Prietas

Ingredients

Sausage

• 1 litrefresh pig’s blood, strained
• 500 gonions, chopped very fine
• 300 gpork back fat, cut in small cubes
• 150 mlwhole milk or cream
• 3 tbspground merkén or smoked paprika
• 1 tbspground cumin
• 2 tspdried oregano
• 2 tspsalt
• 1 tspblack pepper
• 2m wide natural hog casing, rinsed and soaked

To cook and serve

• 3 litreswater
• pebre, and crusty bread

Directions

1. Strain the blood through a fine sieve to catch any clots — a clot in the mix becomes a hard lump in the finished sausage.
2. Sweat the onion in a little of the fat over low heat for 20 minutes until completely soft and translucent but not coloured, then cool it. Raw onion will not cook through inside a sausage and stays crunchy and harsh.
3. Mix the cooled onion, the cubed fat, the milk, merkén, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper into the blood.
4. Fill the casing loosely — no more than three-quarters full, because the mixture swells as it sets — and tie into 15 cm sausages. Prick each two or three times.
5. Bring the water to 80°C (176°F), just below a simmer with barely a bubble moving, and lower the sausages in. Poach for 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean rather than bloody. Never let it boil: blood sets hard and the casings split, which empties the pot.
6. Lift them out, cool completely and refrigerate. They slice cleanly cold and collapse warm.
7. Grill whole over coals or fry in slices until the skin blisters and crisps, and serve with pebre and bread.

Technique

• Use blood the day it is collected. This is the whole reason prietas are made at the matanza and not on any other day, and there is no substitute for freshness here.
• Eighty degrees, not boiling. Every failure with a blood sausage is a pot that got away.
• Fill loosely. An overfilled blood sausage bursts as the mixture sets and expands.

Substitutions

• Cooked rice for a third of the onion, which some southern Chilean versions use.
• Smoked paprika for merkén.
• Cream in place of milk, giving a richer, softer set.

Variations

• Some households add walnuts or raisins, a colonial Spanish touch that survives in the south.
• Served whole at an asado, grilled alongside longaniza and beef.

History

Made at the rural matanza when a pig is slaughtered, using the blood before it spoils; served with pebre and bread.

Frequently asked questions

What is Prietas?

Prietas is a charcuterie & cured from Chile: blood sausage with onion and spices, grilled whole at the asado. Made at the rural matanza when a pig is slaughtered, using the blood before it spoils; served with pebre and bread.

How long does Prietas take to make?

Prietas takes 45 min of preparation and 1 hour of cooking. The recipe makes makes 10 sausages. It is rated medium to make.

What can I substitute in Prietas?

Yes, within limits. Cooked rice for a third of the onion, which some southern Chilean versions use. Smoked paprika for merkén. Cream in place of milk, giving a richer, softer set.

What is the most important thing to get right in Prietas?

Bring the water to 80°C (176°F), just below a simmer with barely a bubble moving, and lower the sausages in. Poach for 30 to 40 minutes until a skewer comes out clean rather than bloody. Never let it boil: blood sets hard and the casings split, which empties the pot.