Crispy Fried Portuguese Alheira Sausage with Sunny Side Up Eggs

I like alheira, this is a traditional Portuguese sausage of Portuguese Jewish origin. Basically it’s a sausage made from a mix of poultry or small game mixed with bread and garlic. There are lots of ways to cook an alheira, but frying is by far the best, though since I eat, and make, so little fried food, when I do make an alheira it somehow tastes even better, hehehe.

This one is a typical Alheira from Trás-os-Montes, but it was made in Lamego, well Lamego is almost in the Douro region, but the package said Transmontana alheira. Either way, these days you can find every kind of alheira sausage out there, from Lamego, Mirandela, Arganil, Fundão, the Alentejo, or even gluten-free versions, vegetarian ones, ones with pork, or even codfish alheiras, there are for every taste.

The idea nowadays is not that its a jewish no beef/pork sausage but more almost any kind of sausage with a bread and garlic base. So it’s always a good idea to check the ingredients, because plenty of alheiras have already drifted a bit from tradition, adding pork meat or fat, for example, which isn’t a bad thing, it gives more flavor, it’s just no longer the most traditional recipe.

Also, I don’t normally fry eggs in oil, but since I already had the oil out for the sausage, and its custom to make them like this in a Portuguese Tasca, might as well fry the eggs in it too. Let’s get to it!

Crispy Fried Portuguese Alheira Sausage with Sunny Side Up Eggs

Servings: 1
Time: 40mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Classic Portuguese Tasca dish, super simple, just fry everything and you are done, its kinda the dish people get when they don’t know what to have 🙂

Ingredients

Alheira Sausage – 1
Rice – 1 Cup
Egg – 2
Carrot – 1
Garlic – 2 Cloves
Oil – For Frying (Sunflower)
Pepper – A Pinch
Salt – A Pinch

Directions

Start by cooking the rice in a small saucepan, add the rice, chopped carrot, two cloves of garlic, and a pinch of salt. cover with two cups of hot water and cook, covered, for about 10 to 12 minutes until very tender.
Since a Alheira sausage is a pre-seasoned sausage, there is no need to season it further, in fact, it tends to be quite salty, so it is best not to add salt to the eggs (or to use only a tiny amount). Heat about an inch or two of oil in a deep frying pan.

Once the oil is hot, use a sharp knife to make a lengthwise slit along the outside of the Alheira from end to end, then place the sausage in the oil, this allows the casing to separate from the meat. Fry both sides until golden brown.

When its crispy on both sides, remove the Alheira from the oil and place it on kitchen papaer, peel off and discard the casing. Then, crack two eggs into the oil, they will fry very quickly and remove them to more kitchen paper once done.
And that’s it, serve the sausage with the eggs and rice. Bon appétit!

Notes & Tips: If you want a cooked yolk on your fried egg, spoon a little of the hot oil over the top of the eggs as they fry to set the yolk.

Score the skin only on the outside curve of the sausage, not too deep, just enough to split it open in the pan without tearing the filling apart.

Dont worry that the casing separates, this is a bread based sausage so it will fry crispy and solid, no need to worry!

Don’t prick the alheira sausage with a fork, the skin already splits from the heat and the cut you made, extra holes just let the filling leak into the oil.

Keep the oil at a steady medium-high heat. Too hot and the skin burns before the inside heats through, too low and the sausage soaks up oil instead of crisping.

Fry the eggs in the same oil right after the sausage, it picks up a little extra flavor from the alheira and saves you from dirtying a second pan.

Alheiras vary a lot by region and butcher, some are milder, some saltier, some heavier on bread, so taste as you go and adjust the salt on the rice and eggs accordingly. In doubt choose a Alheira from Mirandela, since these are DOC so they all have stricter traditional standards to follow.

It takes a bit to cook, but this is the kind of dish you can make as easily for one or for four.

This recipe for Crispy Fried Portuguese Alheira Sausage with Sunny Side Up Eggs was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Alheira Frita de Trás-os-Montes foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.