WetLeather Recipe Database - food for bikers

Name:	Jack's Great Grandma's Stuffing Recipe	Contributor:	Jack Tavares
Description:	A good reason to visit Portugul, IMO.	Posted:	2002-12-03
Key words:	stuffing, sausage	Category:	Side Dishes
ID:	283	Updated:	2010-12-26 18:53:24
Ingredients:	1 lb Chourico 1/4-1/2 c red table wine. Any wine you would drink is fine. 1/4-1/2 c "crushed red hots". These are not what you are thinking. See below.* 1 loaf of Portuguese bread. This is, AFAIK, COMPLETELY unavailable anywhere but mail order. This is NOT a sweet bread, but a crusty loaf, very similar to a thick Italian bread. Go with a good Italian loaf. This time I (unintentionally) bought sourdough. It was ok, but it was a little "odd".
Preparation:	Break up the bread in a big bowl. Cut each stick of sausage in half and drop in boiling water. Cook for about 15 minutes. Remove the chourico to a plate to cool a bit. SAVE THE WATER!!! Pour enough of the water that was used to boil the sausage over the bread until it is really moist. Don't worry if you use it all or run out. Just use vegetable stock or water if necessary. You really want the bread to be wet. You don't want it floating in water, but you want it thoroughly soaked. Stir in the wine and red hots*. A big pinch of salt. The sausage is really the only spice necessary. Trust me. Cut up the chourico as fine as you would like. I usualy dice it up fairly small. Stir in the sausage. Stir it up well. Place on a cookie sheet. Bake in a 325 oven until you get a nice golden brown color and most of the water has steamed off. You want a moist, but not soggy consistency.
Notes:	I had a request for the recipe. Here it is, such as it is. Keep in mind to be authentic, you will have to mail order 2 of the 4 ingredients. Ingredient/Mail order info: Chourico - you could substitute just about any sausage, I guess. Just don't ask me to eat it:-)[1] The chourico I used for this is the same as that I bring to the various functions at Martin's house and is available from Gaspar's Sausage, www.linguica.com. I typically bring the "mild" chourico to Martin's. I use the "hot-regular" chourico for myself at home and in this stuffing. * Red Hots - These seem to be another "Azorean" Portuguese "thing" from the area that I & kaddee grew up in. I have seen similar in some Asian markets but I have never tried them so, I can't compare it. The brand I use "Antonio's Hot Chopped Peppers" is available from www.amarals.com. Note: One can also order chourico and other products from Amaral's instead of Gaspar's. I order many items from Amaral's, but when it comes to my spicy sausage, I prefer Gaspar's. :-) [1]You can find "Portuguese" sausage in the Seattle area. This is very different. The Portuguese you find in this area are typically from Hawaii. Their food has been heavily polluted (err, influenced) by the Polynesians. As a result, the Portuguese sausage available around here is sweet. Disgusting. I did see some recently at the Spanish Table that looked like it had potential. However it is more expensive than mail order prices from back home, so I shall wait to try it until I have a sausage emergency.
Equipment: