As it happens with the chorizo or the fuet, the Spanish morcilla is one of those Spanish sausages you must try if you visit Spain. If you don´t have the chance to go to Spain, you should as well try the blood sausage, but as its harder to find it in a restaurant, we are going to tell you how to cook morcilla sausage. Not just that, we will tell you all about the morcilla, its ingredients, the different types, where to buy it and much more…
What is morcilla sausage?
What are morcillas?? That is something you would never ask in Spain as everyone can recognize what is a morcilla. But in most of the countries of the world the morcillas are seeing as something gross, or most of the people wont even know about it.
The morcilla is a thick blood sausage made of pig´s blood, rice, spices and onions. That´s the definition of morcilla, but hopefully you are still willing to try it after knowing that the morcilla is made with pig´s blood. We can guarantee, that you will love it!
How to cook morcilla sausage?
As you may already know the Spanish morcilla is a sausage that comes from the pig´s matanza as well as the ham, the chorizo, the fuet or many other famous Spanish dishes. Once the matanza is done, they drained the blood as quick as possible into a large pan and then take it to a kitchen where it´s made. Although there are different ways to make morcilla, the process is generally the same. The blood is mixed with the ground pork, made into a sausage and combined rice and a lot of seasoning. Let´s learn how to make Spanish morcilla.
Ingredients to make morcilla
- 1kg of rice
- 60g of sweet paprika and 30g of spicy paprika
- 6kg of pork fat
- 1L of pig´s blood
- A pinch of salt
- A pinch of black pepper
- 6 meters of casings
Spanish morcilla sausage recipe
- Clean and rinse the casings the day before cooking morcilla
- Clean and cut the onions into very small pieces
- In a big bowl, mix the pork fat with the onion and add the rest of the ingredients one by one including the pig´s blood. Keep blending all together.
- Stuff the casings. Don´t fill too much as the rice will increase its size and it could break the casings.
- Tie the casings occasionally, and at the end.
- Heat a big frying pan and once is boiling add the blood sausage morcilla for almost 2 hours
- Take it out and your Spanish morcilla recipe is done! Enjoy it!
Different kinds of Morcilla
The Spanish morcilla is cooked almost the same way everywhere in Spain, and although its true it has been brought to South America, they cook it the same way. So, if you hear about the Argentinian or Colombian morcilla, you should know that their recipes are more or less the same as the Spanish one. Other than the vegan morcillas (which believe it or not, the taste is very similar to the normal ones) there are not many kinds of blood sausages.
Vegan Morcilla
It may sound impossible to make a vegan morcilla but is real and the taste of it is very similar, you won´t realize much about the differences. Of course, the ingredients are very different, some of them are the frijoles (beans) and the flour, other than that you will need the onions, the rice and the spices.
Morcilla de Burgos
Although it´s not exactly a different type of morcilla, as the way of making it is very similar to the rest of morcillas, the morcilla de Burgos has the fame of being the best Spanish blood sausage.
Where to buy morcilla??
We totally understand that making morcilla is not as simple as many other recipes, and it´s normal that you are wondering where to buy blood sausage. Well, don´t worry because if you are in Spain you can find it everywhere, even in supermarkets like Mercadona or Carrefour.
Dishes with morcilla
Although the Spanish blood sausage is a dish itself and is normally served as a tapa, many other times is shared with another dish. Some of the most typical Spanish dishes served with morcilla are the stews, like de famous cocido Madrileño or the scrambled eggs with morcilla, very typical in Madrid too.
Origin of Morcilla
The history of Morcilla is very confusing and not so known. What we know about the origin of morcilla is that it comes from Spain and that is the first type of sausage made from the slaughtered pig.
Another curious thing about the Spanish blood sausage is that in each region of Spain symbolizes something different. Although the recipe is almost the same, it changes a little bit in each region. For example, eating morcilla in the North represents the flavors of the New World and in Andalusia reminds the times when the moors rule in Spain.
Enjoy the Spanish blood sausage
