Alheira de Mirandela

Alheira de Mirandela is a traditional smoked horseshoe-shaped sausage produced exclusively within the concelho of Mirandela, Portugal. Its filling combines shredded pork from Bísara-breed pigs, chicken, optional game meats, regional wheat bread soaked in cooking broth, olive oil, and garlic, encased in salted natural bovine casing tied with cotton thread.

About this designation

Registered as a PGI on 10 March 2011 under file number PGI-PT-0864 (eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000015945), Alheira de Mirandela is protected under the name as registered. The geographical area of production is confined to the concelho of Mirandela. All specific production stages — bread cutting, meat cutting and washing, cooking and shredding of meats, preparation of the filling, stuffing, and smoking — must take place within this delimited area. Pork must derive from Bísara-breed animals, pure or crossed with Landrace, Large White, Duroc, or Pietrain breeds, provided the Bísara component represents at least 50 percent. Viscera are excluded from both pork and poultry. The regional wheat bread, made from type-55 wheat flour, must be stored for a minimum period generally of forty-eight hours before use. The cooking broth, locally called calda, is used to soak the bread. Smoking employs characteristic local woods, including oak and olive, by slow combustion. The specification records a smoking and curing period of approximately eight days. Physicochemical requirements set the sausage at approximately 20 to 25 centimetres in length, 2 to 3 centimetres in diameter, and 150 to 200 grams in weight, with protein content above 14 percent, moisture below 50 percent, and fat content below 18 percent. Labels must carry the designation Alheira de Mirandela — IGP or Alheira de Mirandela — Indicação Geográfica Protegida, together with the official logotype.

Source: The register document this entry was written from · retrieved August 26, 2026

Distinctive facts

• Registered as a PGI on 10 March 2011 under file number PGI-PT-0864, eAmbrosia identifier EUGI00000015945.
• Pork must come from Bísara-breed pigs, pure or crossed, with Bísara accounting for at least 50 percent; viscera are excluded.
• Regional wheat bread must be stored for a minimum period generally of forty-eight hours before being soaked in the cooking broth (calda).
• Smoking uses slow combustion of local woods such as oak and olive for a period of approximately eight days.

Tasting notes

Trás-os-Montes traditional sausage IGP from Mirandela, distinctive — bread-thickened, with poultry/game meat (originally a converso-Jewish-Portuguese substitute for pork sausage; today also pork variants), seasoned with garlic, paprika. Pale beige-pink color, soft sausage texture, distinctive bread-and-meat balance, mild garlic-paprika flavor — the iconic Portuguese alheira.

HoReCa use

Alheira de Mirandela is served fried or grilled and is a fixture of local and national restaurant menus, as well as gastronomic fairs and food competitions.

Packaging

• vacuum-pack-pair-200-400g
• individual-link-150g
• professional-bulk-1kg