Meats and Sausages
Bisbe or Bull
Bisbe also known as bull is a Catalan cooked sausage. Bisbe is made from cooked pork meat, fat, tongue, occasionally stomach, and seasoned with salt, pepper and spices. It is a large diameter sausage usually stuffed in pork blind cap (caecum), occasionally in bladders. Bisbe is popular all over Catalonia, including Balearic Islands, and as there are many counties so there are countless variation of the sausage; it can be made with heart, kidney, spleen, brains, tongue, liver, bread, eggs, rice, onions or some blood. The basic seasoning is salt and pepper, cinnamon and nutmeg are often included, sometimes saffron is added for yellow color. Occasionally, mushrooms, peppers or pistachios are added.
| Meats | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Lean pork | 400 g | 0.88 lb |
| Pork shoulder | 150 g | 0.33 lb |
| Pork tongue | 200 g | 0.44 lb |
| Pork belly | 200 g | 0.44 lb |
| Pork skins | 50 g | 0.11 lb |
Ingredients per 1000g (1 kg) of meat
| Salt | 18 g | 3 tsp |
| White pepper | 2.0 g | 1 tsp |
| Cinnamon | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
| Nutmeg | 0.5 g | 1/4 tsp |
Instructions
- Place all meats in water* and cook below boiling point in a little water until soft. Save 1 cup of meat stock and filter it through a paper towel.
- Dice tongue into 12 mm (1/2”) cubes.
- Grind meats through 8 mm (3/8”) plate.
- Grind skins through 3 mm (1/8”) plate.
- Mix all meats with salt and spices. Add 45 ml (3 Tablespoons) of meat stock.
- Stuff into pork blind cap (caecum).
- Cook in water at 85° C (185° F) for 2 hours.
- Immerse in cold water for 15 minutes.
- Hang in air to cool and to evaporate moisture.
- Refrigerate.
Notes
* for a better flavor you can add some soup greens to water.
Bisbe is consumed fresh, added to salads or sliced and eaten on bread.
