BasqueStage is about learning in an alta cocina in Basque Country. It’s about putting in the sweat equity and getting it back tenfold.

But it’s also about …. meat.   It’s about enjoying local food products and hearing about them from the mouths of the producers.

So we piled into a car and headed to Catalunya to visit Can Pistraques, a butcher shop outside of Barcelona that dates back to 1873.

Our stages, Ruth and Elisha, were treated to a tour of the family-owned sausage makers’ small facility. They were told the ins and outs of how each different sausage was made, from the bucket of empty intestines, waiting to be filled, to the finished product, hanging in the walk-in. We sampled butifarra, the traditional Catalán sausage, as well as its raw counterpart, llonganissa.

Butifarra  is traditionally served with white beans, and Can Pistraques is one of the most popular suppliers for the local onion parties (calçotadas, remember?).  During the busy season, it’s all this family-run supplier can do to keep up with demand.  That’s what happens when you make really, really  good meat.

http://www.canpistraques.com/