Botillo

Botillo is a smoked, semi-cured sausage made from pork pieces left over from butchering and stuffed into the pig's cecum. It is a speciality of El Bierzo, in the Spanish province of León, and its name is found in other parts of northwestern Iberia.

History

Botillo has long been made from the leftover parts of the pig, using ribs, bones and other cuts that were seasoned and preserved. The reference sources give no documented date of origin; the name comes from the Latin botellus, meaning intestine, passed through local Romance dialects.

The sausage took root in the Leonese comarcas of El Bierzo and Laciana, and also in Sanabria, in Zamora. Towards the northwest it spread to Galicia, where it is known as butelo or botelo, and to Asturias, where names such as butiellu or butiecho are used. Across the border, in Trás-os-Montes, a similar sausage carries a Protected Indication.

Production follows four stages: selecting and cutting the raw meat, seasoning and stuffing with salt, sweet paprika, garlic and other natural spices, smoking over oak or holm oak wood, and drying for about two days. Curing takes at least five days.

Culture

Botillo is part of the food identity of El Bierzo. It is usually eaten cooked, often with cabbage, and is a central dish at the time of the pig slaughter and at winter celebrations. Bembibre has hosted the National Botillo Festival every February since 1973, and other fairs take place in towns such as Fabero, Torre del Bierzo and Boeza.

The protected product must weigh between 500 grams and one and a half kilos, have an oval shape defined by the casing, and show an intense red cut. In other areas the sausage has different names and forms, such as buche de costillas in Extremadura or the sausage called pastor in Valdeorras and La Cabrera. It remains present today in butcher shops, restaurants and fairs, both in traditional and industrial versions.

Trivia