Botillo del Bierzo

Botillo del Bierzo is Berciano, from El Bierzo in León, and it is not just any cured sausage. It is chopped pork rib, tail, and sometimes backbone, adobado with pimentón, garlic, and salt, packed into the pig's cecum, smoked, and cured just enough to wait for the pot. What makes it itself is that rough, ribby filling and the smoke. Slice it raw and you've misunderstood it. This one is eaten hot.

The method that decides it is the simmer. Keep the botillo whole, cover it with water, and let it cook low and steady, never at a hard boil, or the skin bursts and the good red fat runs loose before the meat has softened. Later the cabbage and potatoes go in to drink the broth. That is the dish: the botillo at the centre, the vegetables around it, and a plate deep enough to hold the juices.

If you're far from El Bierzo, look first for a real Botillo del Bierzo IGP from a Spanish supplier. No hace falta haber pisado España, but sourcing matters here more than clever hands. If you can't get it, the nearest honest table is smoked cured pork ribs with Spanish chorizo cooked alongside cabbage and potatoes; it will be good, but it won't be botillo. Call the compromise by its name and eat it happily.

Pierce nothing unless the casing threatens to split, and even then only once with a fine skewer. My Margin says the same thing twice beside this dish: "fuego bajo," low heat. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.