ENTER A PRODUCT: Submission #18
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Submission information
Submission Number: 18
Submission ID: 24
Submission UUID: bd89ee38-5950-44d4-96e4-3904541a6866
Submission URI: /slowfood/form/segnala-un-prodotto-bk1
Created: Wed, 11/16/2022 - 09:28
Completed: Wed, 11/16/2022 - 09:29
Changed: Wed, 11/16/2022 - 09:42
Remote IP address: (unknown)
Submitted by: admin-form
Language: English
Is draft: No
Current page: Complete
Webform: ENTER A PRODUCT
General Info
Alpujarra Empatatao
Sus scrofa domestica
| Category |
|---|
| Salumi e derivati carne |
Geographic area: La Alpujarra, Spagna
Latitude: 36.9621715
Longitude: -3.0533761
Location: 36.962172,-3.053376
Formatted Address: La Alpujarra, Spagna
State/Province: Andalucía
Country: Spagna
Country Code: ES
Latitude: 36.9621715
Longitude: -3.0533761
Location: 36.962172,-3.053376
Formatted Address: La Alpujarra, Spagna
State/Province: Andalucía
Country: Spagna
Country Code: ES
Product description
The empatatao is a sausage made with pork belly and boiled potato from the Alpujarra region of Almeria. This is a traditional pig breeding area. The slaughter has traditionally been a festival that took place in the winter months, as this was the time when the meat could be better preserved, and which brought together family, neighbors and friends. Traditional products such as cured ham and different sausages (black pudding, sausage, bacon…) are made from these slaughters, which are still maintained today.
It is a handmade product, this sausage includes the same ingredients as the sausage and, like the sausage, is very typical in the municipality of Laujar since ancient times. The difference is that a proportion of boiled potato is added, which softens and enriches it, giving it a very peculiar flavor. This ingredient makes it different from any other sausage in the region. The livestock is currently of the Duroc breed, which has replaced the white pig and the Iberian breed in the past.
The elaboration process consists of mincing the pork belly meat, then the potato is cooked and mashed. The potato and meat are mixed together with spices such as paprika, pepper, oregano and salt. Finally, it is stuffed into a pork casing.
It is a handmade product, this sausage includes the same ingredients as the sausage and, like the sausage, is very typical in the municipality of Laujar since ancient times. The difference is that a proportion of boiled potato is added, which softens and enriches it, giving it a very peculiar flavor. This ingredient makes it different from any other sausage in the region. The livestock is currently of the Duroc breed, which has replaced the white pig and the Iberian breed in the past.
The elaboration process consists of mincing the pork belly meat, then the potato is cooked and mashed. The potato and meat are mixed together with spices such as paprika, pepper, oregano and salt. Finally, it is stuffed into a pork casing.
The most traditional way to eat the empatatao is cooked, it is eaten fried with fried eggs, peppers, fried potatoes and bread, and it is also incorporated into traditional stews such as the Alpujarra stew, with seasonal vegetables and legumes, providing a spicy and tasty touch due to the spices. However, although it is not the most common, it can also be eaten fresh. To do this, it is dried for two weeks, taking into account the climatic characteristics of Laujar de Andarax. Its altitude of 920 m above sea level and its climate, generally not very rainy, with a great thermal amplitude, with very hot summers and cold winters in which temperatures can drop below 0ºC, allow the ripening to develop naturally coinciding with the winter months
In spite of the importance of meat from the point of view of its nutritional and energetic properties for the population in this period of poverty and famine, and of the products made from it such as sausages, the high price of this food limited access to traditional products such as longaniza sausage for a large part of the population. For this reason, as an alternative and thanks to the ingenuity of the producers, the empatatao arose, which was made with a smaller quantity of meat than longaniza and to which potatoes were introduced, a product that was easily accessible to the population of the time and at a lower cost.
The traditional production period was during the winter when the pigs were slaughtered in the municipality and the potatoes were harvested. Today it is produced all year round.
The traditional production period was during the winter when the pigs were slaughtered in the municipality and the potatoes were harvested. Today it is produced all year round.
The history of the appearance of the “empatatao” arises in the period of the Spanish civil war, a time characterized by the scarcity of resources of the population of the Alpujarra, especially the lack of quantity and variety of food.
This product is considered one of the meat products with the strongest link to the territory, for its traditional production and its history, which recalls the ingenuity that arises from the times of greatest famine and needs through which the residents of the Andarax valley have passed. The product can currently be found in a local store in the municipality of Laujar de Andarax, although the homemade and family production is also maintained after the slaughtering.
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