⚠️ Source-confidence note: documented only briefly in the Revista Española de Nutrición Comunitaria's 2022 survey of forgotten dishes of Navarra: one paragraph with ingredients and occasion, but no method or quantities. It is included because its "white" half is a rice preparation (Navarre's relleno). The method below is a reconstruction; verify it with Baztán cooks.
01Geographic & Texture Profile
- Primary Geographic Zone: Northern Navarra, in the Valle de Baztán (Elizondo and the valley's villages).
- Liquid & Texture Profile: Seco (dry). The rice relleno is set (bound with egg), sliced and fried beside blood.
- Traditional Cooking Vessel & Fuel: A pot for the relleno and a frying pan.
02Historical & Cultural Context
Txuritabeltz means "white and black" in Basque. It pairs Navarre's relleno, a rice preparation made "as in the old days" with lamb suet, rice, saffron and egg (pork fat is usual today), with sangrecilla (cooked, crumbled blood). It is still prepared for the festivals of the Baztán valley, together with baztanzopa, a soup of lamb heads. It is part of the same rice-in-charcuterie culture as the morcillas de arroz of Burgos and Villada, but here the rice is served as a dish rather than stuffed into a casing.
Culinary science: rice cooked in fat and saffron, then bound with beaten egg, sets firm as it cools, like a savoury rice cake. It can then be sliced and fried until golden. Its pale colour and mild taste contrast with the dark, iron-rich blood.
03Local Town-by-Town Variations
- Baztán (RENC): Relleno (lamb suet in the old days, pork fat now; rice, saffron, egg) + sangrecilla. Festival dish, paired with baztanzopa.
- ⚠️ No village-level differences documented.
04The Master Recipe (4-Person Batch Blueprint)
Variant represented: reconstructed Baztán relleno + sangrecilla.
The Flavor Base (El Fondo)
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Lamb suet (traditional) or pork fat, finely chopped | 120 g |
| Saffron | 0.2 g |
| Water or light lamb stock | 600 ml |
| Salt | to taste |
Assembly Ratios
| Element | Quantity |
|---|---|
| Round rice | 250 g |
| Eggs (binder) | 3 |
| Cooked lamb or pork blood (sangrecilla), in slices | 400 g |
| Onion (for the blood) | 1 |
Step-by-Step Cooking Blueprint
- Rice: Melt the suet, add the rice and saffron, then the water and salt. Cook ≈ 18 min until dry.
- Bind: Off the heat, stir in the beaten eggs. Press into a tray and leave to set and cool.
- Slice & fry: Cut the relleno into slices and fry until golden.
- Sangrecilla: Fry the onion, add the crumbled cooked blood, and heat through.
- Serve: Put the white relleno and the black sangrecilla side by side.
05Authority Reference Links
صورة: Birasuegi · CC BY-SA 4.0 · عبر ويكيميديا كومنز
