We know you’re going to like them, so save room in your suitcase…
Sobrassada, botifarra, botifarró and ventre farcit. The most characteristic sausages from Ibiza and Santa Eulària. Pure tradition that you should try with a bit of country bread or cooked into some of the traditional dishes in which they feature. Or, better yet: take a few back in your suitcase so that you can keep tasting Ibiza when you get home. A flavoursome souvenir that will certainly not get left in a drawer.
When the crisp smell of winter is in the air, the farms dotted across the Ibicenco countryside begin their ancestral custom of slaughtering a pig. As in many other parts of the country, friends and family gather together to help in the laborious process of butchering and then preparing the different types of sausage that are traditional in Ibiza: sobrassada, botifarra, botifarró and ventre farcit. From the proceeds of this day emerge the cold meats that will nourish the host family over the course of the coming year until the next slaughter. For this reason, the day always has a decidedly festive air about it. In addition to domestic production, several family businesses produce sausages intended for sale, and it is easy to purchase them in Santa Eulària’s butcher shops, delicatessens, or even country stores.
Our traditional sausages, in detail
Of all the sausages typical to Ibiza, the star of the show is undoubtedly sobrassada, which is different from the Majorcan variety due to its lower fat content. It is made of lean pork, spices, paprika, pepper, and salt, and then left to cure before eating. When you buy it as a tasty souvenir to take home, or give as a gift, keep in mind that the slimmer ones are usually eaten first, often in stews or roasted, while the plumper ones, which take longer to cure, are eaten in spring or summer, and are ideal when enjoyed with a slice of country bread. In order for a link of sobrasada to carry the certification mark Sobrassada d’Eivissa, it must be made in the traditional way using pork obtained from pigs raised on the island and fed mainly on grains and carob.
As for botifarra, it is made with less noble pork meats, fat, blood, salt and spices, and is then cooked, for which reason it does not need to be cured. The thinner links receive the name of botifarró and are the main ingredient in a dish known as sofrit pagès. The other traditional sausage that you can find in gastronomy shops is called ventre farcit (stuffed stomach), which is made by cooking for several hours a pig stomach filled with minced pork loin, spices and pepper.
Pig slaughters: A living tradition
The slaughter of pigs is a deep-seated tradition which has been practised in Ibiza for centuries, and which even today is maintained by those families who can keep and feed a pig, which also entails having room to cure and conserve the sausages so obtained. In former times, it was customary to carry out two slaughters a year: one in the month of November, between All Saint’s and Santa Catalina (on the 25th) – usually a suckling pig, or porcella – and the second in February or March. Once the pig reached an adequate weight, some 20 roves (200 kg), all the necessary arrangements were set in motion to prepare for the most celebrated feast of the year in an Ibicenco household. An animal of that size would yield some 72 kilos of sobrassada, 24 kilos of botifarra, 32 kilos of streaky bacon, 22 soup bones, and other products.
Traditionally, the festivities began at the break of dawn. Wine was passed round in a porrón as were trays of buñuelos (small doughnuts), which had been prepared the previous day, ready to be fried when the first guests arrived. Work began and by mid-morning snacks were served to keep up strength: bread with sausage, gerret (picarel) in brine, coca (a type of savoury pie with red bell peppers), etc. Sometimes other dishes were served, such as frita with squid or frita with pork loin and wild mushrooms, while the most characteristic dish of the day was arros de matances (slaughter-day rice), which today is served year-round in Santa Eulària’s traditional restaurants.
