Resources in Spain/Spanish

[EnriqueB]

Hi,

As I have mentioned in other threads, the "home-made charcuterie movement" has not really started in Spain as it has in other countries. I'm finding it hard to find quality information in Spanish about the process, good technique, adequate equipment, or the science behind, at the hobbyist level. On the other hand, specific recipes are also hard to come by, even though there is a strong charcuterie tradition here. It's sad but in Spain we don't have a strong culture of documenting and disclosing information, and I feel many traditional recipes are being lost because there is less and less people in rural areas, they don't do their own charcuterie any more, and their recipes were only trasmitted within the family or the town.

I would love to be proved wrong by someone with more knowledge of the field, but in the mean time I open this thread to share with you the resources I am discovering little by little.

[ped]

Not to be insensitive!! But can you read the basque language EnriqueB ?

[EnriqueB]

Eberhard Schiffner, Klaus Oppel, Dietrich Lörtzing. Elaboración casera de carne y embutidos. Zaragoza, Ed. Acribia, S.A., 2008.

Title translation: "Home production of meat and sausages"

This is likely one of the best books available in Spanish, but, as you can guess from the author names, it is really a translation of this german book published in 1989. The theory and science are very well explained, some explanations are IMO better that those in the "bible" Home Production of Quality Meats by Marianski & Marianski. It is also quite detailed in the possible production defects of each type of sausage.

Despite being very useful, the book shows its age. It focuses on home production done at pig-slaughtering time, and things like current standard cure mixes #1 and #2 are not mentioned. And it seems it has been traslated into Spanish verbatim, so you find references to German laws and even former East Germany laws, without mentioning their Spanish counterparts. Also, there are no Spanish recipes at all, only processed meats from Germany and some international ones.

[EnriqueB]

Not to be insensitive!! But can you read the basque language EnriqueB ?

I don't find that insensitive! In fact a fair question, likely there are books in basque (and catalonian!) that document their traditions.

I cannot read basque, but if you know useful resources, please let me know. I know people that could help me to translate them.

[EnriqueB]

Nathan Myhrvold, Maxime Billet, . Modernist Cuisine. Taschen, 2012.

Guess nobody would claim this huge work to be a "charcuterie" book, but the fact is that it covers processed meats technique and science better than many whole volumes devoted to it, and though I have the English version, it has been translated to Spanish. The section on sausage making, though not long, goes straight to the critical points and is extremelly good. Many other sections are also relevant, like the ones on meat science, smoking, grilling or curing. Some "modernist" touchs the book adds are discussion of phosphates and transglutaminase as binders, creating sausages with special shapes (squares, sheets), aireating the batter with a siphon, or how to use fats such as vegetable oils by pre-emulsifying them with hydrocoloids. But most of their discussion is just simply science basics and showing the best technique available.

[EnriqueB]

Ana Castañer, Teresa Fuertes. El libro del jamón y la matanza. Alianza Editiorial, 1988. Out-of-print

Title translation: "The book of ham and pig-slaughtering"

This is a small book with a few pages devoted to the history of pig and pig-slaughtering in Spain, then 182 brief traditional recipes using pork. Only about 15 recipes are charcuterie-related (lomo, morcillas, longaniza de aragón...), the rest are things like "ham with mushrooms". Not really worthwhile.

[EnriqueB]

J.M. Hernández Escorial. La matanza rural. Ed. Coalba Energía, S.A., 1999. Out-of-print

Title translation: "The rural pig-slaughtering"

A coffee-table style book, has brief chapters on the traditions of pig-slaughtering, terminology, and pictures. Two chapters on "transformed meats" and "other products" contain a few recipes for morcillas, lomo, chorizos, salchichones, hams lacón, and others. They are cursory but provide a departure point. No real discussion of the techniques.

[EnriqueB]

Leaflet from Casa Pajuelo

"Casa Pajuelo" is the only physical retail shop I know in Madrid that sells casings, spices, or ready-made mixes/seasonings for different sausages and meats. They have a leaflet with their 6 traditional recipes for chorizo, salchichón, 3 types of morcilla, and "lomo embuchado", all coming from the Extremadura region. Pretty cursory explanations like "stuff, hang, and air ("orear") till dry", but still interesting as a departure point. The owner told me he will upload the leaflet to his website, which currently seems to have problems.

[EnriqueB]

The online library of the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture has a few articles related to charcuterie. I have filtered out the ones below. The first one is the most interesting from a technique point of view, though a bit old (1989):

• Principios básicos de elaboración de embutidos
• Sal, aire y humo, la esencia de embutidos y salazones
• Cualidades nutricionales y dietéticas de embutidos y salazones

[EnriqueB]

Also from the same source as the previous links, if someone wants to know what laws are applicable in Spain for meat products, this is the best place to start: Principales disposiciones aplicables a los productos cárnicos.

[EnriqueB]

Curso de "Industrias Cárnicas" de la Universidad Nacional de Colombia

The full contents of a course taught at Universidad Nacional de Colombia. I have not yet gone through all the chapters but for the ones I've had a look, seems pretty good for those looking for technical information in Spanish.

[EnriqueB]

This is a two-day course that takes place in the winter months near Madrid: Curso de embutido y paté artesanal. I'll likely try to book for next november.

Here is a report on the course contents including detailed recipes for chorizo, salchichón or fuet. They even state the required temperature and humidity during curing! The same author tells us his experience putting the course contents to practice here.

[EnriqueB]

And here are the web pages I've found that have some interesting information:

Charcuterie section in Gastronomiavasca.net

La elaboración de los embutidos

Elaboración de embutidos

La matanza familiar y la elaboración tradicional de embutidos

Despiece de la canal de cerdo para embutidos

Elaboración de butifarras caseras

Butifarra chiclanera

[EnriqueB]

This PDF document EMBUTIDOS CRUDOS Y COCIDOS from a Peruvian university offers a pretty good description of the science and technique. The few recipes that appear refer more to the south-american sausage variations than to Spanish ones.

[ped]

So you've got a couple of resources to refer to then

Is this any good: http://www.gastronomiavasca.net/recipes ... c_cat_id=1