Paio Branco

Description: Pork loin seasoned and wrapped in the peritoneum sewn and knotted.

Region: Alentejo.

Particularity: Sausage that, because it is seasoned only with salt and garlic, has a very light color.

History: The history of sausages in the Alentejo is closely linked to the typical flora of this region, of cork oak forests, which allows pigs to be raised on large poles. These pigs provide the meat that is still one of the bases of Alentejo food. Alentejo sausages owe their excellent quality to the meat with which they are produced, as some of them, as in the present case, are very poorly seasoned. In the past, it was customary for women who took care of these sausages to grease their arms with lard so as not to run the risk of transmitting the aroma of their body to the precious pork.

Use: Consumed raw, accompanied by bread, as a high-quality snack, or as a snack or meal supplement.

Know-how: Whole pork loin is very well rubbed with a dough made of salt, garlic and water. It is then left to rest in this syrup for 8 days, being returned twice a day. At the end of this period, it is cleaned and wrapped in the skin of the pig's lard (peritoneum), sewn with a needle and thread, tied and placed in a smokehouse of cork oak and holm oak wood for a month.

Source: Produtos Tradicionais Portugueses, Lisboa, DGDR, 2001