You might be surprised at a fleeting glance to envisage Bollywood music composer Bappi Lahiri serving you smoked sausage at some eatery in Goa when you see him in his big gold rings and thick layered chains!
Gather your wits, and be no less entertained in company of a deep-rooted local– Antonia Da Silva or Souko from Goa Velha, who is famous in the state and amongst the Goan community in Mumbai, Pune, Delhi and of course London for his smoked sausages. Now, in his sixties, he has spent most of his life preparing sausages learning from his grandfather who started it under the Portuguese Rule. The sausage, after all, was first introduced in Goa by the European invaders and was better known as the chorizos.
Each day is a long enough with work commencing around 6 am. After chopping the meat which can weigh 90 kilos, he seasons it with salt and garlic. He then marinates the same with vinegar and the masala using two varieties of chillies, turmeric and spices like cloves and cinnamon. The entire process takes two days and this includes removing the water.
Asked how many sausages were made on any day, he smiled and said “We make around 5000 sausages every other day depending on the orders. We do not go out and sell them. People who want them come over and place orders.” He is undoubtedly very popular and the care and precision taken to prepare the sausages can be gauged by the way he makes his own palm vinegar and masala which help bring out the distinctive flavour that has made his sausages very popular.”
The pigs are sourced from a farm in old Goa and private farms in Diwar but he admits it’s getting tough to get good and healthy ones. More worryingly, for him the slow but steady disappearance of toddy tappers will mean a death blow to his business. The vinegar is made from the toddy and he has around five large drums of toddy to help him in his business but without the toddy, the distinctive taste that characterizes the sausages he makes. Everyday he needs around ten liters which will give the reader the magnitude of the problem he could face in the future. He smokes the sausages in the shed where it is done. Freshly made sausages hanging around a smoking wood fire are a common thing in his work station. He prepares four types of sausages-less fat, no fat, fat and just skin. He has the requisite certificates from the Food and Drug ministry so that there are no doubts on the standards maintained. He’s capable of customising the sausage according to customers demand.
The popularity of his sausages has meant that he sends around 4,000 pieces — three times every month — to Mumbai. To London around (at least) 1,500 sausages are sent regularly. From Dhobi talao to Swindon, Goans away from its shores manage to stay in touch thanks to his Saukos sausages. Like many good things, he has not spent a rupee for marketing. This is all by word of mouth publicity.
