Ingredients
Sausage
- 1 litrefresh pig’s blood, strained
- 400 grice, cooked until just tender and cooled
- 600 gonions — Horcal if you can get them — chopped fine
- 300 gpork lard, chopped small
- 2 tspsalt
- 1 tbspsweet paprika
- 1 tspblack pepper
- 1 tspdried oregano
- wide natural hog casing, about 2 m
To cook and serve
- 3 litreswater
- olive oil, for frying
- bread, or a fried egg
Directions
- Cook the rice until just tender but still with real bite, then drain and cool it completely. It swells further inside the casing, and slightly undercooked here is correct.
- Sweat the onion in a little of the lard over very low heat for 30 minutes until completely soft and translucent but not coloured. Burgos morcilla carries an enormous quantity of onion and it must be cooked right down — raw onion never softens inside a sausage.
- Cool the onion, then mix it with the strained blood, cooled rice, chopped lard, salt, paprika, pepper and oregano.
- Fill the casing no more than two-thirds full, because the rice swells, and tie into 15 cm lengths. Prick each three or four times.
- Bring the water to 80°C (176°F) — barely a bubble breaking — and poach for 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean rather than bloody.
- Never let it boil. Blood sets hard, the casings split and the pot empties.
- Lift them out and cool completely. They will not slice until properly cold.
- Fry thick slices in olive oil until crisp at the edges and serve with bread, or with a fried egg.
Technique
- Two-thirds full and never a boil. Those are the two rules of a rice blood sausage.
- Cook the onion right down. It is the largest single ingredient by volume.
- Fresh blood on the day it is collected.
Substitutions
- Any sweet white onion in place of Horcal.
- Beef blood, which is easier to source in some places.
- Pine nuts or almonds stirred through, which some makers add.
Variations
- Asturian morcilla uses onion alone with no rice and is smoked.
- Crumbled out of the casing and fried loose with peppers, which sidesteps the bursting problem.
History
Burgos blood sausage is bulked with rice, unlike Asturian versions made with onion alone; it carries EU protected geographical status.
Frequently asked questions
What is Morcilla de Burgos?
Morcilla de Burgos is a charcuterie & cured from Spain: blood sausage bulked with rice and onion, fried in slices. Burgos blood sausage is bulked with rice, unlike Asturian versions made with onion alone; it carries EU protected geographical status.
How long does Morcilla de Burgos take to make?
Morcilla de Burgos takes 1 hour of preparation and 1 hour 15 minutes of cooking. The recipe makes makes 8 sausages. It is rated medium to make.
What can I substitute in Morcilla de Burgos?
Yes, within limits. Any sweet white onion in place of Horcal. Beef blood, which is easier to source in some places. Pine nuts or almonds stirred through, which some makers add.
What is the most important thing to get right in Morcilla de Burgos?
Sweat the onion in a little of the lard over very low heat for 30 minutes until completely soft and translucent but not coloured. Burgos morcilla carries an enormous quantity of onion and it must be cooked right down — raw onion never softens inside a sausage.
