Free Chourico and Linguica – Who Can Say No?

I don’t often get the chance to sell out. So when I got an email from Mello’s Chourico in Fall River offering me some free sausage in return for cooking and eating it and writing about it, I jumped at it. I know the local supermarket brands. Whole Foods sometimes has store-made chourizo, but it’s more the Mexican style and, like most of their sausages, is good, but doesn’t taste like the originals. I had some from JR Butcher Shoppe in Ludlow. It was not as strongly spiced as supermarket brands, so I’ve been looking for some more as a comparison. Mello’s has been making chourico in Fall River since the 1900’s. Sign me up.

The first batch arrived in the middle of a 95 degree heat wave. Despite being packed for shipping in an insulated box with cold packs, the packages were warm. I sent an email and got a reply the next morning, apologizing and promising an immediate new shipment. I mention this because their response was exactly what you’d want and I don’t think it was because of the blog. It sounded like anyone who was dissatisfied would get an immediate response with whatever help they could offer.

Anyway, the next package arrived with double cold packs and quite chilly inside. They do not ship frozen product, another plus. I immediately checked it out with a Mussels Cataplana. I learned the recipe from Howard Mitchum’s great Provincetown Seafood Cookery, but it has mutated over the years—clams to mussels, regular pot instead of cataplana, variations in the ingredients depending on what’s in season and what’s available when I get the urge.

Typically, I cook the sausages first to render some of the grease and flavor the stock, then take them out. I’ve found that if I leave them in for the entire cooking time, the flavor leeches out and they are pretty tasteless. My first surprise was that Mello’s didn’t render much fat at all. In fact, the chourico, which has chunks of pork, was mostly meat with a red line of seasonings strewn throughout. You can leave this sausage in the pot for the whole time and the meat does not lose its taste or texture.

Anyway, since it was September, I had plenty of local tomatoes on hand. Mussels are easier for me to get in Western Mass, so unless I am on the Cape, I tend to use them either alone or together with littlenecks in my cataplanas. The mussels are not as meaty this time of year as during the winter, but you do what you can, right?

Initial signs are promising. The sausages are tasty and chewier than supermarket brands, not as garlicy, but with the shot of red wine (or vinegar) taste at the end. Experiments continue. They included some morcela, blood sausage, in the package so I’m wondering what do with that. I’ll keep you posted.