By Maria De Lourdes Bravo Da Costa Rodrigues
The Goan Chourico is piquantly delicious and versatile in its culinary uses - some love it, and some hate it at first whiff. But it is, without doubt, a ubiquitous and tasty element of Catholic Goan cuisine.

One of the most important elements associated with the Catholic cuisine in Goa today and no doubt, a legacy of the Portuguese influence is the Chourico, a sausage also known as linguica, and made of pickled pork stuffed in the dried gut of cattle. The sausages are then sun dried or smoked by keeping over the fireplace, a method that is no doubt an adaptation of the preparation of the Portuguese Chourico, with great care being taken in the preparation of the sausages to tantalise the taste buds!
The Portuguese have a variety of sausages that includes those made of different meat, pork blood (Chourico de sangue), minced (farinheira), etc. However, similar to most of the Portuguese food that has entered and remained in our day-to-day life, the Portuguese Chourico too, was modified to suit our palate. The pickled pork used for Goan sausages is spicy as it is prepared with masala which consists of chillies, turmeric, cloves, cinnamon, pepper, garlic and ginger, ground in toddy vinegar, whereas the Portuguese sausage will have salt, cloral, a preservative and colouring agent, and is prepared in wine. While the Portuguese make them long in size, the Goan sausage is normally a string of small sausages.
Like most other Goan food preparations, the preparation of the Chourico is also an elaborate affair, and it is normally made before the monsoons, when the hot summer sun dries them sufficiently for better preservation.
A pig is slaughtered and the intestines, heart, liver and kidneys are used for preparing sorpatel. The rest of the meat is cut into small cubes to which salt is added, and then put into a basket with weight on it to let all the water out. This meat is cured with spices ground in vinegar.
In the olden days, when preservation methods were conservative, care was taken to select meat of good quality and a little fat on it, as this helped in preventing spoilage. The vinegar too, had to be of the best quality; if not there could be a risk of the sausages going waste. Days before the pig was slaughtered, the guts were bought from the butcher and they were carefully washed in water and vinegar before putting them to dry in the sun. If no member of the household knew how to fill the guts with the prepared meat, then a person who was dexterous in filling was engaged because it was the most tedious part of the preparation for an inexperienced person.
After the guts were filled, they were tied with thread to make strings of small sausages and dried in the sun and then preserved by keeping the string of sausages on bamboo or wooden rods over the fire.
Alternatively, the smoke emanating from the firewood would dry the sausages. This ritual was practically followed every year and there is no gainsaying that the sausage is a delight for a Goan wherever he may be. Therefore it's not at all strange to see the emigrant who comes home carrying delicious strings of sausages when he is going back!
The preparation of the Chourico varies from individual to individual, but pork, spices and vinegar are vital ingredients to make sausages. Well-prepared ones can last a few months and as such can be used as a substitute for fish during the fish scarce monsoons.
The Chourico is an ideal food, handy when a guest drops in unannounced. It is easy to cook and can be served fried, or plain boiled with potatoes and onions. It can also be added to the rice to make a sausage pullav, or stuffed in hot Goan pav (local bread) to make a delicious snack. When used while cooking in stews, guisados, croquets, it enhances the taste of the dish.
Here are some recipes for simple and quick dishes that you can whip up in flash using the versatile Chourico.
Chourico with Potatoes : 250 gms sausages, 2 potatoes diced, 3 onions, diced, 2 eggs, hard boiled,
Method: Take 1 cup of water in a vessel along with onions and boil for five minutes. Then add the potatoes and sausages and cook till done. If desired a teaspoon of recheio masala may be added. Add salt if required. While serving add the sliced eggs.
MEXIDO DE CHOURICO: 2 potatoes(medium sized), 2 onions (medium sized), 12 sausages(small ones), 2 eggs
Method: Cut the onions and potatoes in squares and boil along with sausages. Add enough water to boil them. Once they are done, add eggs into them and mix well. Add salt to your taste. Serve with bread or chapati.