Chef Isabel
Androlla Gallega con Cachelos y Grelos
Androlla is Galician winter food from the eastern mountains: smoked pork rib and skin, cured with pimentón, boiled slowly until tender, then served with cachelos and greens.
Culinary Explorer
A cooking platform built around craft, culture, and the stories behind what we eat.
Salchichón de Vic
Created by
Salchichón de Vic is Catalan, from the cold plain around Vic: lean pork, firm fat, salt, and black pepper, dried slowly until the casing blooms white and the cut face shows clean marbling.
Appetizers & Snacks
Spanish
Dinner Party
Picnic
Make Ahead
2 hr 30 min
Active Time
0 min cook•1008 hr total
Yieldabout 1.3kg cured sausage, 16 to 20 appetizer portions
Salchichón de Vic is Catalan, from the plain around Vic in Osona, and it is a pale, peppered cured sausage, not a red one. Lean pork, firm back fat, salt, black pepper, and slow drying. No pimentón, the red paprika that belongs to chorizo. That is what makes it Vic and not another sausage wearing the wrong name.
The method that decides it is the dry cure. Keep the meat nearly freezing, weigh the salt and Cure #2, use a proper starter culture, then hang the filled sausages in cool, humid air until they lose 35 percent of their weight. Dry too fast and the outside hardens while the centre stays soft. I won't tell you to dry raw pork on a kitchen counter. That's not tradition. That's a risk.
If you're far from Catalonia, no hace falta haber pisado España. Buy llonganissa de Vic when you can, or a Catalan fuet or secallona if that is what you can find; they are thinner and drier, but they keep the same peppered family. Slice it thin on the bias, let it lose the refrigerator chill, and put it down with pa amb tomàquet, bread rubbed with tomato and oil. The margin in my notebook says, 'pésalo, no lo adivines,' because in curing, guessing is not romance. Siempre sale, si lo sigues.
Salchichón de Vic belongs to the Plana de Vic in Catalonia's Osona comarca, an inland basin whose cold air, fog, and patient drying rooms gave pork a reliable way through the year. Locally known as llonganissa de Vic, it comes from the matança, the household pig slaughter, when selected lean pork and hard fat were preserved with salt and black pepper rather than pimentón. Its pale slice, white casing bloom, and peppered scent mark it off from the red cured sausages of other regions.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
lean pork shoulder or ham
Quantity
1.6kg
trimmed of sinew, cut into 2cm cubes
firm pork back fat
Quantity
400g
skin removed, cut into 2cm cubes
fine sea salt
Quantity
54g
Prague Powder #2 curing salt
Quantity
5g
0.25% of the meat weight
dextrose or white sugar
Quantity
6g
coarsely cracked black pepper
Quantity
8g
finely ground black pepper
Quantity
4g
mild dry-sausage starter culture
Quantity
0.5g
dissolved in 30ml distilled water, or the maker's dose for 2kg meat
natural beef middles or wide pork casings
Quantity
2m
45-55mm, soaked and rinsed
Penicillium nalgiovense white-mold culture (optional)
Quantity
as directed for 2kg sausage
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| lean pork shoulder or hamtrimmed of sinew, cut into 2cm cubes | 1.6kg |
| firm pork back fatskin removed, cut into 2cm cubes | 400g |
| fine sea salt | 54g |
| Prague Powder #2 curing salt0.25% of the meat weight | 5g |
| dextrose or white sugar | 6g |
| coarsely cracked black pepper | 8g |
| finely ground black pepper | 4g |
| mild dry-sausage starter culturedissolved in 30ml distilled water, or the maker's dose for 2kg meat | 0.5g |
| natural beef middles or wide pork casings45-55mm, soaked and rinsed | 2m |
| Penicillium nalgiovense white-mold culture (optional) | as directed for 2kg sausage |
Equipment Needed
- •Digital scale accurate to 0.1g
- •Meat grinder with 6-8mm plate
- •Sausage stuffer
- •Sterilized casing pricker or fine needle
- •Calibrated pH meter with meat probe
- •Curing chamber set to 12-14C and 75-80% relative humidity
- •Butcher's twine and hanging hooks
Instructions
- 1
Set the chamber
Clean the grinder, stuffer, table, hooks, and your hands properly before you begin. Set a curing chamber to 12-14C and 75-80% relative humidity a day before you start, and have a fermentation space ready at 20C and 90-95% relative humidity. If you cannot control those numbers or measure pH, stop here and buy llonganissa de Vic. That is not defeat. It is good judgment.
Use Prague Powder #2 for long dry curing. Do not swap in Cure #1, table salt, or pink Himalayan salt; the names sound close and the job is not the same. - 2
Chill the pork
Spread the pork and back fat on separate trays and chill until the meat is firm, 0-2C, and the fat is nearly frozen. Cold fat cuts clean and stays white in the slice. Warm fat smears in the grinder, and then the sausage looks muddy and eats greasy.
