Overview
Chireta is an Aragonese cooked offal-and-rice preparation formed inside pieces of lamb stomach that are folded and sewn closed. It is closely associated with the Pyrenean and pre-Pyrenean districts of Huesca, including Ribagorza and Somontano, where lamb slaughter supplied both the casing and part of the filling.
Where it's from
The cut
Identity and terminology
The name chireta is used in Aragón, while girella or gireta is used for a related Catalan-speaking Pyrenean form. Spain's national meat-products standard lists Chireta and Girella or Chireta separately in its annex of traditional products and names established by use. That recognition defines the product but does not create a PDO, PGI or TSG.
Composition and characteristics
The statutory Chireta description combines lamb heart with pork lung, pork lean and pork fat, rice, garlic, parsley, pepper, cinnamon and sweet pimentón. The related Girella description allows cooked lamb viscera with chopped pork belly, rice and sometimes egg. Finished packets show rice and finely cut offal within a pale, irregular stomach wrapper.
Production and process
Production begins with careful cleaning of the edible stomach and preliminary cooking of the offal and meat. The chopped filling is mixed with rice and seasonings, placed loosely on stomach sheets, sewn and cooked. Loose filling is essential because the rice swells. Modern production must use inspected edible offal and measured cooking and cooling controls.
History and regional forms
Chireta belongs to a slaughter-day economy in which edible viscera, fat, rice and the stomach itself were converted into a substantial dish. Municipal and regional tourism records link it with feast days and public chireta celebrations in Huesca. Its exact household composition varied, which helps explain the overlap between the Aragonese and neighbouring girella forms.
Use, storage and related products
Chiretas are served hot as a main dish, often with their cooking broth or vegetables. Cooled packets may be sliced, dipped in egg-and-flour batter and fried. They are related to girella and other cereal-and-offal puddings, but their sewn lamb-stomach form and rice filling distinguish them from ordinary haggis, white pudding and blood sausage.
Recipe and cure
This is not a finished recipe. It is a window into how this meat is traditionally cured. Before you follow any process, run it through one of our curing calculators so the salt, cure and timings are right and safe for your own batch.
Make this — the measured Curesmith version →“Make this” opens the same cure as a measured recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- Pork shoulder
- Cut
- Pork shoulder
- Salt (%)
- 2.1
- Curing salt
- None
- Fermented
- No
- Starter or mould
- None; this product is not fermented
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- Refrigerate at 0–4°C; use within 4 days or freeze promptly
- Basis
- per 1,000 g pork shoulder
- Style
- cooked lamb-heart, pork-lung and rice stomach pudding
Ingredients
- Lamb heart80% · 800 g
- Edible pork lung, inspected and lawful for sale70% · 700 g
- Pork shoulder100% · 1000 g
- Pork back fat70% · 700 g
- Cooked, cooled short-grain rice28.4% · 909 g
- Cold unsalted pork or lamb broth7.5% · 241 g
- Fine salt2.1% · 68 g
- Sweet pimentón1.4% · 45.5 g
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped1.7% · 54.5 g
- Fresh garlic, crushed0.99% · 32 g
- Black pepper0.28% · 9 g
- Ground cinnamon0.14% · 4.5 g
Method
- Clean the edible lamb stomach thoroughly under approved offal-handling practice, rinse and keep chilled.
- Gently simmer the lamb heart, pork lung and pork shoulder until firm enough to cut; drain and chill rapidly.
- Cut or grind the cooked meats and chilled fat, then mix with cooked rice, broth and seasonings.
- Portion the filling loosely onto stomach sheets, fold and sew securely, leaving room for rice expansion.
- Poach gently below a rolling boil until the cold point reaches 74°C.
- If not served immediately, cool rapidly under the two-stage rule.
Safety. Use only inspected edible offal and stomach. Availability of pork lung varies by jurisdiction. Cook to a verified cold-point endpoint, cool rapidly and keep refrigerated.