Chef Margarida
Azeitonas Temperadas
The marinated olives that sit on every tasca table in Portugal, swimming in garlic, herbs, and enough azeite to make you reach for bread before you've even ordered. This is how we begin.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Chouriço Assado
Created by
The theater of the tasca: chouriço set ablaze in its clay vessel, aguardente flames dancing blue and orange until the casing splits and the smoky fat runs. This is how we gather.
Appetizers & Snacks
Portuguese
Dinner Party
Celebration
5 min
Active Time
10 min cook•15 min total
Yield4 servings
Every tasca in Portugal has one. The clay canoe. The bottle of aguardente tucked behind the counter. A chouriço waiting for its moment.
This isn't cooking. This is ritual. You set fire to something at the table, watch the flames dance, listen to the casing crackle and split, smell the smoke and paprika and rendered fat fill the air. Everyone leans in. Everyone watches. And when the flames die and the chouriço sits there, glistening and charred, you tear it apart with your hands and eat it with bread that soaks up every drop of smoky, spicy juice.
Avó Leonor kept an old clay assador on the top shelf of her pantry. "Para quando há festa," she'd say. For when there's celebration. It came down for birthdays, for saint's days, for when family arrived from Lisbon. The aguardente was her brother's, homemade, strong enough to make your eyes water. The chouriço was from the matança, the pig slaughter each winter.
At Mesa da Avó, I always serve this when I want to remind people that Portuguese food is not quiet. It's fire and fat and theater. It's gathering around something dramatic and sharing it. This is who we are.
Chouriço production dates to the medieval Portuguese matança, the annual pig slaughter that sustained families through winter. The tradition of flaming chouriço in clay vessels emerged from rural taverns where the spectacle drew customers and the method rendered excess fat while crisping the casing. Every region claims the best chouriço: Trás-os-Montes for its smoky intensity, Alentejo for its porco preto depth, Beira for its garlic-forward punch.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
chouriço sausages
Quantity
2 (about 200g each)
traditional Portuguese, not Spanish chorizo
aguardente
Quantity
1/4 cup
crusty bread
Quantity
for serving
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| chouriço sausagestraditional Portuguese, not Spanish chorizo | 2 (about 200g each) |
| aguardente | 1/4 cup |
| crusty bread | for serving |
Equipment Needed
- •Clay assador de barro (Portuguese clay canoe) or small flameproof terracotta dish
- •Long matches or a long-reach lighter
- •Wooden board or cork trivet for serving
Instructions
- 1
Prepare the chouriço
Score the chouriço with a few shallow diagonal cuts along the length. This helps the fat render and the flames penetrate. Don't cut too deep or you'll lose the juices. Place the sausages in your clay assador or a small, flameproof terracotta dish.
A proper assador de barro (clay canoe) is worth finding. Portuguese specialty shops sell them, and they last forever. If you don't have one, any small flameproof ceramic dish works, but the clay holds heat and conducts it evenly in a way nothing else does. - 2
Add the aguardente
Pour the aguardente into the dish around the chouriço. You want enough to create flames that will lick up the sides of the sausages but not so much that the fire burns forever. About 1/4 cup is right for two sausages.
- 3
Light and let burn
Carefully light the aguardente with a long match or lighter. The flames will burn blue at first, then turn orange as they catch the fat. Watch the chouriço. Listen to it. You'll hear the casing crackle and split. The fat will bubble and sizzle. When the flames die down, about 3 to 4 minutes, add another splash of aguardente and relight. Repeat until the chouriço is charred on the outside, the casing split and caramelized, and the fat fully rendered.
This happens at the table. That's the point. Clear a space, warn your guests, and make the lighting a moment. The theater is half the dish. - 4
Rest briefly and serve
When the flames die for the final time and the chouriço sits glistening and charred, let it rest for just a minute. Cut into thick diagonal slices right in the dish, letting the juices pool. Pass the bread around. Everyone tears bread, dips it in the smoky juices, and eats the chouriço with their hands. This is not a knife-and-fork situation.
Chef Tips
- •Portuguese chouriço is not Spanish chorizo. Não mexas nisso. Portuguese chouriço is smoked, coarser in texture, seasoned with paprika and garlic but made differently. Spanish chorizo is cured and sliced thin. If you use Spanish chorizo, you're making something else entirely.
- •Aguardente is the traditional fuel. Bagaço (pomace brandy) works, as does regular grape brandy. Don't use whiskey or rum. The flavor matters because some of it stays on the meat.
- •If doing this indoors, turn on your vent and warn everyone. The smoke is part of the experience, but so is not setting off your fire alarm.
- •The clay dish will be scorching hot. Set it on a wooden board or cork trivet. And keep the aguardente bottle away from the flames while pouring.
Advance Preparation
- •There is no advance preparation. This dish is made at the moment, at the table, in front of your guests. That's the whole point.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 100g)
Calories
410 calories
Total Fat
32 g
Saturated Fat
12 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
18 g
Cholesterol
80 mg
Sodium
1200 mg
Total Carbohydrates
2 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
24 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Chef Margarida's Appetizers and Snacks
Browse the full collection
Chef Margarida
Caracóis à Portuguesa
Há caracóis! The signs appear in May and all of Lisbon knows summer has arrived. Tiny snails in spiced broth, sucked from shells at plastic tables, washed down with imperial after imperial.
Chef Margarida
Chamuças Portuguesas
Crispy triangles of spiced meat wrapped in golden pastry, carrying the flavors of Goa across the ocean to every Portuguese tasca and family gathering. Colonial history you can eat.
Chef Margarida
Cogumelos Recheados com Chouriço
Mushrooms stuffed with chouriço and baked until the cheese bubbles and browns, the kind of petisco that disappears from the table before you've finished pouring the wine. Tasca food for your home.