The Eagle Has Landed

And by eagle, I mean chourico.



I actually didn't have to order it online - one of the vendors at the North Market carries chourico from Gaspar's, where I was going to order from anyway. So I bought 3 delicious 1-lb packages. Yes, that package is 1 pound...which means each sausage is half a pound. These babies are big.

For dinner last night I sliced them in half lengthwise and heated them up in a skillet, then made sandwiches with sauteed peppers and onions. So good. Tastes like summer.

Chorizo/Chourico

My mom is from southeastern Massachusetts...Fall River to be exact. Going back as far as I can remember, we have done a summer family vacation in Massachusetts - Scituate, Westport, Chappaquiddick, Dartmouth, and probably a few other places in between when I was a lot younger. There is a big Portuguese population in southeastern Massachusetts, and therefore that's where some of the most delicious chourico can be found. Chourico (shur-EE-so) is a smoked pork sausage spiced with paprika. I admittedly didn't start eating it until recent years (I used to be a horribly picky eater), but I think chourico has pretty much always been part of a few breakfasts and/or lunches on family vacation. We usually cook it by slicing it in half lengthwise and giving it a nice char either on the bbq or in a skillet, and then serving it with scrambled eggs or just on a roll. This is not the same thing as the Goya brand of chorizo you might be able to find in some grocery stores...it's way better. I always thought it was all chorizo, but upon some seriously meaty research I found that the Spanish and Mexican versions are chorizo, and the Portuguese version is chourico.

I found this article online about different southeastern Massachusetts-based companies that sell chourico, and linguica (another type of sausage). It's probably more than you ever wanted to know, but this is how I entertain my unemployed self. I am going to Boston this weekend and I asked my sister to pick up some chourico for me to bring back to Chicago, but she said she wouldn't have time (seriously, why is driving an hour to buy me sausages not a priority?). But several of the companies listed in that article sell their products online, so I am definitely going to order some and anxiously await it's arrival like most girls my age would anxiously await an online purchase of new shoes. Several of these places also sell Portuguese sweet bread, as well as Autocrat coffee syrup (which isn't Portuguese, but very New England). I might not be able to hold back when I place my order. I'll tell you all about it and take pictures once it's here.