Fuets,
secallones and
somalles are from the family of matured or “cured" dry sausages, typical of Catalonia and relatives of the raw
butifarra fresh or dry sausage.
Lucania (where the word
longaniza originates), has its roots in the Pyrenees.The origin of these sausages dates back to Roman times and is from the
lucanica people (southern Italian). By all accounts the f
uets,
secallones and
somalles were first made in the Pyrenees and due to the climatic conditions of the region they say this is where the best ‘hams’ originate.
The composition of these sausages is always pork and bacon seasoned with salt, and black pepper. The air and the microclimate of each region along with the time of maturation, do the rest. With names that sound exotic and mysterious such as
Secallona, Somalla, Petador, Espetec, the truth is that they all are dried sausages that the Catalonian people refer to as
fuet or
longaniza. The manufacturing process is traditional, what separates them is the size.
Longaniza and Secallona have a handmade quality with their appearance and
fuet in contrast is shorter in size.
These different types of cured sausages are more or less regional in nature and they all follow an interesting point, in that they have an onomatopean characteristic which is the particular sound that
fuet, espetec, llonganisseta, make when broken.
Within this family the
secallona,
somalla and petador are contemporary raw sausage products produced in two ways — long, called s
alsitxeta and small bite like portions
cigala de gos, making them an ideal snack or finger food.
The Catalan term
secallona refers to the appearance of dried fruit and this is where this pork sausage made from lean meat and pork fat stuffed into thin a natural sausage casing gets its name from. This cured dried sausage is infused with three different formats of black peppercorns powdered, cracked and whole.
A tasting theme:
Secallona best sliced thick and served at room temperature and can be used in antipasto, tasting boards or in a crusty baguette drizzled with high quality Spanish olive oil.
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