Portuguese Alheira Sausage | Celebrate Sausage S03E07

bread

🥗Healthier: whole grain bread

💰Cheaper: stale bread

Whole grain bread adds fiber while stale bread reduces waste.

pork

🥗Healthier: turkey

💰Cheaper: chicken

Turkey reduces fat content, while chicken is often less expensive.

smoked sausage casing

🥗Healthier: natural casings

💰Cheaper: synthetic casings

Natural casings are more traditional, while synthetic are more affordable.

Introduce the dish and its historical significance.

Explain the choice of meats: chicken thighs and beef, mentioning the use of bones for flavor.

Add chicken and beef to a pot with dried parsley, garlic, celery, onion, carrots, peppercorn, bay leaf, and enough water to cover by an inch.

Add optional tomato paste to the pot for richness.

Cover and bring to a simmer, cooking until the meat is fall-apart tender, which may take several hours.

Remove the pot from heat, strain the liquid, and set it aside, separating the meat from the vegetables.

Debone the beef and chicken, discarding any bones and skin, and let the meat cool.

Prepare spices: salt, pepper, paprika, red chili flakes, cayenne pepper, and minced garlic.

Add chopped fresh parsley to the spice mix.

Grind the deboned beef and chicken together.

Add extra virgin olive oil to the ground meat mixture.

Prepare the bread by adding extra virgin olive oil and about 2 cups of the reserved stock, ensuring the liquid just covers the bread.

Cover the bread to let it soak up the stock until mushy.

Rinse the sausage casings thoroughly to remove salt and rehydrate them.

Check the soaked bread for consistency, ensuring it is mushy and gooey before mixing with the meat mixture.

Combine the soaked bread with the ground meat and spices, adjusting with more stock if necessary.

Cooking Techniques

Equipment Needed

Spice Level:

Dietary

Allergens