-style sausages in ancient Rome.