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Morcilla dulce
Morcilla dulce: Uruguay's sweet blood sausage with orange, walnuts and raisins
ParaguayanNo Uruguayan parrilla is complete without morcilla dulce: a soft pork blood sausage sweetened with sugar and scented with orange peel, studded with walnuts and raisins, grilled until the skin crisps and served first, as part of the achuras, while the beef is still cooking. It is pork throughout: pork blood, pork back fat and natural pork casings. Making it at home is a project. Buy fresh pork blood with an anticoagulant added from a butcher who supplies it for sausage making, keep it chilled below 4 °C and use it within a day. The common mistake is poaching at a rolling boil, which bursts the casings. Chef's tip: keep the water at 80–85 °C, just shivering, and prick a sausage after 25 minutes: it is done when brown, not red, juice comes out.
- Total time
- 120 min
- Difficulty
- hard
- Serves
- 8
Ingredients
- 1 litre fresh pork blood (with anticoagulant)from a butcher, well chilled
- 10 ½ oz pork back fatcut into 5 mm dice
- 2 onionsfinely chopped
- 5 ½ oz sugar
- 2 ⅞ oz candied orange peelfinely chopped
- 1 tbsp orange zest
- 2 ⅞ oz walnutschopped
- 2 ⅞ oz raisins
- ¾ cup milk
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- ¼ tsp ground cloves
- 1 ½ tsp salt
- 3 metres natural pork casingssoaked and rinsed inside and out
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Fresh ingredients (7)
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Method
0/6 doneStep 1: Cook 10 ½ oz pork back fat in a pan over a low heat for 10 minutes until it starts to turn translucent. Add 2 onions and cook until very soft but not brown. Cool to room temperature.
20 minStep 2: Strain 1 litre fresh pork blood (with anticoagulant) through a fine sieve into a large bowl to remove any clots. Stir in 5 ½ oz sugar, 2 ⅞ oz candied orange peel, 1 tbsp orange zest, 2 ⅞ oz walnuts, 2 ⅞ oz raisins, ¾ cup milk, 1 tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves and 1 ½ tsp salt, then the cooled fat and onion.
10 minStep 3: Tie a knot in one end of a length of 3 metres natural pork casings. Using a wide funnel, fill with the mixture, stirring it each time as the nuts sink, leaving the casing only about three-quarters full so it can expand. Tie into 15 cm links.
25 minStep 4: Lower the sausages into a large pan of water heated to 80–185°F; it should barely shiver. Poach for 30–40 minutes, keeping the temperature steady.
40 minStep 5: Prick one sausage with a needle: it is done when the juice is brown, not red, and the centre reads 160°F. Lift out and cool on a tray, then chill. Cooked morcilla keeps for 3 days in the fridge.
5 minStep 6: To serve, grill over medium coals or in a griddle pan for 8–10 minutes, turning, until the skin is crisp and the inside piping hot.
Nutrition per serving
- Calories
- 360 kcal
- Protein
- 13 g
- Carbs
- 30 g
- Fat
- 21 g
- Fibre
- 1 g
Nutrition values are estimates.
KrazyBadal
Good to know
- How long does morcilla dulce take?
- About 120 minutes in total: 60 minutes to prepare and 60 minutes to cook.
- How many people does it serve?
- 8 as written. Change the servings above the ingredients and every amount scales to match.
- Is it gluten free?
- Yes, as written. Check the labels on stock, sauces and spice mixes, which sometimes contain gluten.
- What can I use instead of onions?
- 2 shallots per onion.
- What can I use instead of sugar?
- Caster sugar, same amount.
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