Painho

Description: Straight and wide pork casing, stuffed with pork (shoulder, meat trimmings, streaky meat and, sometimes, loin, neck and tenderloin), seasoned with red pepper paste, garlic, salt and water. The sausage is tied with thread or raffia at the ends and in the middle, or in the shape of a ball.

Region: Alentejo.

Variants: Paio de Migos. Paioca (Borba). Paio Curado (Portel).

Particularity: Sausage made with broken and seasoned meat, simi-lar to sausage but wrapped in thick, straight casing.

History: The quality of Alentejo sausages depends much more on the quality of the meat used than on the complication of the recipe. Pork and bread are the traditional foods of this region. Hence the need to preserve pork for long periods, through the manufacture of sausages.

Usage: Sausage is usually eaten raw, not cooked, as a snack, snack or meal complement. It is considered that it is a shame to cook this type of sausage.

Know-how: The meat is cut into pieces larger than for sausages and seasoned for 2 or 3 days, stirring a few times during this period of time, after which the casing is filled and tied at the ends and in the middle, with cotton or raffia thread. It is placed in the smokehouse between 2 weeks and 3 months. If it is intended for long-term consumption, it is preserved in jars, covered with olive oil or lard.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001