Linguiça Acebolada
Recipes with Linguiça
Pan-fried calabresa slices cooked down with white onion until both the sausage and the onion are deeply caramelised and the pan is glazed with the combined fat and juices. This is one of the most ordered bar snacks in São Paulo botecos, served on a small wooden board with cold beer and a basket of bread for soaking.
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
25 min
Servings
2
Difficulty
Easy
Ingredients
- 400 g linguiça calabresa, sliced on the diagonal into 1 cm pieces
- 3 large white onions, halved and thinly sliced
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 tsp sugar
- Salt and black pepper
- Fresh parsley, chopped, to finish
- Pão francês or crusty rolls, to serve
Steps
Heat the vegetable oil in a large, heavy frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the linguiça slices in a single layer, working in batches if needed. Fry for 3 to 4 minutes without moving, until the underside is deep brown. Flip and brown the second side for 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer the sausage to a plate and leave the rendered fat in the pan.
Reduce the heat to medium. Add the sliced onions to the hot fat. Season with salt, pepper, and the sugar. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 15 to 18 minutes until the onions are soft, translucent, and beginning to colour.
Return the browned linguiça to the pan. Stir everything together and cook for a further 4 to 5 minutes, pressing the sausage slices into the onions. The combined fat and onion juices should glaze the bottom of the pan. If it looks dry, add a tablespoon of water and scrape up any browned bits.
Turn out onto a small wooden board or a cast-iron pan that goes straight to the table. Scatter parsley over the top. Serve immediately with cold beer and bread for soaking up the fat.
Tips
The onions need time. Rushing them over high heat produces steamed onion, not caramelised onion. The sugar helps the colour but is not the cause of it — time and moderate heat are. The sausage goes back in at the end, not the beginning, so it stays browned rather than braising in onion liquid for 20 minutes.