@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

@design_RG From my expiernce the protugese ones are usually sold as a cured meat, similar to pepperoni in america in that sense (much better though).

Mexican chorizo though, despite being based off the spanish stuff, is never cured. Its a raw meat sausage you have to cook. So its a significant departure.

Despite the difference you can taste some similar flavors IMO.

@freemo @design_RG in Spain we have those raw chorizos too. And there are many varieties of the cured one. Some are more similar to chouriço.
Anyway, if you like chorizo you should taste sobrasada https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sobrassada

@miguel31416

Is Sobrassada just a different word for what italians call Sopperasotta? If so I have some int he fridge right now. It looks very similar.

@design_RG