Gastronomy in Catalonia: Botifarra

When you visit a new region or country, whether you will be staying for a holiday or decide to move permanently, it’s important that you immerse yourself in the local culture. This includes sampling the local cuisine, no matter how weird or wacky it may be. Luckily, Barcelona has a plethora of wonderful traditional dishes which you will have no trouble enjoying during your visit.

One traditional Catalan dish many will not have heard of is the botifarra – a type of sausage which dates all the way back to the Roman Empire. Today, this article by ShBarcelona shares some details on the delicious botifarra.

Related article: Common Catalan Dishes

Enjoy a good botifarra when you are in Barcelona

Ingredients and variations

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The original Roman recipe included only pork and spices and was initially cooked on a grill or barbeque. Whilst the recipe has not massively changed over the years, there are now variants of the dish with different ingredients that can be found around Barcelona:

• Botifarra d’ou (botifarra with egg) – This variation of the traditional sausage contains egg in the mixture and is traditionally eaten on dijous gras or “Fat Tuesday”.
• Botifarra d’arròs (botifarra with rice) – This variation is the same as the original except it contains boiled rice mixed in with the meat and spices.
• Botifarra blanca (white botifarra) – This variation is made with better cuts of meats with less fat and contains no blood at all. It’s healthier but still super tasty!
• Botifarra Bisbe (bishop or bull botifarra) – This is a variety of botifarra much alike the British delicacy black pudding. The sausage is mixed with thick blood and different sections of tripe – this sausage is full flavoured and the taste may take you by surprise if you haven’t tried anything similar!
• Botifarra catalana – This is the simplest variety of botifarra, and a local favourite. It comes as a large sausage cooked in a similar way to ham and often contains truffles.

Related article: Traditional Catalan Soup Dishes for the Winter

Where can you find it?

Photo by PaRaP via Visualhunt

Botifarra is one of the most common ingredients in Catalan cuisine and you can find it in almost every butchers, supermarket or grocery store in the city.

Furthermore, you will often see botifarra on the menu when you eat out, particularly if you choose to visit traditional Catalan restaurants.

Whilst the sausage can be found in many restaurants there are certain places that specialise in the botifarra.

Pork Boig Per Tu

Where? Carrer del Consolat de Mar, 15 (in the neighbourhood of Sant Pere, Santa Caterina i La Ribera)

This elegant and stylish restaurant specialises in porc dishes, as the name of the restaurant might suggest, and besides porc belly, porc ribs and porc shoulder, they also serve botifarra.

Interesting at Pork Boig Per Tu is the concept, as you order your meat by weight. Don’t forget about their vegetable dishes, because they seem to score well too!

Bar La Plata

Where? Carrer de la Merce, 28 (in the neighbourhood of Gotic)

Located in the heart of the Gothic quarter, Bar La Plata not only serves botifarra, they also do lovely tapas, like anchovies, olives and fried sardines. There is a huge selection to choose from, and besides serving great food, you can enjoy an authentic environment in this bar. It can be a bit small inside with only six tables, so if you want to visit La Plata, be sure to be there on time.

If it is busy, just soak up the atmosphere. You will love it here.  

Of course, these are just two of many places serving great botifarra; there are many more great places to taste the local delicacy all over the city. All that is left is for you to venture into Barcelona and seek out this tasty dish.

Have you tried botifarra yet? What did you think?