Butifarra
The Catalan family of pork sausages: fresh ones grilled over coals, cured blood-based ones, and a sweet lemon-and-sugar oddity from the Empordà.
Butifarra (Catalan: botifarra) is the umbrella name for Catalonia's traditional pork sausages. The most familiar version is the raw fresh sausage cooked over coals and served with mongetes, white beans sautéed in pork fat. That's botifarra amb mongetes. Other versions show up across the region: the cooked white butifarra blanca, the cured blood-based butifarra negra, the sweet lemon-and-sugar butifarra dolça unique to the Empordà. Most charcuteries make all three; the grill version is the everyday workhorse.
How it's served
Botifarra amb mongetes is the canonical plating: a long fat sausage grilled until the skin splits, served on a bed of white beans tossed in pork fat with a little garlic. Catalan home cooking, on most traditional menus.
Regional variation
Butifarra dolça (sweet, made with lemon and sugar) belongs to the Empordà in northern Catalonia. Butifarra del perol, a soft white version cooked in a pot rather than grilled, comes from the Pyrenees. The dark blood-based butifarra negra is most common in the Vic area.
- Origin
- Catalonia, Spain
- Etymology
- Of uncertain origin; Catalan and Castilian forms are botifarra and butifarra respectively.
- Also called
- botifarra
Where to try it in Barcelona
4 restaurants on Guidavera mention butifarra in their kitchen description.
Frequently asked
What's the difference between butifarra and chorizo?
Chorizo is a Spanish cured sausage seasoned heavily with smoked paprika. Butifarra is Catalan, usually fresh (not cured), and seasoned simply with pepper and salt. They look different and taste different; the only thing they share is pork.
What's botifarra amb mongetes?
The classic Catalan plate: a grilled butifarra served on a bed of white beans sautéed in pork fat. It's the unofficial national dish of working Catalonia, on practically every traditional menu in Barcelona and the rest of the region.
Why is some butifarra sweet?
Butifarra dolça, found only in the Empordà in northern Catalonia, is seasoned with lemon zest and sugar instead of pepper. It's eaten warm as a starter or dessert and is unique to that one corner of the region; you won't find it anywhere else.
Related terms
- Pa amb tomàquetCatalan bread rubbed with garlic and ripe tomato, finished with olive oil and salt. Comes with almost every meal.
- CalçotA long, sweet spring onion from Catalonia, charred whole over vine wood and dipped in romesco.
- EscalivadaCatalan smoky vegetables: aubergine, red pepper, sometimes onion and tomato, all roasted whole, peeled and dressed with olive oil.
- A la brasaCooked directly over wood embers or charcoal. The default high-end grill method in Catalonia and the Basque Country.
- CanelonsCatalan cannelloni stuffed with chopped roast meat and béchamel, traditionally eaten on Boxing Day (Sant Esteve, 26 December) using the leftovers of Christmas dinner.
- Cap i potaCatalan slow-cooked stew of veal head and foot, sometimes with chickpeas, in a tomato-paprika broth. A working-class Sunday classic.
- ChorizoThe iconic Spanish pork sausage, deep red from smoked paprika (pimentón). Comes cured (sliced cold like jamón) or fresh (cooked in stews and over coals).
- Escudella i carn d'ollaCatalan winter stew of meats, vegetables and beans simmered together. Served as two courses: pasta soup first, then the meats and vegetables on a plate. Christmas Day tradition.
- FricandóCatalan veal stew of thin-cut steaks slow-braised with wild moixernon mushrooms in a wine-based sauce, finished with a picada.
- MorcillaSpanish blood sausage. Burgos style is rice-based and crumbly; Asturian style is onion-heavy and richer. Always cooked before eating.