Portuguese Kale Soup

Leo Voisine

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5,703
Location
East Freeetown, Massachusetts
I live in an area of the country with the highest concentration of Portuguese people.
They have some of the bestest most delish recipes ever.
LOT of MEAT. They also like FISH.
They give new meaning to "meat and potatos".

Portuguese Kale Soup is a FAVORITE in this entire area.
It is best served with Portuguese Hard rolls.
Those are like large bulky rolls but with a flavor all their own.
Best to get them fresh from a local Portuguese bakery.

I am cooking up a batch of Kale soup today. YUM YUM
It is my personal derivation of Kale Soup, but is still very Portuguese.
I am 100% Canadian French, not Portuguese.
Around my house I have 6 neighbors - of which 5 are Portuguese.

Have any of you ever had some REAL Portuguese Kale soup.

Tell me your story.
 
NAH - that's not it.

I like zuppa Toscana - but that is not even close.

Chorizo is a Mexican sausage with a Chili sort of flavor. That is NOT Portuguese Kale Soup.

Portuguese sausage is either Linguicia or Chourico, the former is milder.
The two can be interchanged. I used both in my soup.

Dispite the similarities in spelling and in color - they are entirely different.

Emeril is from Fall River which is also a huge Portuguese population.
Sorry - but his version is NOT a traditional Portuguese Kale Soup.
Not Chicken stock - no no
All those dumb spices - no no
No beef? no no
And I must believe he knows the difference between Chorizo and Chourico.
He even said Chouric
No Emeril's recipe is not Portuguese Kale soup
If I showed that to my neighbors, who cook Portuguese that would laugh.
 
The Portuguese sausages are a local thing. Really RARE to find it outside southeastern mass.
IMG_20220312_133010455.jpgIMG_20220312_133031714.jpg

I have my potatos cut up and ready to add in. They cook fast, so it's the last thing I add in.

IMG_20220312_133058660.jpg

This is what it looks like. I've been simmering in for several hours. The beef is getting REALLY tender.
I will add the potatoes and simmer till the potatoes are done.
I wish we had smell-o-vision
IMG_20220312_133125681.jpgIMG_20220312_133138386.jpg
 
The Portuguese sausages are a local thing. Really RARE to find it outside southeastern mass.
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I suspect that might be why Emeril's recipe missed the mark. Maybe he's trying to use ingredients that are more readily available around the country. I've seen recipes claiming to be for New Mexico-style food calling for ingredients that no New Mexican in their right mind would use.

Semi-related, when I was about 4 or 5 years old I remember being with my mom in a grocery store in a suburb of Chicago while she was trying to describe to the clerk what tortillas were. (They're round, about this size, and flat, kind of like a pancake.) Poor guy had no idea what she was talking about. Store-bought tortillas had just started showing up in grocery stores in the southwest US. This was in the early '60s before Mexican-style food had become as prevalent in this country as it is now. There were probably places in the city that sold tortillas, but in a white middle class suburb my mom might as well been asking for green cheese from the moon. :D
 
Making Portuguese Kale soup with Chorizo would be a sin.
Emeril is off base on more counts than that.

I guess there are none here that have had it.
I am not surprised.
I just was wondering if someone had the opportunity.
I believe not even tourists would be in for it, as the touristy food would be seafood.
There isn't much touristy about the Portuguese population here. They are hard working people and lots of them in the fishing industry.

Over this coming summer I will be making a "stuffed quahogs" recipe which is a heavily influenced New England recipe. I make it the way the Portuguese do. Every time I make it I get rave reviews from anyone that eats them.
 
Neighbor across the street brings us back chourico (I think it's the same brand as your picture) and stuffed quahogs every year as a thank you for watching their house while they visit their folks in Mass. Now I know how to use it. Still have plenty of kale in the garden.
 
Neighbor across the street brings us back chourico (I think it's the same brand as your picture) and stuffed quahogs every year as a thank you for watching their house while they visit their folks in Mass. Now I know how to use it. Still have plenty of kale in the garden.

YES - \\ I will write up MY recipe for Kale soup. That's what we had for supper last night and it was a big thumbs up.

If the stuffed quahogs are home made they had Chourico mixed in.

Another thing to make is what we call Chourico and Peppers.
It is made with the Chourico cut into slices and then quartered.
Mix Green peppers cut up with tomato sauce and onions and simmer till the peppers are tender and all the flavors are blended.
Serve on hamburger buns.

I like Chourico with spaghetti.
It's also good with eggs for breakfast.

Ryan,
No Chorizo is a completely different flavor.
 
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