Charcuterie Dispatch #1: Sobrasada

A continuous investigation of European cured meat products and smallgoods.

There should be a term for a type of food that really stains your fingers if you eat it, much less touch it. I’ve seen rubber gloves doled out at BBQ joints and even in my buddy’s ramen shop in Berlin when it’s Rib Day, so people are aware of this predicament, but I’m really not quite sure if we have a name for something so subtly powerful. Stain-y, maybe? Not messy - mess washes off. I’m talking inky, a real challenge for your dad’s bar of LAVA in the basement bathroom. Foods that may not change your life, but certainly have the juice to screw up your week - think; peeling beets, pulling apart pomegranates, squeezing nettles out of a tea, rubbing down pork shoulders with paprika, or, worst of all, peeling roasted hot chilies. That’ll give you a stain and a sweaty hard think about how to dial 9-1-1 with your nose with your hands deep in a bowl of milk.

Sobrasada is one of those things. You can find this product tucked in tight between the dark Italian sunglasses wearing, too-cool ‘nduja and the bursting at the shirt-seams glistening chorizo (who has more passports stuffed in their Burn Bag than Jason Bourne on a good day - it’s a huge category with a different definition in nearly every region in which it is recognized). All three of these bad boys will stain your fingers and your white tee if you’re not careful, but today, I’m only going to focus on Sobrasada.

Note: Not to be confused or conflated with soppressata, which is primarily from Italy. Hit those B’s and D’s like you mean it, people. Get in, we’re going to Palma.

Berlin, September 2024 - Sobrasada from Maison Garcia in Toulouse

I picked this guy up a few weeks ago when I was in the Marché Victor Hugo in Toulouse from the incredible Maison Garcia stand. The vendors had lovingly placed this sobrasada in a place of honor on top of their display case, along with some very similar looking sausages - this one was fait maison (home made), the others were Majorcan - ‘softer’ the boss said. I wanted to see what they were working with in house.

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Sobrasada is a traditional Spanish sausage originating from the Balearic Islands, particularly Mallorca. It is known for its soft, spreadable texture and rich flavor. Made primarily from pork, fat, and pimentón, Sobrasada is typically aged for 3-6 weeks to develop its characteristic taste and consistency. Unlike many other cured sausages, Sobrasada remains soft due to its high fat content and the fast curing process.

The production of Sobrasada varies between Mallorca and mainland Spain, resulting in distinct regional styles. Majorcan Sobrasada, is made exclusively from black Majorcan pigs, known for their high-quality fat. This version tends to have a more intense flavor and a deeper red color due to the generous use of paprika. Mainland Spanish Sobrasada, on the other hand, often uses meat from other pig breeds and may incorporate additional spices or ingredients. The mainland version can vary more in texture as well, sometimes being firmer than its Majorcan counterpart.

Sobrasada has a rich history dating back to the 16th century when paprika was first introduced to Majorca - the islanders combined this New World ingredient with their traditional pork-preserving techniques, creating what we now know as Sobrasada. During the 17th and 18th centuries, it became a staple food for sailors and travelers due to its long shelf life and high nutritional value.

The presence of Sobrasada in Toulouse, a city in the Occitane region of France, speaks to the long-standing connections between the Balearic Islands and Southern France. During the Middle Ages, both regions were vital parts of Mediterranean trade networks. The Crown of Aragon, which included the Balearic Islands, maintained strong commercial ties with Occitania, facilitating the exchange of goods, including, of course, food products. While sobrasada is distinctly Balearic, its presence in Toulouse reflects the broader pattern of shared gastronomic appreciation across the Mediterranean basin.

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Note: I’m still figuring out how I’m going to exactly structure these Dispatches, but I do know I want to try to convey the taste, texture, and organoleptic elements to you - next best thing to slicing off a piece for you sitting next to me. This is where I want to start to formalize my research here, and I will eventually place these behind a paywall for the real nerds and ideally for import / export companies. Therefore, I will keep these descriptions geared for professionals and consumers who would like to appreciate products at a high level.

Please tell me what would be valuable to you going forward in terms of product notes.

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Product: Sobrasada, fait maison

Vendor: Maison Garcia, Marché Victor Hugo

Location: Toulouse, FRANCE

Packaging: No packaging, individually tied. Natural casing.

Season: Late Summer, high humidity

Cost: 9.80 EUR

Sensory notes: Straight-line flavor of high quality desiccated peppers (pimentón) with a very faint low note of smokiness (likely from drying the peppers with a live fire). Creamy, tight farce bind, either double-passed through the grinder or a 8mm plate with significant manipulation post-grind. Fat is clean and consistent - they are clearly using both hard back fat and soft fat for the preparation and to create a great bind. Zero impurities found, no off-notes on the nose (NB: many ‘red’ sausage makers like to hide meat and fats not suited for un-seasoned products due to issues such as boar taint, etc.), and no rancidity development. Product did not sweat at room temperature, nor did it ‘push’ any oils (as you sometimes see in other regions of Spain) — if I had to guess, it was a 40/50/10 ratio meat, fat, dried pepper, by weight.

Analysis: This is an extremely well-crafted sobrasada in the Majorcan style, geared towards a Toulousaine audience and customer base. This is a young product (3-4 weeks of time in the sechoir) and likely the landing zone for a lot of high-quality trim produced in the shop to create an elaborated value-added product. Product sliced extremely well but was not spreadable (though still supple in the case) - this is more in line with the French eating tradition in the region. I would hazard an educated guess that it was dried under refrigeration until it reached 30% weight loss to attain shelf-stability as there was no nitrate burn/sourness.

Eating: Half of this little guy was sliced down and enjoyed on crusty baguette at room temperature, the other half I cubed and added to some lovely pan fried pseudo-patatas bravas for an extra juicy fatty crunchy element. Only stained my fingers slightly - I wore gloves.