Costillas de la matanza
Also known as Costillas de la Matanza
Extremadura, Spain
Cured, confit pork ribs.
Overview
Costillas de la Matanza are pork ribs seasoned after the winter slaughter, cooked slowly until tender and traditionally kept beneath lard. They are closer to confit than to dry charcuterie: the meat is preserved by cooking, cool storage and the exclusion of air, not by drying.
Where it's from
How to recognise it
The ribs should be fully cooked and tender, with paprika and garlic clinging to the meat and clean white or amber lard around them. The fat must smell sweet and fresh. Gas, bubbling, sourness, rancidity, grey meat or a broken warm storage history are reasons to discard the batch.
Origins and history
The matanza produced far more fresh meat than a household could eat at once. Hams and sausages could be salted or dried, but ribs were awkward, bone-rich pieces. Families seasoned them with garlic, pimentón and oregano, cooked them in rendered pork fat and packed them into earthenware jars. The same winter work supplied both the ribs and the lard that covered them. In a pre-refrigeration household this extended their usefulness, but it did not create the equivalent of a modern sterilised preserve.
- Protection
- Unprotected.
- Seasonality
- The winter matanza.
Serving and cultural significance
Warm the ribs gently so the fat melts away, then serve with potatoes, bread, greens or legumes. The seasoned lard is part of the tradition and can flavour the accompanying dish, provided it has remained properly refrigerated.
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.
- Meat
- pork
- Cut
- rib racks
- Salt (%)
- per 2 ribs (book basis)
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- No
- Maturation
- cure, confit, keep in fat
- Basis
- per 2 rib racks (book basis)
- Style
- Confit matanza ribs
Notes
- The book gives this per two rib racks rather than per kilo; convert once a rib weight is set.
- 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