Chouriço de Maputo
Fresh sausage of Portuguese heritage, grilled in a spiral, with the local piri-piri markedly more prominent than in the chouriço of the mother country. The third branch of the Portuguese chouriço in this book, after Angola and Goa.
| Pork (shoulder), coarsely minced | 700 g |
| Pork fat, diced | 150 g |
| Lean beef, minced | 150 g |
| Piri-piri, fresh, chopped (or bird’s eye chilli) | 15 g |
| Sweet paprika | 12 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 20 g |
| Bay leaves, crushed | 2 g |
| Cane vinegar | 30 ml |
| Sea salt | 18 g |
| Crushed black pepper | 4 g |
| Natural hog casing | — |
- Mixing: Combine all the meats, the fat, the garlic, the piri-piri, the paprika, the bay, the salt and the pepper. Moisten with red wine. Work vigorously for 5 minutes.
- Maceration: Cover and refrigerate for 24 hours. The wine and the piri-piri must penetrate the meat deeply.
- Stuffing: Fill the casings, forming a continuous spiral sausage of 3 to 4 cm in diameter. Prick lightly with a needle.
- Cooking: Grill over charcoal embers, with the spiral laid flat on the grill, for 15 to 20 minutes. Baste with local beer during cooking (optional).
- Serving: Cut into lengths and serve with matapa (cassava leaves pounded with coconut milk) and rice.
The name and the stuffing technique of the chouriço de Maputo come straight from the chouriço português, introduced to Mozambique from the end of the fifteenth century, Vasco da Gama having touched the Mozambican coast in 1498. Over nearly five centuries of Portuguese presence (1498–1975), Iberian charcuterie established itself in the territory, on the farms and in the butcheries of the settlers around Maputo, Beira and Nampula.
The piri-piri (Capsicum frutescens) is the ingredient that transformed the sausage, making it a preparation distinct from its original form. Arrived in Africa with the Portuguese navigators in the sixteenth century, this small chilli acclimatised there and came to be perceived as an African spice. Its proportion in the chouriço de Maputo far exceeds that of the chilli on the Iberian Peninsula. The sweet paprika that persists in the recipe is more a colourant than an aromatic agent.
Two technical features set the making apart from the Portuguese model. The addition of lean beef to the forcemeat, pork being the only meat permitted in Portugal, reflects the availability of that livestock in rural Mozambique. Maceration in cane vinegar, a local product made by distilling sugar cane grown in Zambézia province, brings a sharper, more direct acidity than red wine. The chouriço de Maputo is grilled in a spiral, laid flat on the grill and held by wooden skewers.
The chouriço de Beira is reputed to be leaner and less fiery; that of the north, around Nampula, sometimes adds grated coconut at the end of the marinade, a Swahili coastal influence.
It is served in portions with matapa (cassava leaves pounded with coconut milk), white rice, and a local beer at churrasqueiras (the Portuguese-influenced grill restaurants ubiquitous in Maputo). This chouriço sustains a direct dialogue with the Goan chouriço of the ‘Indian subcontinent’ section: both descend from the same Iberian ancestor, transformed by two distinct colonial territories on either shore of the Indian Ocean.
The book
All 144 recipes and their histories, gathered in a single volume.