Morcelas de Arouca Sweet Sausages from Arouca This recipe comes from Portuguese culinary historian José Marques da Cruz. He assures me that this distinctly renaissance dish can still be sampled in out of the way cafés near the monastery town of Arouca which sits isolated amid the rocky gorges inland of Porto. More typically, morcelas are a savory pork sausage. To make these sweet morcelas, you will need to get yourself a couple of meters or yards of natural pork sausage and wash it well in cold water. Then take a quarter kilo (half pound) of lean pork, preferably from the butt portion and simmer it with about a half-cup water and a clove in a small, covered saucepan until it is tender. Figure about 1½ hours. Cool it down and then chill in the cooking liquid. Then puree just the meat in a food processor. Next, combine 650 grams (3 cups) of sugar with 3 deciliters water and bring to a boil, stirring until you have a moderately thick syrup. About 5 minutes at a moderate boil should get you to the right consistency. Now add the pork puree, 150 grams (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) of chopped almonds (you don’t want them too fine), 150 grams (1 cup plus 2 tablespoons) bread crumbs made from white bread and another 350 grams (1½ cups plus 2 tablespoons) sugar. At this point, you will need to stir it over moderate heat until it is the consistency of thick porridge. When you set a spoonful of the hot mixture on a plate, it should not sag. Take it off the heat and stir in 200 grams (3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons) of lard, a teaspoonful of cinnamon and a couple of ground cloves. Let the mixture cool until it is just cool enough to handle—no longer. The final step is too stuff the sausages. There are attachments for this sort of thing that you can buy for many mixers. Alternatively, fill a large piping bag with a big, plain tip and fill the casings. The easiest way to do this is to cut the casing into about 30 centimeter (12-inch) pieces. Tie off one end, fill about 20 centimeters (8 inches) with the filling, tie off the other end and then twist the sausage in the middle resulting in two 10-centimeter (4-inch) sausages. You should be able to make a total of about 12 sausages with this recipe. Once the sausages are filled, you need to blanch them for about a minute in boiling water. Finally, hang them up to dry for three or four days. To serve, brown the sausages in butter or lard over very gentle heat. One sausage is probably plenty per serving. You could certainly serve the morcelas with a cup of strong espresso, however I prefer a glass of aguardiente, Portugal’s answer to grappa.