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Meat from Portugal

Chouriça de carne (Trás-os-Montes and Alentejo)chouriça de carne

Chouriça de carne is a Portuguese smoked, dry-fermented pork sausage tied into a horseshoe. Diced pork and fat are marinated in wine, water, salt, garlic, bay leaf and paprika for up to four days, stuffed into natural casings, smoked over oak or chestnut and cured. The PGI Vinhais version needs at least 35 days of smoking and curing.

Fully documentedMeat39 days

Recipe

No fixed amounts recordedNo fixed amounts; recipes vary by maker and region. The Vinhais PGI fixes the cuts, cube size and casing.
Pork meat and fatFor Vinhais PGI, loin, tenderloin, neck, belly and flank from Bísaro pigs or crosses at least 50 % Bísaro, cut into cubes of about 3 cm[eu-vinhais-1997]
Salt, garlic, bay leaf, paprika and/or chilliAdded in two seasoning stages in the Vinhais method[eu-vinhais-1997][faria2024]
Water and regional wineRed or white wine of the region[eu-vinhais-1997][faria2024]
Natural casingPig or cow small intestine, 2–3 cm across for Vinhais PGI[eu-vinhais-1997]
Starterspontaneous (no LAB starter or additives in traditional making)

Total time across the recorded steps: 39 days

Start
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What changes: Pork meat and fat are cut into cubes

Step 1 of 5
Dice the pork
Time
Not documented
Temperature
Not documented
Salt
None given
Acidity
Not documented
Which microbes the steps name, step by step
Lactic acid bacteria
Flavour
Not documented
Texture
Not documented
Colour
Not documented

Microbes at work in this step

Not documented for this step.

Method

Measured measured in a studySet fixed by a specification or tested recipeReported one source reports itTypical a general value, not sourced for this fermentUnconfirmed not yet checked against a source

At a glance

Chouriça de carne is a Portuguese smoked, dry-fermented pork sausage tied into a horseshoe. Diced pork and fat are marinated in wine, water, salt, garlic, bay leaf and paprika for up to four days, stuffed into natural casings, smoked over oak or chestnut and cured. The PGI Vinhais version needs at least 35 days of smoking and curing. Made in 5 steps over 39 days. The longest step, cure while lactic bacteria ferment, takes at least 35 days (Application for registration). Lactic acid bacteria from the raw materials does most of the fermenting.

Key numbers
Main stepat least 35 daysSet[eu-vinhais-1997]Cure while lactic bacteria ferment
AciditypH 4.9–6.1Measured[faria2024]Cure while lactic bacteria ferment

What makes this one different

Unlike most Mediterranean dry sausages, chouriça de carne is smoked, and its pork is marinated in wine before stuffing. Finished sausages vary widely between makers, from pH 4.87 to 6.11.

Related ferments

Variants

  • Chouriça de carne de Vinhais / Linguiça de Vinhais PGIBísaro pork, 3 cm cubes, oak or chestnut smoke and at least 35 days of smoking and curing.

Safety

This sausage is eaten without cooking. A survey of 14 makers found S. aureus in sausages from 10 makers, Salmonella in one sample and Listeria species in all samples of one maker. Five makers had mean water activity above 0.91 (up to 0.965), which the authors link to drying that was likely too short. Curing, drying and smoking alone do not consistently kill Trichinella worms in pork (CDC). CDC tells people who are pregnant, 65 or older or have a weakened immune system to avoid unheated fermented or dry sausages, or to heat them until steaming hot.

Hazards the sources name: Staphylococcus aureus (producer means up to 2.55 log CFU/g), presumptive Clostridium perfringens (never above 2 log CFU/g), Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp. detected in some samples.

History and sources

Every number is labelled with how it is known. How this atlas is made

At the end of the 18th century chestnuts, potatoes and rye bread were the staple diet of the Terra Fria of Trás-os-Montes, and the fumeiro (smoked meats) preserved pork for the year. The name Chouriça de carne de Vinhais was entered in the EU register as a PGI by Commission Regulation (EC) No 1265/98 of 18 June 1998.

  1. [cdc-trichinella] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, How to Prevent Trichinellosis (12 March 2024)gov
  2. [cdc-listeria] US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Preventing Listeria Infectiongov
  3. [faria2024] Faria A.S., Bonilla-Luque O.M., Carvalho L., Fernandes N. et al. 2024, Microbiological and physicochemical profile of traditionally produced chouriça de carne dry-fermented sausages, towards benchmarking of products against established quality groups, Foods 13(22):3705paper
  4. [eu-vinhais-1997] Application for registration, Chouriça de carne de Vinhais / Linguiça de Vinhais PGI, EN/06/97/15280001 (summary sheet in the eAmbrosia register, file PGI-PT-0037)spec
  5. [reg-1265-1998] European Commission 1998, Commission Regulation (EC) No 1265/98 of 18 June 1998 supplementing the Annex to Regulation (EC) No 2400/96 on the entry of certain names in the Register of protected designations of origin and protected geographical indications (lists Chouriça de Carne de Vinhais or Linguiça de Vinhais as a PGI), Official Journal L 175, 19.6.1998, p. 7, read via the EU Publications Office cellarspec