Longaniza de Chillán (Chilean Smoked Sausage)

Longaniza de Chillán is the smoked pork sausage of Chillán, in Chile’s Ñuble region, and the most famous of Chile’s longanizas: coarse pork and fat, red with paprika (ají de color), seasoned with garlic, cumin and oregano, stuffed in narrow casing and smoked until it turns brick red. It is sold raw-smoked and cooked by the buyer — grilled at the asado, split into choripán on Fiestas Patrias in September, fried with eggs, or served with mashed potatoes. Since 2023 the name is a Chilean Denominación de Origen granted by INAPI, the national industrial-property office, restricted to the communes of Chillán and Chillán Viejo, with rules on length, weight, calibre, grind and smoking. What separates it from the fresh Argentine chorizo on the same grill is the smoke and the paprika: this one is smoked before it is sold, and the colour is part of its definition. Neighbouring San Carlos still says the longaniza is really theirs. I have not made this one yet; the formula is built to the published limits of the Chillán specification and standard smoked-sausage practice, and it is untested.

Ingredients

MEAT BLOCK (2,270 g / 5 lb), % of meat weight

• 1,816 g / 4 lb boneless pork shoulder (80%)
• 454 g / 1 lb pork back fat (tocino), firm (20%)

CURE (% of meat weight)

• 41 g / 1.4 oz fine salt (1.8%)
• 5.7 g Cure #1 (pink salt, 6.25% sodium nitrite) (0.25%) — 2.5 g/kg × 2.27 kg = 5.7 g; 2.5 g × 6.25% = 156 mg nitrite per kg = 156 ppm, the USDA ceiling for comminuted products
• 6.8 g dextrose (0.3%)

SEASONING (% of meat weight)

• 27 g sweet paprika (ají de color) (1.2%)
• 4.5 g hot chile flakes (ají cacho de cabra) or cayenne (0.2%)
• 14 g garlic, crushed to a paste (0.6%)
• 5.7 g black pepper (0.25%)
• 3.4 g cumin, ground (0.15%)
• 4.5 g dried oregano, rubbed (0.2%)
• 114 g / 4.0 oz ice water (5%)
• 29–32 mm natural hog casing, about 14 ft / 4.3 m, linked at 8–10 in / 20–25 cm (about 150–200 g each)

Directions

Key ingredients

Black Pepper

1. In the collection: Black Pepper and paprika. Serve it with Chimichurri or the Chilean pebre; the fresh Argentine link that shares the grill is Chorizo Criollo (Argentine Grilling Chorizo).
2. Grind: chill the meat and fat to 30–32 °F / −1–0 °C. Grind the shoulder through a 6 mm (1/4 in) plate and the back fat through a 6 mm plate, kept separate. The Chillán rules fix a grind; the number is not given in the published summaries, so 6 mm is a medium-coarse choice that shows fat in the slice.
3. Cure and season: dissolve salt, Cure #1 and dextrose in the ice water, add the garlic and spices, pour over the lean and mix until tacky, then fold in the fat. Fry a teaspoon: pork and paprika first, garlic and cumin behind, a little heat. The cure is needed because the sausage will spend hours in warm smoke.
4. Stuff and link: stuff into the narrow casing and twist into 8–10 in / 20–25 cm links. The specification allows 12–30 cm, 100–260 g and a 29–35 mm calibre. Refrigerate overnight on racks.
5. Dry, then smoke: dry in the smoker at 120–130 °F / 49–54 °C with the damper open until the casing is dry to the touch, about an hour. Then smoke at 130–140 °F / 54–60 °C with a steady hardwood smoke for 2–3 hours, until the links are a deep brick red. The specification asks for a natural smoke aroma and no sour smell — this is not a fermented sausage, so keep it cool and keep it moving.
6. Chill and keep raw: cool, wrap and refrigerate up to a week, or freeze. Like the original, it is sold smoked but not cooked.
7. Cook: grill over medium coals, turning, 15–20 minutes, or fry in a pan with a splash of water first, to 160 °F / 71 °C. Split it into a marraqueta roll with pebre for a Chilean choripán, or serve with fried eggs or mashed potatoes.

Notes

Where this recipe came from — and what it isn’t. The limits come from the Chillán Denominación de Origen’s Reglamento de Uso y Control as summarised in Chilean reporting: length 12–30 cm; weight 100–260 g; casing calibre 29–35 mm; meat-to-fat ratio between 60/40 and 80/20; colour light to dark red, set by the paprika, the meat proportion and the smoking and drying times; aroma “ahumado natural, sin olor ácido” — naturally smoked, not sour. That reporting does not give the regulation’s ingredient list or grind size, so neither is reproduced here. The seasoning (paprika, garlic, cumin, oregano, a little chile) follows Chilean longaniza practice; Marianski’s “Longaniza Chilena” (pork shoulder; 1.8% salt; jalapeño 6%; paprika; oregano; cumin; garlic; sweet sherry; continuous coil) is the starting point, without the jalapeño and sherry, which are not part of the Chillán style. Deviations: (1) Cure #1 and a controlled hot-smoke schedule replace whatever each Chillán plant does; (2) 80/20 shoulder and back fat lands at roughly 30% fat, inside the 60/40–80/20 window. Untested.

The protected name. INAPI, Chile’s National Institute of Industrial Property, granted Longaniza de Chillán a Denominación de Origen in 2023 (reported 23 March / early April 2023) after a process of more than four years led by local producers and the municipality. The production zone is the city of Chillán and the communes of Chillán and Chillán Viejo, Province of Diguillín, Ñuble. In August 2026 the Chillán press reported the denomination as formally granted, with five plants authorised to use it (Cecinas Ramos Cordillera, Cecinas Cordillera, Cecinas Bengoa, Cecinas Villablanca and Cecinas Haciendas de Ñuble), producers required to belong to the PROLOC trade association and to accept unannounced external audits. How the 2023 and 2026 steps relate — registration and first certification, most likely — is not spelled out in the reporting.

Where longaniza de Chillán came from. Longaniza came to Chile with Spanish settlers, and the producers’ own account is of Spanish sausages incorporated into Ñuble’s tradition and concentrated in Chillán over time. The town of San Carlos, 25 miles north, objected when the denomination was granted: its mayor, Gastón Suazo, said “Por supuesto que la longaniza es sancarlina”, pointing to the San Carlos firm Cecinas Pincheira, which later moved to Chillán, and proposed “longanizas de Ñuble” as a shared name. The dispute is unresolved in print.

Variations. Chilean longanizas elsewhere are often unsmoked and sold fresh; Marianski’s Chilean version carries fresh jalapeño and sweet sherry. Some Chillán makers sell a thinner longaniza parrillera for grilling and a smoked-and-cooked version. Merkén (smoked ají) is a modern addition some use.

Sourcing and gear. Sweet paprika and ají flakes from Latin grocers; narrow hog casing; a smoker that holds 120–140 °F.

Still open. The full text of the Chillán Reglamento — its ingredient list, permitted additives, grind size and smoking schedule — would replace the guesses here.

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