Morcela Portuguesa
Smoked Portuguese blood sausage, seasoned with cumin and clove. The recipes vary from province to province: some include rice, others bread.
| Fresh pig’s blood | 450 ml |
| Pork fat, diced | 200 g |
| Crumbled stale bread or cooked rice | 200 g |
| Cooked onion, chopped | 100 g |
| Fine salt | 15 g |
| Ground cumin | 4 g |
| Ground clove | 1 g |
| Ground black pepper | 2 g |
| Red wine | 30 ml |
| Hog casing (Ø 40–50 mm) | — |
- Preparing the ingredients: Cut the fat into small dice. Fry the sliced onions in lard. Crumble the bread or cook the rice.
- Mixing: Beat the blood to loosen it. Add the bread (or rice), onions, diced fat, wine, and all the spices. Mix well until homogeneous.
- Stuffing: Stuff without packing too tightly. Form puddings of 20–25 cm. Tie well.
- Poaching: Cook in barely simmering water (75–80 °C) for 40–50 minutes.
- Smoking: Once cooled, cold-smoke for 3 to 7 days over oak or chestnut wood.
- Storage: The smoked morcela keeps for several weeks in the cold.
- Cooking: Grill, fry or add to the cozido à portuguesa.
The post-cooking smoking, carried out after poaching rather than before, is the technical particularity of the morcela compared with most Western European blood sausages, which are not smoked.
The seasoning with cumin and clove is inherited from Arab influence on medieval Portuguese cooking, especially pronounced in the regions of Alentejo and Algarve, where the Moorish presence lasted the longest. These two spices of Eastern origin structure an aromatic profile distinct from that of the French, British or German blood sausages, whose seasoning rests chiefly on pepper, herbs and the mild spices of Central Europe.
The red wine plays a double role in the forcemeat: it brings an acidic, tannic note that balances the richness of the blood and the fat, along with antiseptic properties, owed to the alcohol and polyphenols, which contribute to its keeping qualities.
The regional variants are well documented:
- The morcela de assar, produced chiefly in the Alentejo, is less smoked and is eaten grilled directly over embers without prior poaching.
- The morcela de arroz incorporates cooked rice alongside or in place of the bread, bringing its texture close to that of the Spanish morcilla de Burgos.
- The morcela da Guarda, in the mountains of the Beira Alta, is more heavily smoked and spiced.
- The morcela de Portalegre is more garlicky and sometimes seasoned with piri-piri.
None of these variants holds a European PGI.
It is eaten grilled or fried, or added to cozido à portuguesa, where it appears alongside chouriço, farinheira, alheira, linguiça and paio. It is served last on the charcuterie platter, after being reheated in a broth.
The book
All 144 recipes and their histories, gathered in a single volume.