farinheira
See also: sausage
Also known as: Portuguese flour sausage
A traditional Portuguese sausage made mostly of wheat flour, pork fat, paprika, white wine, garlic, and spices rather than the meat that fills most sausages -- giving it a soft, almost spreadable texture once cooked instead of the firm bite of a typical link sausage. It's often smoked, which adds a savory depth on top of the paprika's color and flavor, and it's traditionally poached rather than eaten raw or grilled hard, since its texture is delicate.
Buying guidance
Look for it at Portuguese butchers and specialty grocers, or from Portuguese import shops online, since it's uncommon in general supermarkets. Both smoked and fresh (unsmoked) versions exist; smoked keeps a little longer and adds more flavor on its own, while fresh relies more on how it's cooked. Check that the casing is intact -- because the filling is soft, a torn casing loses filling into the cooking liquid faster than it would with a firmer sausage.
Substitutions
- Genuinely hard to substitute -- its soft, flour-thickened texture isn't like a typical meat sausage, so there's no close stand-in; a dish just changes character without it rather than allowing a clean swap.
Tips & common mistakes
Its soft, flour-based filling is more fragile than a typical meat sausage and can burst its casing under a hard boil -- poach it gently at a bare simmer rather than a rolling boil, and handle it carefully once cooked, since the casing tears more easily than a firmer link's.
Storage
Fresh farinheira is more perishable than a firm dry sausage because of its fat and flour content -- keep it refrigerated and use within about a week, or freeze for longer storage. Smoked versions hold a little longer refrigerated but still aren't as shelf-stable as a fully cured, dry sausage.