It is not a hamburger, nor a meatball, nor a cooked ball. The figatell is, by its own right, one of the artisan sausages with the longest tradition in the Valencian Community, although less well known than the blanquetthe onion botifarra wave Easter sausage.
It is also one of the most powerful bites, and therefore not suitable for all palates. Its characteristic mix of spiced meats pork offal (lean, jowls and liver) gives the figatell a forceful and unmistakable flavor; many consider it a delicacy that takes us back to a remote past. Visually it is very easy to distinguish in the delicatessen display case thanks to the mantellina or caul that wraps the figatell as if it were a fine lace fabric. If you come across it, feel free to take it home.
We are talking about one of the star products of the gastronomy of the Valencian region of La Safor -there is the famous Fuster butcher shop from Gandía, specialized in figatells- and also from the Marina Alta region of Alicante (to which towns such as Denia, Jávea and Pego belong), although figatell can also be found in some towns in the interior of the autonomous community. In the city of Valencia, very few butcher shops make it, although it is increasingly common to discover figatells on the menus of taverns and restaurants. It is the case of Bar X of Ricardo Camarenawhich accompanies them with caramelized onion and mustard sauce, or the Alenar winerywhose letter of esmorzarets includes the classic figatell sandwich.
Actually, the origins of this artisan sausage come from the island of corsica. The Genoese, who ruled the island in the 16th century, introduced the famous figatellu, which actually has little to do with what is currently known as Valencian figatell. The original Corsican version is a kind of fresh pork liver sausage seasoned with lots of cloves of garlic. In any case, the Valencian figatell is closer to the sheftalia Cypriot and especially the fardel Aragonese.
Elaboration
To get to know the process of making figatells up close, we moved to Meliana, a town in the Huerta Norte, very close to the capital of Turia. There we meet vincent roig and his mother, Amparo Pedroswho founded with her husband, more than forty years ago, the butcher shop and delicatessen of artisanal production Ca Ceba.
In the workshop of this house, Vicente awaits us with the ingredients arranged on the table. As we can guess, the success of this recipe depends to a large extent on the raw material, which must be of the highest quality. “For example, the better the pork liver, the milder and more pleasant the flavor of the figatell will be afterwards,” he points out. In the same way, the lean piece must be “juicy, but without fat, so that it is compensated with the part of jowls that the recipe has.” Regarding the proportion of each of the ingredients, he uses a 50% leana 30% double chin and a 20% liver. In his opinion, it is not a good idea to change the liver for kidney or heart, because they are very hard and would greatly alter the original flavor and texture of the recipe.
The fourth and last ingredient is the pork mantelina either teleta, which is nothing more than the fatty membrane that keeps the intestines, stomach, liver and other organs of the animal in their position. It is a type of neutral fat, tasteless, so its function in the recipe is eminently practical -to prevent the whole from falling apart-, although it is also aesthetic. The mantellina, which is also one of the essential elements of the Valencian Christmas ball, the poltrot– can be purchased at slaughterhouses and some butchers and delicatessens.
Chop the lean meat, the jowls and the liver with the knife, trying to remove the veins that we find in the liver to guarantee a clean and smooth bite. After passing the set through the crusher to give it a medium chopped (the same one used to make hamburgers or sausages).
The resulting mass is worked with the hands and added salt, pine nuts and spices. The most common are the cinnamonthe clove (Not a lot, because otherwise we run the risk of bitterness), black pepper Y nutmeg. There are those who also incorporate fresh parsley.
Finally, we extend the teleta on the table and we proceed to use it to wrap the figatells, which should have the approximate size of a small closed fist (the equivalent of about 80 or 100 grams per unit). It can also be flattened slightly with the palm of the hand before cooking.
The figatell is a very versatile gastronomic product. It is an excellent snack esmorzaret -an energy bomb to channel the day with enthusiasm-, but it is also usually eaten on a plate to share in the center of the table or as an individual tapa on top of a toast (caramelized onion and preserves pair very well). The figatell can be cooked on the grill, but the ember, Vicente reminds us, “is the butcher’s best ally”. So why not add figatell to outdoor barbecues with friends? In addition, in Ca Ceba they suggest that we also use them in stews and in soupy ricereplacing the classic cooking ball with this more powerful alternative.
The renaissance of the figatell in the Valencian restoration has been accompanied by its corresponding versions. Among them, stands out the Cuttlefish Figatell popularized by chef Michael Ruiz in Miquel’s baret, in Denia. A great invention that many restaurants have currently replicated throughout the Valencian Community.
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