Homemade Portuguese Chourico Sausages that can be stuffed into Sausages, Skewered for Kebabs or portioned and Frozen to add to a dish. Made with a Fatty Cut of Pork chopped and marinated for 24 hours before being stuffed into Pork Casings and cooked until an internal temp of 152 F. Dunked into a cold water bath and hung or dried on a rack for at least 1 hour with good air flow.This recipe makes about 6-8 Chourico Sausages or 6 Sausages with some meat leftover that can be frozen or skewered for Kebabs.
Servings: 6 Sausages
Equipment
- 1 Sausage Funnel
- 1 Large Mixing Bowl with cover
- 1 Steel rod or long skewer
- 1 Baking Sheet
- 1 Rack
- 1 Needle
- 1 Oven Safe Thermometer
Ingredients
- 2.5 lbs. Pork Shoulder - or 1135 g
- 1 portion Pork Sausage Casing
Chourico Marinade
- 1/2 C White Wine
- 1/3 C Sweet Pimento Paste - or Hot for Spicy
- 5 Cloves Garlic - Minced
- 1 Tbl Hodi Paprika - Sweet Smoked with Beech or Hot for really spicy
- 2 1/2 tsp White Wine Vinegar, Sea Salt & Ground White Pepper - each
- 1/2 tsp Prague Powder
- 1/4 tsp Ground Bay Leaves
Instructions
- Combine the Chourico marinade ingredients into a large bowl and mix well.
- Trim off the skin and excess Fat from the Pork Shoulder. Chop the Pork into 1/2 inch bite size pieces and place into the mixing bowl. Any large pieces of Fat can be chopped into smaller pieces for a more equal fat distribution throughout the Sausages. Mix well, cover and refrigerate for at least 24 hours to 3 days. The meat should absorb all the marinade. You'll want to mix it a few times while it is marinating to ensure even coverage.
- Place the Sausage Skins in a bowl of water to soak for at least 30 minutes. Then find the end and run water inside the skin and run it through the entire length to wash out the inside. Measure out 3 to 4 strings at 20 inch pieces and tie off one end leaving about 2 inch of excess skin so that it can be tied to the other end in order to hang the Sausages. Place the Sausage Casing on the Funnel.
- Mix the meat up and stuff with the Chourico meat fairly compact but not too tight, or you will break the casing. Once the Sausages are made, even out the filling by gently squeezing to fill out the Sausage. Tie off the other end leaving about 2 inches of left over casing and tie that to the other end so that you get about 1/2 an inch to 1 inch gap to hang the Sausages.Find the middle and squeeze out the meat, so you have about 1/2 inch of just the casing and twist to create two separate sausage on the same link or just leave it as one continuous Sausage coil. Repeat until all Sausages are made up.Prick the Sausages with a needle all over to get rid of any air bubbles and then pat dry with paper towel and place on a wired rack on a pan and refrigerate overnight.
- Place the Sausage on a steel rod or long skewer. Place the rod on top of the oven rack, squeezing the Sausages between the oven rack gaps. Position the oven rack at the very top of the oven with a catch pan on the bottom rack to catch any juices.Insert an oven safe thermometer in at the top of one of the Sausages inserted in the middle to gauge the heat. Turn the oven on to 200 F and cook the Sausages until an internal temperature of 152 F. About 2 1/2 hours.
- Remove and dunk into a bowl of ice cold water for about 30 seconds to a minute. Then hang or place on a rack to dry for at least 1 hour with adequate air flow.When dry to the touch, wrap in waxed paper, or place into a Ziploc bag or Tupperware and refrigerate for 3–5 days. After this, they really should be frozen to preserve them longer and prevent too much drying out of the Sausages.
Notes
Leftover Skins can be strained and place into an airtight Tupperware container and covered with Sea Salt. Properly stored casings can be refrigerated for up to 1 year.
Leftover Chourico meat can be portioned into Ziploc bags and frozen or skewered for Kebabs.