Comments on: Portugal’s Chouriço Sausage is Ready for its Close-up

By: Beth Price, LC Director of Recipe Testing

Beth Price, LC Director of Recipe Testing — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 17:36:46 +0000

Hi Kyle, I had to jump into this discussion. I’m not Portuguese but lived in Bermuda for a number of years. There is a large population from the Azores and to my untrained ear, it always sounded liked they were saying sha-deesh. When I moved back to states and tried to find this sausage, no one knew what I was looking for as the spelling didn’t correspond to the pronunciation to which I was accustomed. Dialects are a funny thing.

Beth

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:44:45 +0000

Kyle, my family is from the Azores, too. That complicates things because even today in Portugal there's a significant difference in accents and dialects between the islands and the mainland. Add to that how American-born folks of Portuguese descent further change the pronunciation, and well, you have a very different-sounding language! As far as buying chouriço, think of Lopes Sausage Co. in Newark, NJ. You have to buy a largeer quantity to make the shipping worth it, but it's some of the best sausage (and linguiça, paio, etc.) I've had state side.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 16:38:13 +0000

I hope you got the book and like it!

By: Kyle

Kyle — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 21:39:38 +0000

David, I’m late to this conversation, but this is exactly the answer I’ve been looking for. My family has always pronounced it “shah-rdeece”, but recently I began to question whether our pronunciation is correct. My great grandparents were born in the Azores, but my grandmother was born in the U.S., so I wondered if our pronunciation had changed over time. That being said my grandmother speaks fluent Portuguese and the pronunciation in general is strange. Google translate pronounces it like “shoriso” and another site has it as “shoreece”, but this is the first place I’ve seen with the d sound. I live in Boston now, where the only brand I ever see is Gaspar’s, but I have a lot of family around Bristol and Warren.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 14:15:18 +0000

Susan, I hope you like the book. There are recipes in there for some of the staples you now order, but there’s no substitute for smoked chouriço—and one of the finest suppliers, I think, is Lopes Sausage Co. in Newark, Nj.

By: Susan

Susan — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 02:01:34 +0000

David, my husband grew up in Fall River, and we go back to see family often. I always overdose on Portuguese food and chow mein when there.

When we lived in Florida we were able to find a lot of Portuguese food in the stores, or we would have friends going back to Mass. bring us back some things. Now that we live in Texas we are having to order everything.

I told my husband I want your book for my birthday.

By: Lizzie

Lizzie — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 21:16:31 +0000

David, I grew up in Fall River, too! I like Gaspar’s sher-eece! Can’t wait to get the new book!

By: David Leite

David Leite — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 21:20:11 +0000

Kathleen, some stores, especially in non-Portuguese communities, call all Portuguese sausage chouriço while others call them linguiça. And what makes it even more confusing, as I mention in my book, is that there’s no nationally accepted distinction between the two sausages—here or in Portugal. In the U.S., different manufacturers have their own definition of what each sausage is. To some, linguiça is lean while chouriço is fatty, or vice versa. To others, chouriço is spicy while linguiça is mild, again, or vice versa. Some even have several types of chouriço: lean, fatty, very fatty as well as mild and spicy! So my point, both in the article and in the book, is that any kind of distinction, as you have in the stores in North Attleboro, and I had in Fall River, are really community-based differences. The one consistency: linguiça is smaller in diameter. I hope this helps!

By: Kathleen Gonsalves

Kathleen Gonsalves — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 20:55:46 +0000

Dear David, my husband and I were in Portugal last fall and loved it, the people and the food. I am confused though by your reference to the fact that chouriço is often referred to as linguiça. I live in North Attleboro, MA, and we can buy chouriço and linguiça as two seperate items. Isn’t that correct? We do love them both. Thanks.

By: David Leite

David Leite — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 00:00:07 +0000

I grew up in Fall River, and we called it “sher-eece,” too. That’s the Americanization of the Azorean pronunciation: “shah-rdeece.” The proper (meaning the standard dictionary) pronunciation is “show-rdee-soo.”