Chorizo is an incredibly popular Spanish ingredient that comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes and textures. As a general rule, chorizo contains pork, paprika, salt and garlic, and can be bought as a whole sausage of either soft chorizo or a fimer, drier cured sausage. Soft cooking chorizo must be cooked before eating, while the cured version can be sliced and consumed without cooking. It is also commonly sold thinly sliced to be enjoyed raw as a tapas option.
Longaniza is another Spanish sausage similar to chorizo and closely linked to the Portuguese linguica. While longaniza and chorizo taste similar to one another, longaniza is made from minced meat and typically spiced with black pepper. Chorizo is mostly used to add flavoring and a kick to a meal, while longaniza is more commonly used as link sausages to be cooked.