The linguica is a very curious sausage. Despite having Portuguese roots, the linguica has spread throughout the world and is now a staple of many regions’ culinary traditions, including Central Valley, California. In fact, it’s so well-liked in the Central Valley that you can anticipate eating this specific sausage at greasy spoons there for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
But it’s best to look at linguica’s origins first in order to better understand why it is so popular.
Linguica is a smoked pork sausage that is heavily seasoned with paprika and garlic. Since “lingua” means tongue in Portuguese but there isn’t actually any tongue in the sausage, the name itself is somewhat misleading.
Linguica simply refers to the sausage’s distinctively long and slender shape. It shares a connection with other well-known Portuguese sausages, such as the spicy chourico and the sweet presunto, both of which are frequently found in Portuguese cuisine.
However, the linguica stands out from other sausages due to its distinctive and strong garlicky flavor. Numerous rustic dishes benefit from this kind of flavor.
Simply put, Silva is to blame for putting linguica on the culinary map in the United States. Its proprietor, Manuel Martins, founded the business in 1967 as a means of disseminating his knowledge of conventional European sausages.
He simply wanted to create the best sausages he was capable of creating, whether they were flavorful Spanish chorizo or homemade Italian sausage. The small Portuguese community in San Jose, California, was a big fan of Silva’s Portuguese linguica when he first began selling it.
From that point forward, the Silva Linguica craze has spread outside of the area where it was first made popular. Over time, the neighborhood’s residents and businesses have grown accustomed to the flavor of Silva Linguica, which has increased demand for the sausage. Silva made linguica more available to the general public who might not have the skills to prepare it, despite the fact that it is primarily known as a home-cooked food item that is rarely found in restaurants back in Portugal. Silva Linguica is now available in almost all of the country’s major grocery stores and supermarkets.
What are Soy Sauce Scrambled Eggs?
To go with the Portuguese sausage, we always make our favorite soy sauce eggs at home. It’s a straightforward variation on traditional scrambled eggs that you should learn to make if you like eating breakfast for dinner. Simply add soy sauce and a touch of milk or cream to your eggs to give them a slightly different flavor.
These soy sauce eggs go by the Hawaiian/Korean name Kung Jung eggs in my husband’s family. We have rice, kung jung eggs, and portuguese sausage for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. And we almost always serve a substantial fruit salad alongside it.
Portuguese Sausage Skillet – Rustic Simplicity
The rustic simplicity of this dish, which combines common whole ingredients that you can find at your neighborhood grocer or farmers market to make a pretty hearty one-dish dinner, is what I love about it. Linguiça, a mild Portuguese-style pork sausage made with smoke-cured pork spiced with chili and seasoned with garlic and paprika (which gives it that lovely red color), is used in its preparation. Although it has Italian origins, Portugal is where it is most widely consumed. Fresh chorizo or a spicy Italian sausage are suitable alternatives if Portuguese sausage is not available at your neighborhood grocer.
TIP: Use Canned Beans To Save Time
Dry red beans were called for in Nelson’s book’s original recipe. Pete and I have now prepared this dish a few times at home, and we both prefer the creamy texture (and the time savings) of canned red beans. As a result, I added the beans later in the cooking process to essentially just heat them up with the spinach so they wouldn’t overcook. Check out the video below if you want to learn how to make it!
Check out Nelson’s book, The Portuguese Travel Cookbook, and give it a shot at home. As an alternative for your weeknight dinners, if you enjoy this recipe, you might also like to try our Italian Sausage Skillet.