The Slow Food Presidium blood sausage of the Garfagnana, the mountain valleys of the upper Serchio in the province of Lucca. Made from the humbler parts of the pig — the whole head, plus tongue and heart — boiled until falling-tender, boned and chopped, then bound with plenty of filtered pig's blood and a big, aromatic spice blend of fennel, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and aniseed, stuffed into a natural casing, tied and gently poached. The Garfagnana recipe is distinctively lean and heavily spiced, with no added lard or filler. Sliced and eaten at room temperature or lightly fried, it is classic nose-to-tail cooking of the Lucca valleys.
A product of la norcineria contadina, the winter pig-slaughter of the Garfagnana, the wooded valley of the upper Serchio in the province of Lucca, where nothing of the animal was wasted. Biroldo belongs to the old Tuscan family of sanguinacci, blood sausages built from the parts left after the prized cuts had been salted or sold; the Garfagnana recipe, leaner and more heavily spiced than the lowland Lucchese one, uses only the head, tongue and heart with no added fat. Recognised among Tuscany's traditional food products, the Prodotti Agroalimentari Tradizionali, and protected by a Slow Food Presidium that gathers the valley's small norcini, it is still tied and poached by hand to the mountain formula. The lowland Lucca versions, by contrast, fold in pine nuts.
Sliced thin, it is dark, almost black, dense and yielding rather than crumbly. The taste is deep and savoury, rich pork and the mineral warmth of blood, carried on a big sweet-spiced perfume of fennel, cinnamon and clove, with a clean, lean finish and none of the greasiness of a fattier sausage. Good cold with unsalted Tuscan bread, or crisped in a hot pan.
A blood sausage sets like a savoury custard. Pig's blood is rich in albumin and other proteins that coagulate with gentle heat: as the tied sausage poaches at just below a simmer, around 80°C, the blood proteins unfold and cross-link into a soft, sliceable gel that traps the fat and juices from the boiled head meat, binding the whole without any starch. Cooking below a rolling boil is essential — too much heat makes the blood gel weep and turn grainy, and can burst the casing. The long pre-boiling of the head converts its abundant collagen to gelatin, which sets on cooling to help the slice hold together, while the tongue and heart lend a firm, meaty texture. The heavy spicing is not only for flavour: fennel, clove and cinnamon are rich in aromatic compounds with mild antimicrobial and antioxidant action that historically helped preserve a fresh blood product.
Variations
The lowland Lucchese biroldo is sweeter and richer, folding in pine nuts and sometimes raisins, and may include rind and lung. Neighbouring Tuscan valleys make close cousins under their own names, the Mallegato of San Miniato, sweetened with lard, pine nuts and raisins, and the sausages of the Versilia and the Apuane. Casings vary with what the slaughter yields, from the stomach to the large intestine or bladder. At the table it is eaten cold as an antipasto, warmed in a pan, or tucked into bread.
On the Palate
Where Biroldo della Garfagnana sits in the Italian flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 10
How it's made
8 steps · 40 min
- 1120 min
Clean and halve the pig's head, then simmer it with the tongue and heart in water until the meat is falling-tender, a couple of hours.
Watch outSimmer the head until the meat is falling-tender, a good couple of hours — undercooked and it won't pick clean off the bone, and its collagen won't set the slice.
- 220 min
Lift out and cool a little, then bone the head and pick off all the meat, skin and cheek, and peel the tongue.
- 315 min
Chop the boiled meats coarsely by hand or pass them through a coarse plate.
- 45 min
Season heavily with the spice mix of fennel, nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and aniseed, plus salt and pepper.
- 55 min
Stir in the filtered pig's blood until the mixture is evenly dark and loose.
- 620 min
Stuff into a rinsed natural casing, filling loosely so it will not split.
Watch outFill the casing loosely, not tight — the blood gel swells as it sets, and a packed casing bursts.
- 710 min
Tie into a large sausage and prick it to release trapped air.
- 890 min
Poach gently, just below a simmer, until cooked through, then cool completely before slicing.
Watch outPoach just below a simmer, never a real boil — gentle heat sets the blood into a smooth custard-like gel; a boil makes it weep and turn grainy.
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