Bloody Christmas

Bloody Christmas                                   Henar García Alonso, 1^st Year  Advanced Level

It’s Christmas time, the weather is cold and it’s time to have good moments with your family and friends.

Having delicious meals is customary and in some villages it is also a tradition to fill the pantry with the meats from the “pig  slaughter”. And this is what we are going to talk about.

Everything starts early in the morning, when the pigs arrive home .They come without their guts, ready to be quartered.

With the different cuts of the pig you can make ham, sausages, palette, bacon, black pudding , spiced ribs and whatever you like.

You usually prepare hams, palettes, bacon and spine together, because they need to be kept in salt for some time in order to be properly cured.

Sausages are made with pork meat, some fat, sweet paprika, garlic, parsley, salt and hot paprika (if you feel like it).

For the black pudding there are a lot of different recipes but, basically they are made of pork meat, fat, onion, blood and some spices.

Both mixtures of meat have to be put into the pig’s guts in order to be cured.

When the sausages and the black pudding are made, they should be slightly smoked and remained for approximately two weeks hanged in the air in a well ventilated and cold place.

Hams, palettes, bacon and spine, after being in salt, should be cleaned and also slightly smoked.

As for the sausages, they should stay hanged in the air in order to be completely cured, but not too much longer.

When everything is finished, you will be tired, but your pantry will not be empty until next year, and you will enjoy typical meat at Christmas.