Morcilla de cebolla
Also known as Morcilla de Cebolla
Asturias, Spain
An onion-rich blood sausage.
Overview
Morcilla de Cebolla is the onion-led branch of Spanish blood sausage. Cooked, well-drained onion forms most of the filling, with pig blood and pork fat supplying colour, richness and bind. It is poached and usually cooked again before serving.
Where it's from
The cut
Traditional, protected or commercial production
Onions are cooked, cooled and pressed to remove excess water, then mixed with blood, fat, salt and regional spice. The sausage is stuffed and gently poached. Some regional versions are subsequently smoked or dried.
How to recognise it
The slice is dark burgundy to black, soft but set, with visible onion and small pieces of fat. The aroma should be sweet from cooked onion and savoury from blood and spice. Loose liquid, sourness or a raw metallic centre is unacceptable.
- Casing
- Hog or beef casing, 36 to 40 mm
Origins and history
Blood had to be used immediately after the slaughter, and onion was one of the most effective ways to stretch it into a substantial food. The exact seasoning changes with place: pimentón and garlic in some areas, morquera in La Mancha, pine nuts in Murcia and smoke in Asturias. The shared structure is more important than a single recipe, which is why Morcilla de Cebolla should be treated as a family rather than a protected product.
- Protection
- Unprotected.
- Seasonality
- The winter matanza.
Serving and cultural significance
Fry thick slices until crisp at the edges, crumble it into beans or chickpeas, or serve it with roasted peppers and bread. Regional morcillas differ enough that the accompanying dish should follow the local seasoning.
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, please 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
- Cut
- Blood, fat and onion
- Salt (%)
- 2.1
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- cook and set
- Basis
- per 1 L pig's blood (book basis)
- Style
- Onion blood sausage
Ingredients
- Onions221.7% · 1000 g
- Pork fat25% · 250 g
- Pork blood20% · 200 g
- Pimentón, sweet1.8% · 8 g
- Pimentón, hot1.8% · 8 g
- Garlic0.67% · 3 g
- Black pepper0.44% · 2 g
- Cilantro0.1% · 1 g
- Oregano0.22% · 1 g
- Caraway0.22% · 1 g
Notes
- This is a cooked product. Cook thoroughly to a safe internal temperature and cool promptly; cooking does not kill botulinum spores, so keep the warm-holding window short and refrigerate.
In the Codex
What this product teaches, and where to read more.
Temple. Pillar, Hygiene Control