The skeins are a popular appetizer from Aragon, very similar to the stuffed from La Rioja and Navarre and similar to zarajos from La Manchathough not the same.
Like all of them, the skeins are made with lamb intestines, but unlike the zarajos, which are wrapped around a stick, these are twisted on themselves until they form what resembles a skein of yarn. Hence its current name, although they tell of the old Aragonese glories that in times were known more as “tortullones”a denomination today in complete disuse.
The skeins are not usually made at home and, in fact, it is not easy to find them displayed in butcher shops, but in almost all of them they can be ordered by request. We have elaborated the recipe with the wonderful skeins that they elaborate in the Huesca slaughterhouseprovided by the highly recommended butcher of Ayerbe Fermín Marco.
Making skeins at home has its drawbacks: the smell they give off when cooking them is not pleasant at all. But it has a great advantage: you know you are going to eat them freshly madesomething that does not always happen in bars, where they are usually already cooked (and we already know that the offal goes rancid right away).
The recipe also it’s a piece of cake.
First of all, let’s cook the skeins in plenty of boiling water with salt for about an hour. After this time, we remove them on kitchen paper and reserve them in the fridge until they cool. This operation can be done in advance, but it is better not to leave the skeins already cooked in the fridge for more than a few hours. Yes, we can, however, freeze them as soon as they are cooked.
While the skeins are cooling, we can prepare a traditional green sauce, with which the skeins are always served. To do this, mix the parsley, garlic, a pinch of salt and a splash of olive oil in a chopper and mortar. We booked.
Once the skeins are cold, we cut them into discs about 1 cm thick (about five discs per skein come out) and cook them on the grill in a very hot pan, until they are golden on both sides. We serve them immediately, with a little green sauce on top.
A journey through Aragonese cuisine
With what to accompany the skeins
We are before a blunt cap, which needs no other accompaniment than a little bread and wine (or beer). If we are going to make them at home as part of a snack meal, we can accompany the skeins of another of the great specialties of Aragonese cuisine such as the migas del pastor, with which they go wonderfully.
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