Goan sausage, an Indian delicacy

Stuart Forster gets his teeth into the story of Goan sausage, an Indian delicacy from Goa and an early form of fusion food.

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According to the popular saying, the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Perhaps that’s why Goa has such a special place in mine? I adore Goan cuisine.

Most visitors to Goa are drawn by the pristine beaches and the promise of long hours of sunshine. I find Goan food most appealing.

The mouth-watering prospect of tucking into regional delicacies such as prawn balchao, chicken xacuti, sorpotel, vindaloo and links of spicy choriço-style sausage draws me back.

Enjoying Goan cuisine

Good food is never far away in Goa. Humble beach shacks and chic restaurants in luxury hotels serve traditional Goan dishes. Outlets at both ends of the price scale attract patrons.

Goan sausage

Globalisation is lauded by some and loathed by others. However, you can argue that today’s Goan cuisine is a by-product of globalisation.

Colonialism and cuisine

Portuguese ships first appeared off India’s west coast in 1498. It was the first European power to make its presence felt on the Indian subcontinent.

Portugal’s exploration followed the Treaty of Tordesillas of 1494. In it, the Portuguese and Spanish agreed to divide the world into spheres of influence.

A type of Goan chorizo

A wave of exploration, trade and conquest followed. Foodstuffs were among the commodities shipped between landmasses. Many of the ingredients now integral to Goan and Indian cuisine were transported in the holds of Portuguese ships.

Chillies, coriander and tomatoes were introduced. Cashews, aubergines and pumpkins were too. Potatoes, pineapples and papaya were also among the long list of fruits and vegetables that followed Afonso de Albuquerque and his men into Goa.

An early fusion food

Chefs experimented with new ingredients. They grafted inspiration from one part of the world onto the cuisine of another. Just a few years ago, fusion food was acclaimed as fashionable. In reality, bringing influences from one cuisine to another is not new.

Scan any Goan menu today and you’ll see the names of recipes created after the arrival of the Portuguese in India. It’s subject material for anthropologists and food historians to get their teeth into.

Goan pork sausages

So, who influenced whose cuisine? Did homesick sailors, soldiers and administrators long for foodstuffs fondly remembered from their far-away homeland?

Did Goan cooks combine their know-how with newly available ingredients to come up with winning recipes?

Were the Goan wives of Portuguese settlers encouraged to cook more like their husbands’ mothers?

Portugal’s influence on Goan food

Hindu dishes consumed in Goa tended to retain traditional vegetarian ingredients. Meanwhile, Christian-influenced Goan food did not shy from using the newly introduced ingredients. Meat became a characteristic element. Sorpotel is reputedly derived from a dish popular around the Portuguese town of Castelo de Vide.

Vindaloo, a dish known in Goa as vindalho, added a piquant combination of garlic and spices to salted pork.

Pork also became a key ingredient of Goan sausage. The popular dish draws on the recipe of Portuguese chouriço.

How to make Goan sausage

Long before refrigeration was commonplace, cured Goan sausages remained edible for up to six months. For seafarers facing the prospect of months aboard a ship, the pork-based sausages offered a tasty addition to the quartermaster’s supplies.

Shipboard life was tough and dangerous. It’s said that Panaji’s impressive white Church of Immaculate Conception was constructed so that seamen could offer prayers for safe passage before setting sail.

For residents of Goa, the sausages represented a tasty source of protein. During the monsoon season, they would have been especially welcome. Unfavourable monsoon tides limit opportunities for fishermen to fish in the Arabian Sea.

During the summer, before the rainy season, Goan sausages were strung out to dry under the sun. The sunshine offered an alternative to curing sausages in a smoky barrel.

A beach walk in Goa

Otto von Bismarck is reputed to have said, “the less people know about how sausage and laws are made, the better they sleep at night.” Bearing that in mind perhaps it makes sense to avoid supplying further meaty details of how Goan sausages are prepared.

Goa’s cuisine and coastline complement each other. What could be better for aiding the digestion of an indulgent lunch of Goan delicacies than a long late-afternoon beach walk, barefoot on the golden sand?

Travel to Goa

Air India offers direct flights between London Heathrow and Goa International Airport. The duration of the flights is approximately nine hours and 35 minutes.

See the UK Government website for official Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) advice about travel to India.

Accommodation in Goa

Book hotels in Goa using the map below:

Map of Goa

The map below shows the position of Goa in western India:

Books about Goa

Dreaming of a trip to Goa? The following books are available from Amazon:

The Lonely Planet guidebook to Goa and Mumbai.

The DK Eyewitness Top 10 Goa pocket travel guide.

The Essential Goa Cookbook by Menezes Teresa Maria.

Pervis de Souza’s The Goad Grind: The Untold Story of Goa’s Ground Masalas and Pastes.

Further Information

Find things to do and see in Goa on the Goa Tourism and Incredible India! websites.

Thank you for visiting Go Eat Do and reading this post about the story of Goan sausage. Thinking about visiting southern India? You may enjoy reading about houseboating on the backwaters of Kerala, India.

This post is by the travel and food writer Stuart Forster, who has lived in India and visited Goa several times. His work has appeared in The Times of India, The Hindu and Mumbai Mirror. He is based in the northeast of England.

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A version of this post was first published on Go Eat Do on 20 July 2013.