@freemo and anyone interested in Culture and Great Food. :)

From a letter I wrote to a pen pal, my impressions on the theme of Chouriço versus Chorizo.

Portugal and España are neighbours, but Portugal was a country since around 1130 -- when the rest of Ibéria was a patchwork of small kingdoms and Moorish domains.

------[ Forwarded Letter segment ]------

Chouriço is indeed a bit different from the Spanish Chorizo - I had found a great website once that explained it quite well, will search in a minute and see if I can locate it again for you.

In my own words, I would say, comparing the examples I bought and ate along during my bicycle trip in Portugal and Spain in 2017 :

- The Spanish one has an intense red tone inside it, I think it get a load of Pimentón during fabrication.
- The Portuguese one was available in different variations at the supermarkets; some with Wine, some with Onion, and a number of other variants. I did find the Spanish ones a bit more fatty, at least the ones I purchased; the Portuguese ones you could see chunks of meat inside and the ocassional white fat blob, but it wasn't spread out in the whole sausage as in the Spanish case.

I did prefer the Portuguese ones, because it seemed more artisanal and tasted better.

Looked around and I did not find that exact page I had seen, which had some well explained diferences. But Wikipedia has a good page for Chorizo, which includes regional varieties, including Portugal -- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chorizo

I liked this answer I found at a Quora page, written by a Portuguese, which confirms my impressions :

"André Braga, Portuguese - represented Portugal in the Youth European Parliament 2011
Answered Oct 20, 2015
Originally Answered: How do Portugese and Spanish chorizo differ?

There are quite a few differences. I will compare chouriço (PT) with chorizo (ES) from a Portuguese perspective (as I am Portuguese).

Chouriço VS Chorizo:

Chouriço has a stronger wine flavor;
Chouriço is normally darker and less bright;
Chouriço has a stronger flavor (but normally less spicy);
Raw cold Portuguese chouriço is very flavorful.

I love both chouriço and chorizo. As a piece of advice - you pay what you get. Go for the good quality ones and you will have an amazing experience regardless of the one you chose :)"

From: https://www.quora.com/How-do-Portuguese-chouri%C3%A7o-and-Spanish-chorizo-differ

I located a really good photo, attaching here, which shows what I expect to find in a good Portuguese Chouriço - leaner meat, some odd chunks of fat here and there, in moderation. A smoked look, and dried. This would be ready to be eaten as a snack or light meal, it's great with some wine and good bread, maybe even some cheese. :)

----[ forwarded letter segment ends ]-----

#Portugal #Food #Gourmet #EU #Culture #Iberia #Travel #yummy

@freemo And from this and other epic letters, I was voted as a great candidate to work with Tourism Portugal, as I absolutely LOVE the country.

Been there at this time of the year, for the past 3 Springs.

I would accept a position with Tourism Portugal in a heartbeat too. 😄

@design_RG wish i had half the energy to write as you do... I can be a good writer but I just dont enjoy writing.

@freemo Oh, when I am in the mood, it's lyrical. 😉 🍷

@freemo I have recovered my gusto for it, after a dry spell. Have been writing some great letters again, met new penpals, and now am having Blog page ideas flashing too.

Love that, I was so active until mid January; then I got Winter blues and retracted a lot.

Hopefully I can focus and jot down notes, go back into some nice writing again. I spent hours in each Blog page, but they were perfect to my liking, and I am still proud of them. If we get motivated, it's a worthwhile pursuit.

Certainly better for my soul than reading numerous online new sources and despairing, of so many bad ones.

@design_RG Its Ironic, I do calligraphy as a hobby, love the idea of writing old-fashioned fancy letters all sealed up on high quality paper... I love everything about writing letters, except actually needing to write content :)