www.sausagemaking.org

I find myself on Pico at the moment and have come across a wonderful, local 'black pudding snack stick'. They're about 15cm long and stuffed into sheep casings. They're quite dry, but not as dry as a droewors, and the ones that I've eaten so far are lightly speckled with fat. They appear to use onion only as the binder (ie no rusk/rice/potato/taro etc) and have no visible meaty bits in them apart from the fat. The flavour is wonderfully earthy as you'd expect from any black pudding, but not particularly irony. They have a distinct sweetness which I guess is due to the onions being partly caramelised, and there is a mild piquancy too (I'm guessing from the local 'pimenta moida' spice - a sort of rustic Tabasco sauce). There is also just a hint of smokeyness.

Well worth checking out as they can be eaten 'as is' as a snack, or used in cooking. A popular thing is to bbq them on a stick with chunks of fresh pineapple which, surprisingly, works very well. Got about a dozen in half a kilo and paid 4 Euros. Bargain.

Anyway, worth checking out if you're ever over here. Will try and add some photos to this thread when I return.

Philip

I'd love to see photos of both the BP and also the Azores. I'm never going to go there (regrettably) so look forward to seeing them.

Phil

Will post the BP photos here next week, and will PM you a link for the pictures of the islands too. Philip

I look forward to seeing them.

Phil

Here's the picture:

The 'twisted' shape leads me to suspect that these morcellas were tied into two- or three- plats before they were poached and (query) smoked. As a size reference the other sausage is a standard sized chourico and the yellow things are lupin seeds.