Iberian Peninsula
Chorizo (Spanish) and chouriço (Portuguese) share the same Iberian origin — ground pork seasoned with pimentón and salt, stuffed into natural casings — but they are not the same product. Spanish chorizo is typically drier, more cured, and redder; Portuguese chouriço varies enormously by region in spice level, smoking technique, and texture. The word covers products ranging from the firm, brick-red chouriço de vinho (Alentejo, wine-cured) to the soft, heavily smoked chouriço preto of the north. The use of pimentón is the defining shared characteristic: both are coloured and flavoured by sweet or sweet-hot dried red pepper. Neither uses anything equivalent to the cumin-heavy North African sausage merguez or the Mexican-American chorizo (which is a completely different product).
Spanish chorizo: sweet pimentón dominant, firm-cured, sliceable, used in cooking and as charcuterie. Portuguese chouriço: wider variation — some types (chouriço de Vinho) are fermented; others (chouriço fumado) are heavily smoked; some (alheira-style) are baked rather than cured. When using either in cooking, add at the beginning so the paprika fat can flavour the base. The red oil released by chorizo/chouriço is a cooking medium, not a waste product.
In Portugal, chouriço à bombeiro (chouriço flambéed in aguardente in a clay dish at the table) is a classic restaurant presentation that both flavours the sausage and entertains the guest simultaneously. The clay dish retains heat, the spirit burns off over 90 seconds, and the sausage crisps in the residual heat. A spectacular tableside technique requiring minimal skill.
Treating all chorizo as interchangeable with Mexican-American chorizo — the latter is raw, crumbled, and entirely different in seasoning. Adding the chouriço too late — it needs time to release its fat and flavour. Discarding the red oil released during cooking — this is the primary flavour vehicle.
The Food of Spain by Claudia Roden