Overview
Sabadiego is the dark, paprika-rich sausage of Noreña, poised between chorizo and morcilla. Pork meat and fat give it body, while onion and a measured amount of blood deepen the colour and flavour. It is smoked in the Asturian manner and belongs in cooked dishes or is fried before serving.
Where it's from
The cut
How to recognise it
A well-made Sabadiego is darker than ordinary chorizo but redder than most black pudding. The cut surface shows a coarse pork matrix, softened onion and small white pieces of fat. Pimentón and smoke should be clear, with the blood supplying depth rather than an iron-heavy finish. A sour smell, wet centre, soot bitterness or loose greasy filling indicates a failed process.
- Casing
- Pork or beef middle, 40 to 50 mm
Origins and history
Sabadiego grew from the final day of the Asturian matanza. The better muscles had already been assigned to hams, chorizos and fresh meat, so the remaining trimmings, fat, onion, blood and seasoning were made into one last sausage. Its name is commonly connected with sábado, Saturday, the day on which the slaughter work often ended. For generations it carried the stigma of a scrap sausage and nearly disappeared from commercial production. Noreña's gastronomic brotherhood, founded in 1988, helped restore its reputation, and the town now celebrates it alongside picadillo.
- Protection
- Unprotected.
- Seasonality
- The winter matanza.
Serving and cultural significance
Sabadiego is fried in slices, grilled, or used to season beans, chickpeas, potatoes and Asturian pot dishes. Its strength is as much culinary as charcuterie: a small amount brings pork, smoke, paprika and the richness of blood to a whole pot.
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 →The cure below is the traditional reference. “Make this” opens the measured Curesmith home recipe, scaled to your batch.
- Meat
- pork
- Cut
- neck, jowl and fat with blood
- Salt (%)
- 3
- Fermented
- No
- Smoked
- Yes
- Maturation
- cook and set
- Basis
- per 1000 g green meat
- Style
- Asturian blood-and-onion sausage
Ingredients
- offal meat (base)100% · 1000 g/kg
- back fat, belly fat, fat trimmings41.67% · 417 g/kg
- beef25% · 250 g/kg
- pimenton2.5% · 25 g/kg
- pimenton0.5% · 5 g/kg
- oregano, ground0.1% · 1 g/kg
- nutmeg0.1% · 1 g/kg
- garlic0.7% · 7 g/kg
- wine6% · 60 g/kg
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