Homemade Portuguese Lingwika Sausage

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg of pork shoulder or wild boar meat
• 700 g of pork fat
• 34 g coarse salt
• 6 g Instacure No. 1 nitrite salt (optional – if you plan to smoke sausage)
• 1 tbsp. dextrose or white sugar
• 10 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tbsp. sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon hot paprika or cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tbsp. l. dried oregano
• 1 tbsp. crushed black pepper
• 0.5 cups dry milk (optional – it will help the sausage retain moisture during smoking, if you smoke it)
• 3/4 cup red Portuguese wine
• Natural sausage casing

Preparation:

1. Place the meat and fat in the freezer for about an hour, until almost frozen.
2. Take out some sausage casings - you'll need 3-4 standard-length casings, about 4.5 m - and place them in a bowl of very warm water.
3. Cut the meat and lard into pieces that will fit in a meat grinder. Mix the meat and fat with salt, nitrite salt (if using), sugar, garlic, powdered milk, and the remaining spices and mix everything together by hand. Refrigerate for about an hour.

4. Optional more professional step

   Mix the meat pieces and fat with salt and nitrite salt and leave in the refrigerator overnight. This will help the sausage set better..
5. Grind the meat in a meat grinder with large holes, approximately 6.5 mm. If your kitchen temperature is above 20°C, place the bowl with the ground meat in another bowl filled with ice to keep it cold. Return the ground meat to the freezer while you clean up.

6. This step requires some experience if you want the sausage to be smooth but with lumps of fat.

   Add wine to the minced meat and mix thoroughly with clean hands or a mixer on low speed for 60 to 90 seconds. This is an important step to ensure the sausage sets properly..
7. After mixing well, put the minced meat in the refrigerator while you clean up the kitchen.
8. Fill the casings with the filling. They must be completely filled before tying. Then tie the sausage links together, twisting the first sausage in one direction and the second in the other. Alternatively, you can use twine. Wrap the sausages in cheesecloth.
9. Hang the sausages in a cool place. If it's warm outside or if you're smoking your sausages, hang them for an hour. If you have a place where the temperature doesn't exceed 3°C, you can hang them overnight.

10. This step requires a smoker and wood chips.

    Prepare the smoker and smoke the sausages for at least 3 hours, or up to 12 hours, at a temperature no higher than 30°C (86°F). I prefer a lighter smoke so the pork and spice flavors come through in the sausages. Oak chips are fine, but hickory, maple, pecan, or fruitwood are also suitable..
11. After the sausages have dried or smoked, store them in the refrigerator. If you plan to freeze them, it's best to do so the next day. This will help the sausages firm up and maintain their shape in the deep freeze.
12. The finished sausage should be dense, but not hard, with a spiciness and a characteristic smoky flavor..
13. These sausages can be stored for about 5 days in the refrigerator, and, if there were no germs during production, then 1 year in the freezer.
    Exit: 2.2 kg.
    
    From this pork mince for Lingviki sausage you can make Portuguese-style smoked hamburger patties.