Description

Chouriço Assado

I think every Portuguese household has a terracotta alcohol chouriço griller!

This thing is a wonder of modern science. Not only does it produce one of the tastiest appetisers you could ever imagine, but the danger and showmanship involved in using one is beyond words.

Growing up, it was always an event when this would make its way out of the kitchen armoire and I would see the chouriço start to get prepared.

Now, this is how I remember it, and it always seemed to run exactly the same way.

A milk crate would be placed on our concrete backyard, and a piece of plywood would sit on the milk crate to form a tabletop. Then a sheet of newspaper — often O Português na Austrália, from a week or two beforehand — would be placed on the plywood to form a tablecloth, or to protect the plywood and the milk crate from any chouriço drippings.

Next came the hunt for the best alcohol to use.

You would think this would be one of the first things you needed to work out, but somehow it always seemed to be decided at the last minute.

On this occasion, the bottle of ouzo our Greek neighbour had brought back as a gift from his holiday to Athens would be chosen.

Once the ouzo was lit, it would inevitably cause the newspaper to catch fire, followed by a round of people blowing on it trying to put it out, like it was some strange Portuguese birthday cake.

The end result, though, was worth the danger, trouble and effort.

Thanks, Nick, for the ouzo.

Chouriço assado on a healthy-sized piece of sourdough bread is so bloody good.

The Oporco Ritual

Making chouriço assado doesn’t actually need to be complicated. You need a terracotta chouriço griller, a good chouriço, some bread and a little food-grade high-proof alcohol.

The Chouriço

Take a good Portuguese chouriço and make a few diagonal cuts across the top. This gives the heat somewhere to get into the sausage and lets some of that lovely fat escape.

If you can’t get Portuguese chouriço, I guess a Spanish chorizo will work, or even whatever they sell at your local supermarket. We’re not here to judge.

The Fire

Place the chouriço in the terracotta griller and add a small amount of aguardente or another suitable food-grade spirit to the dish.

Light it carefully and let the alcohol burn away while the chouriço cooks.

And this is where you resist the temptation to do what my family did and put a newspaper tablecloth underneath it.

Keep the griller on a stable, non-flammable surface, keep your hands and anything flammable away from the flame, and never add more alcohol while the griller is hot or still burning.

The Bread

While the chouriço is doing its thing, get yourself a healthy-sized piece of sourdough.

When the flame has gone out and the chouriço is nicely charred, put it straight onto the bread.

The bread will soak up all that lovely smoky, fatty goodness.

And that’s it.

No fancy ingredients. No complicated cooking.

Just chouriço, bread, a terracotta griller and a little bit of Portuguese theatre.

Saúde.