Sobrassada
Meat
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Sobrassada is a soft, spreadable raw-cured pork sausage from the Balearic Islands of Spain, stained brick-red by generous amounts of paprika. Unlike firm dry sausages, it keeps a smooth, scoopable paste that is spread on bread, melted over toast, or stirred into stews.
Picking a good onedrag
Freshly cut: paprika-red, soft, clean and porkyOff: slimy, mouldy or rancid
Aged and firmerBuy itDarker and denser is age, not decay. Sound eaten cold; if you are pregnant, 65 or older, or immunocompromised, heat it steaming hot or leave it.
Colour of the pasteDeeper, darker red: the longer cure, not a fault
Casing or packA dusty white bloom on the casing: that is the cure
Feel of the pasteFirmer with age, still gives under a thumb
Smell at the cutA mild lactic tang beneath it: the ferment