Mondeju (Mondejo)
Also known as Mondejo, Mondeju, Mondejo blanco
Basque Country, Spain
Overview
Mondeju, written Mondejo in Spain's national meat-product standard, is a pale Basque cooked sausage made principally from green vegetables, eggs, sheep fat and sheep casing or stomach. A documented branch also uses pre-cooked sheep stomach as edible offal. The sausage is thin, yellowish and usually formed as a ring, with leek, onion and parsley providing a greener flavour than conventional pork white pudding.
Where it's from
Identity and terminology
The Basque spelling Mondeju is common in Gipuzkoa, while the official Spanish technical list uses Mondejo. Both belong to the same product family. The pale form is not Mondejo Negro: adding sheep blood changes the colour, composition and seasoning architecture, and the green vegetables, parsley and eggs are omitted. The word morcilla may appear in tourism descriptions, but blood is not part of the white form.
Composition and characteristics
The cut surface is soft and finely irregular rather than emulsified. Dice or coarse particles of tender sheep stomach and sheep fat are suspended in set egg, leek and onion. Nutmeg and black pepper season without obscuring the characteristic allium and ovine notes. The narrow sheep casing produces a more delicate ring than broad Spanish morcillas or stomach-stuffed mountain dishes.
Production and process
Sheep stomach is cleaned, cooked until tender and chilled before dicing or coarse grinding. Leeks and onions are cut finely, eggs are beaten by weight and all components are mixed cold. The casing is filled with moderate pressure because egg expands during heating. Gentle poaching sets the matrix without bursting the ring, and a probe-confirmed cold point replaces reliance on a fixed time alone.
History and regional forms
Mondeju is associated with Gipuzkoa and the Goierri area, where sheep husbandry and the Idiazabal landscape supply its cultural setting. Basque tourism material presents it as a local speciality, while Spain's national quality standard gives it a technical definition. That combination supports a genuine regional identity, but not an EU geographical indication; and it carries no protected status.
Use, storage and related products
Serve hot with potatoes, cabbage, spinach, peppers or olive oil, or reheat gently after refrigeration. Its high vegetable, egg and cooked-offal content makes it moist and perishable. Keep it chilled and use promptly. It differs from blood morcilla, from grain-heavy white pudding and from Maranho da Sertã, whose rice-filled natural stomach and PGI specification create another product entirely.
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
- Cleaned sheep stomach, pre-cooked and diced
- Cut
- Cleaned sheep stomach, pre-cooked and diced
- Salt (%)
- 3.3
- 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 cleaned sheep stomach, pre-cooked and diced
- Style
- Basque pale cooked sheep-offal, leek and egg sausage
Ingredients
- Cleaned sheep stomach, pre-cooked and diced100% · 1000 g
- Sheep fat, diced40% · 400 g
- Leeks, finely diced75% · 750 g
- Onions, finely diced17.4% · 375 g
- Whole egg, beaten17.4% · 375 g
- Fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped2.3% · 50 g
- Fine salt2.1% · 45 g
- Ground black pepper0.23% · 5 g
- Ground nutmeg0.12% · 2.5 g
Method
- Clean the sheep stomach, pre-cook until tender enough to cut, chill rapidly and dice through 6 mm.
- Wash and finely dice leeks and onions; chop parsley and beat the weighed eggs.
- Combine chilled stomach, sheep fat, vegetables, egg, parsley, salt, pepper and nutmeg evenly.
- Fill sheep casing loosely enough to accommodate egg expansion and form rings.
- Poach at 78–80°C until the cold point reaches 71°C and the egg matrix is set.
- Shower briefly and complete controlled chilling if not served immediately.
Safety. Clean and pre-cook offal carefully, keep the egg mixture cold, poach to 71°C, chill rapidly and separate the pale identity from Mondejo Negro.