My Brother’s Recipe
Portuguese Linguica Sausage
A Family Recipe
Yep, this is my brother, Dan, who was one tough high school and college football player … even playing for the Arkansas Razorback Team way back when.
He has mastered the taste of Portuguese cuisine, notably from the Azores. Never being timid about spices … this being taught by our Grandmother Rose. Cumin and cinnamon are of particular importance.
Dan and his son, David, are the cooks in his family. Well, wife, Ruth, can certainly hold her own but she leaves this cuisine to Dan. Thank you Dan and David for including us and providing the photography. Dan has promised to send me some linguica soon.
RECIPE
Linguica Recipe for 70 Pounds of Pork
This will yield approximately 70 pounds of sausage.
Can be kept refrigerated 3-4 days after smoking or freeze up to 9 months.
If a smaller amount of sausage is desired recommend dividing the recipe in half only.
This process will require five days for the marinating process.
Recommend stuffing sausage early morning … so the smoking process will be completed by bedtime.
You will need the following equipment:
- Smoker large enough to accommodate—smokers are available on line or in the barbecue section of Lowe’s, Home Depot or Walmart.
- Smoking material: hickory and mesquite chips will produce stronger smoke taste. (Recommend fruitwood chips or sawdust for lighter smoke taste. Avoid wood with pitch.)
- Stuffers are available on line, such as Amazon. Make sure it is adequate for the amount of sausage you plan to process. The stuffing is the part of the recipe that can fail easily, such as casing breakage, uneven stuffing. The stuffing process takes 2 hours.
- Two people for the stuffing process recommended.
- Digital thermometer with alarm
- Meat thermometer
1 Gallon of apple cider vinegar or red wine vinegar
1 Gallon of water
2 Ounces of cinnamon-ground
1 Pound of fresh garlic—chopped
1/3-1/2 Cup of salt
1/3-1/2 Cup of pepper
0.9 Ounces of cumin-ground
0.9 Ounces of all spice-ground
1 Level teaspoon Insta Cure #1 per 5 pounds of meat=14 Teaspoons for 70 pounds (or ¼ cup plus 2 teaspoons) Different cures have different instructions. Read instructions carefully.
Hog casings 35-38mm in diameter and enough to accommodate 70 pounds
70 pounds of pork butt, boneless
Mix marinade day before to let spices blend. (All ingredients with exception of casing and meat.)
Cut meat when slightly frozen for ease. Suggest cutting in ½ inch steak and then into strips and finally into cubes 1/2 to 3/4 inch but no larger. You will need the fat included in this recipe.
Add meat to marinade and refrigerate for 4-5 days.
Stir meat in marinade twice daily.
Slosh casing in warm water to rinse day of stuffing process.
Run meat thru stuffer once before actual stuffing to help drain extra moisture.
Run meat thru stuffer again into casing. The casing length is placed over the nipple. Scrunch it.
Make lengths 20-23 inches or lengths that can be accommodated in smoker. The 20-23 inch length will be looped and tied together at open ends.
Tie with square knot three times with 3 inch excess casing left at either end of 20-23 inch length. No need to cut casing excess off tied end. It will shrink in smoking.
Hang the sausage links in the smoker. No sides touching, at least an inch apart, to produce more even smoking.
Bring smoker, not all at once, to 155 degrees F (do not exceed 160-165 degrees) and achieve an internal meat temperature of 152 degrees during this drying period of 4 hours.
Then smoke the sausage for approximately 5 hours to achieve the color of light mahogany maintaining the same temperature.
Remove after cooling. If removed when hot or warm the sausage will be soft and may break open.
Refrigerate or freeze.
This sausage must be cooked before eating.
This sausage can be used in soups, beans and other meat dishes to spice them up. Or it can be eaten along side eggs, beans or kale as well as many other dishes. To cook alone place in skillet with red wine and cook until sausage is cooked through. Some prefer the sausage to be grilled or fried.
Things to know:
Be gentle when removing hog casing from packing, go slowly.
The Insta Cure #1 is used to avoid potential botulism. (Small smokers especially are very moist and with dampers closed during the smoking they become ideal for this bacteria. Do not skip this step.)
Smoking is recommended at 160 degrees F. At 170 degrees the fat will begin to melt and the meat will become dry and crumbly, the outside of the casing will be greasy and the sausage will shrivel.
Water soak the wood chips or saw dust for 30 minutes and then drain. This when lighted will produce smoke and not flame.
Replace chips or sawdust every 90 minutes. Check smoker temperature every hour or more often.
This linguica will not have a reddish color as some grocery store brands do. This long time sausage recipe does not contain paprika. This is thought to be a regional recipe.
Any questions, contact me anytime.
Reading:
Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing, 4th edition, by R. Kutao
