Since a few years ago, we have a meat maturation cellar in our restaurants. SAGARDI’s Butcher is a project that has been carried out jointly between Grupo Sagardi and Txoguitxu, our meat supplier, to introduce the butcher shop in our establishments. An authentic meat maturation cellar meat made to measure inside the restaurant.

We recently launched our new meat maturation cellar at SAGARDI BCN Center, in addition to the other meat maturation cellars we already have at SAGARDI BCN Gòtic, SAGARDI Castellana, SAGARDI London, SAGARDI Mexico and SAGARDI Ibiza. A process that we want to extend to all our restaurants to give greater prominence to our flagship product, the Basque txuleton.

 

With the impressive pieces that we exhibit daily in our cellar, many wonder about our meat maturation process, so we have decided to explain it to you.

The maturation at SAGARDI

After the sacrifice, the animal must remain cold and resting to allow all the cells to die. Just like any other animal, the cow goes into a state of “rigor mortis” which would usually last the first week after the sacrifice. We would then go into the meat maturation stage. The main objective of this process is allowing for the muscles to relax and for all the superficial and infiltrated fats to blend into the meat, as well as letting the natural chemical processes take place. This process should be done in a ventilated cold chamber, between 1º and 3º Celsius and 70% humidity. According to my own opinion and the Basque tradition, this period may last between 2 to 5 weeks according to the quality, size and type of fat. This will allow tasting a healthy, clean, animal flavoured meat, along with the flavours of its terroir and its sweet “pastry-like” aromas. All in all, a noble gastronomic product.

 

Now the trend of ultra-maturation has arrived. It entails continuing this process for a very long time; one month, six months, a year or indefinitely… there are others who also apply all types of ointments to the “body”: its own fat, fat from other animal species, herbs, whisky, etc… Those in favour of this practice claim that the chemical processes which take place in the piece will strengthen and concentrate the flavour, resulting in a new and interesting evolution. They compare it with the maturation of wines and cheeses.

 

 

In our opinion, meat must taste like meat, even more so if it is of the type described earlier. The only process that occurs in an animal corpse after a moderate amount of time is putrefaction. In an exceptional piece of meat, we do not look for hints of tobacco, hide or anything of the sort. We look for the flavour of meat, the metallic taste of an older animal conjugated with the clean and pastry-like smoothness of its digestive fat. I look for the aroma of green herbs, autumn grass, cream, and home.