It’s barbecue time

Ready to heat things up this autumn? There’s no better way to do it than with a Spanish “matanza”, the “slaughter of a pig”.  It’s the time of year to prepare for the winter time and traditionally that mean in lot’s of parts of Spain to slaughter a pig and prepare it’s meat for consumption the next couple of months.  Spanish diet’s varies a lot depending on the seasons and winter time is the period for meals rich in vet and meat, especially pork meat.

Spain’s matanza is now getting renewed interest from farm-to-table food enthusiasts.

Una Matanza

“Una Matanza” is a feast for families, neighbours en friends to barbecue and prepare the meat. The actual butchering of the pigs, outside the slaughterhouse, is no longer permitted by law for at least a decade, so the pork normally arrives to the location sacrificed en cleaned. The event starts early in the morning, preparing the wood for the barbecue en installing the tools for slicing, cutting, mixing and preparing the meat in to all kinds of sausages, inlay, blood sausages, steaks, minced meat, etc.

Preparing for the winter

The whole day everybody invited helps with the preparation, while consuming part of the barbecued and cooked meat, some bread, drinking mainly beer and wine, until all the work is done and everybody takes his share home for the winter time to come. It’s also common to prepare a rise dish at midday, better know as paella. The name paella is normally not appropriately used, especially by foreigners, who name every Spanish rise dish paella. Paella is a rise dish form Valencia and only contains large white beans, tomatoes, horseshoe beans or flat green jelly, chicken, rabbit, salt, olive oil, rice, water and saffron. Outside Valencia it’s just a rise dish and can contain whatever the cook like to add to the dish and is just a rise dish.

Something from the past

“Una Matanza” does not form an essential part of Spanish culture anymore. While during the winter time most Spanish consume a lot of pork meat, normally this is bought in the local supermarket. As well as other typical winter food like canned tomatoes or dried fish. The need to prepare for the harsh winter time has vanished and the “matanzas” are now more a “family and friends barbecue” and a “getting together for the weekend” thing.