-
1
Cook the rice and chill the blood
15 mins
Cold, below 4°C (40°F)
Cook the rice until just tender, spread it on a tray and cool it completely — warm rice makes the filling gluey. Strain 500 ml of cold pork blood through a fine sieve into a large cold bowl, and dice the chilled back fat into 5 mm cubes. Dice the onion and green pepper very fine, mince the garlic and chop the cilantro.
Day-old rice is ideal: dry, separate grains bind the filling without turning it to paste.
Done when: Rice cooled and fluffy; blood strained and cold; fat, onion, pepper, garlic and cilantro all diced and ready.
-
2
Mix the filling
10 mins
Cold, below 4°C (40°F)
Add the diced back fat, cooled rice, onion, green pepper, garlic, cilantro, salt, cumin, oregano and black pepper to the strained blood, and stir gently until everything is evenly distributed. Fry a tiny spoonful in a pan and taste it — it should be well-salted, warmly spiced with cumin and oregano, and bright with cilantro and pepper. Keep the bowl over ice while you work.
Taste the fried spoonful before stuffing: it is the only chance to fix the seasoning.
Done when: Evenly mixed, deep red filling with visible cubes of fat, grains of rice and flecks of green pepper and cilantro.
-
3
Stuff and tie the links
20 mins
Cold, below 4°C (40°F)
Rinse the soaked casings and slide one onto a sausage stuffer or a wide funnel. Fill loosely, easing the mix along and pricking out air pockets with a clean needle, then twist and tie into 8 links of about 15 cm (6 in) each. Do not overfill: the rice swells as it cooks and tight links burst in the pot.
Wet hands and a wet work surface stop the casings sticking and tearing.
Done when: 8 even links, about 80% full, with no air pockets and no leaks.
-
4
Poach until set
20 mins
Water at 80°C (175°F), never boiling
Lower the links into a large pot of water at 80°C (175°F) — hot enough to set the blood, cool enough not to burst the casings — and poach for 20 minutes, turning once. The links are done when they feel firm all the way through and a thermometer in the centre of a link reads at least 71°C (160°F). Lift them out and let them cool for 10 minutes before frying.
Never let the water boil: boiling is what bursts morcilla.
Done when: Links firm to the touch, centre at least 71°C (160°F), skins intact.
-
5
Fry crisp and serve
10 mins
Oil at 180°C (350°F)
Heat the oil in a wide pan to 180°C (350°F). Fry the poached links for 3–4 minutes per side until the skin is dark, crisp and blistered, and the centre is piping hot at 74°C (165°F). Drain briefly on paper, then slice thickly or serve whole with tostones, avocado and lime wedges.
Fry in batches so the pan stays hot; crowded links steam instead of crisping.
Done when: Skin dark and crisp, centre hot at 74°C (165°F), slices showing rice, fat and green pepper.
auto_awesome Finishing Touches & Plating
Serve the morcilla hot from the pan, sliced thick so the rice-flecked centre shows, with tostones, avocado and lime wedges on the side — the crisp skin, the creamy spiced centre and the bright lime are the whole point of the dish.
Dominican Republic
3h 15m
