This was a comforting, stick to your ribs kind of soup, perfect for a chilly day. It had a thick consistency, more like a stew, but of course, you can always vary the amount of liquid to make it just how you like it. It was just perfect for me. The beans and potatoes broke down just enough to give the soup good body, and having the two different kinds of pork in the soup kept things interesting as well.
Although the recipe called for ground cloves I didn’t really detect much influence, so I’d say don’t be afraid if you want to increase the cloves a bit. I did use the optional suggestion of cabbage, and I think next time I’d add even more. Around here, at least in the winter, fennel bulbs don’t come with the feathery fronds, so I wasn’t able to use them, and just went with the actual fennel bulbs instead. In fact, I might even want to add a teaspoon of fennel seeds as well to bump up the fennel essence.
I went with fresh links of linguica since that’s what I was able to find, but I’d love to try it with the cured version. I bet it’s more flavorful. Delicious soup, easy to make, definitely would make again.