Description
The Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI is a smoked sausage made from pure bred or cross bred Bísaro pigs.
Production Area
Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI is made in the municipal areas of Boticas, Chaves and Montalegre in the Vila Real district.
Production Method
The meat is seasoned with salt, garlic, red or white wine and either hot or sweet paprika. The gut of the pig is used for the skins. Loin or fillet cuts of pork are used, which are chopped into large cubes, seasoned with salt, local white or red wine and garlic and left to marinate for up to eight days in a dry place at a temperature of no greater than 10°C, after which either sweet or hot paprika is added. The mixture is stuffed into natural large intestine, cut into the required lengths and tied with pure cotton string. The sausages are smoked over a low fire of principally local oak wood, in a smoking room or in the traditional domestic fireplace for approximately 30 days.
Appearance and Flavour
Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI is a rigid, cylindrical sausage, between 10 cm and 20 cm long and 4 cm to 8 cm in diameter. The external appearance is light chestnut in colour. However the interior is a bright red with a course consistency. It has a pleasing, lightly salted taste with a hint of wine. It has a typical smoky aroma.
History
The origins of Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI are closely linked to the climatic, geographic and socio-economic conditions in the area where it is made. References to taxes on pigs and their derivatives appear in several municipal archives, including those of Montalegre, demonstrating that pig breeding has been of great importance here for a long time. In order to be able to eat meat for the entire year, methods of preserving pork were devised which soon became an ancestral art and handed down from generation to generation. The preparation of these products depends very much on the cold and dry climate of this region, where the home fires are always kept burning, offering unique conditions for the preservation of hams and sausages by a gentle and gradual smoking process. In this way, born from the need to preserve pork, a variety of different shapes and kinds of sausages came into existence, each with their unique flavour but all linked to the specific local conditions and the customs of the local people.
Gastronomy
Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI must be stored at a low temperature or vacuum packed in appropriate, inert packaging. It can be enjoyed eaten as it is or boiled. It is usually eaten as a starter or with an aperitif. It can be eaten with a good, well-matured cheese, a slice of crusty bread and a glass of good local wine.
Marketing
This sausage is sold as Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI. It is sold whole and always prepacked at source. Given the nature and the composition of the product it cannot be sold in pieces or slices.
Distinctive Features
The extreme climate of Montalegre, characterised by dry hot summers and long, cold, rigid winters, are favourable conditions for the making of the Salpicão de Barroso-Montalegre PGI smoked sausage. The climate also has a positive influence on the type of pig feed and the slow smoking process which is particularly compatible with the cold of the long winters.