- 3
Weigh the cure
In a small bowl, mix the sea salt, Cure #2, dextrose, cracked black pepper, and ground black pepper. Weigh to 0.1g, especially the curing salt. Pésalo, no lo adivines. Precision here is not fussing; it is what keeps the sausage safe and seasoned evenly.
- 4
Grind and mix
Grind the chilled pork and back fat through a 6-8mm plate into a chilled bowl. Sprinkle over the cure mixture. Stir the starter culture into the distilled water, let it stand for 10 minutes, then pour it over the meat. Mix with gloved hands until tacky and bound, 2 to 3 minutes, keeping the mixture below 4C. The meat should cling to your palm; that bind gives you clean slices later.
- 5
Stuff the casings
Fit the soaked casing onto the stuffer and fill firmly, but not so hard that it bursts when tied. Make 30-35cm links, tie with butcher's twine, and prick only visible air pockets with a sterilized needle. Weigh each link and write its starting weight on a tag; your target finished weight is 65 percent of that number. Pack 30g of leftover mixture into a small covered cup to ferment beside the sausages for pH testing.
- 6
Ferment safely
Hang the links at 20C and 90-95% relative humidity for 24 to 48 hours. Test the small meat sample until the pH reads 5.2-5.3, and do not go past 48 hours without reaching 5.3 or lower. It should smell clean, porky, and faintly tangy, never rotten or harsh. If it does not reach that mark, do not dry it.
- 7
Dry it slowly
Move the links to the curing chamber at 12-14C and 75-80% relative humidity with gentle airflow. If using white-mold culture, spray the casing lightly when the links go in. Dry for 4 to 6 weeks, checking weights weekly, until each link has lost 35-40% of its starting weight. The casing should feel dry, and the sausage should be firm through the centre, not hard outside and soft within.
White powdery bloom is welcome. Fuzzy black or green mold, slime, a rotten smell, or a wet soft core means the link goes in the bin. - 8
Rest and slice
When the target weight is reached, wrap the links in clean butcher paper and refrigerate for 3 to 7 days to equalise. Bring to cool room temperature for 20 minutes before serving. Slice thin on the bias, casing on or peeled as you like, and serve with pa amb tomàquet or plain bread. No pimentón dust, no oil slick, no dressing. The sausage has already done its work.
Chef Tips
- •The pork decides more than your cleverness. Use fresh shoulder or ham and firm white back fat from a butcher with good turnover. Soft belly fat smears in the grinder and leaves greasy pockets instead of clean ivory dice.
- •Do not add pimentón. Chorizo is another sausage with another job. Salchichón de Vic is pale, peppered, and clean-cut; the black pepper should be visible in the slice.
- •No curing chamber, no pH meter, no Cure #2, then buy the sausage. Choose llonganissa de Vic first, fuet or secallona next; they are Catalan and peppered, though thinner and drier.
- •If you cannot find 45-55mm casings, use 40-43mm hog casings and expect a thinner sausage that dries faster, often in 3 to 4 weeks. The flavour stays close, but the slice is not as generous.
- •Serve it at cool room temperature and slice it thin on the bias. Pa amb tomàquet, bread rubbed with tomato and oil, is enough beside it; a young Catalan red, cava, or dry vermut does the rest.
Advance Preparation
- •Start 5 to 7 weeks before you want to serve it. The drying cannot be rushed; slicing early gives a raw, soft centre.
- •Order the Cure #2, starter culture, casing, and optional white-mold culture before shopping for the pork. Charcuterie waits for equipment, not the other way round.
- •Sanitize the equipment, calibrate the pH meter, and stabilize the curing chamber the day before mixing.
- •After drying, wrap the links in clean butcher paper and refrigerate for 3 to 7 days before slicing so moisture evens out through the sausage.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 72g)
Calories
325 calories
Total Fat
27 g
Saturated Fat
10 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
16 g
Cholesterol
70 mg
Sodium
1340 mg
Total Carbohydrates
1 g
Dietary Fiber
0 g
Sugars
0 g
Protein
19 g
Where cooking meets culture.
Culinary guides, cultural storytelling, and the editorial depth that makes cooking meaningful.
Discover Culinary ExplorerMore from Embutidos & the Matanza
Browse the full collection
Chef Isabel
Botifarra amb Mongetes
Botifarra amb mongetes is Catalan: fresh pork sausage cooked through, white beans turned in its fat until glossy, and allioli beside it. Simple food, if the sausage is right.
Chef Isabel
Botillo del Bierzo
Botillo del Bierzo is Berciano winter food: smoked, pimentón-cured pork cooked whole and slow, then served hot with cabbage and potatoes to catch every drop.
Chef Isabel
Cecina de León
Cecina de León is cured smoked beef from León, sliced thin enough to bend, rested until its fat softens, and finished with a thread of good olive oil.