Mariano's Spanish Goods

Traditional Spanish sausages and chorizo.

Awards

• Mariano's Spanish Goods Malaguena Sausages | Winner 2012
• Mariano’s Spanish Goods Fresh Chorizo | Winner 2010

A Malagueña is a woman from Malaga, the Spanish town Mariano Vivas’s grandmother, Amalia, comes from. He recalls her putting chilli in his mouth when he swore – when he was looking for a name for his spicy, flavourful sausage, Malagueña seemed a perfect fit.

Mariano moved from his native Barcelona to Christchurch five years ago and his chorizo was a winner in Cuisine’s 2010 Artisan Awards. He’s been making sausages professionally for three years now and says he developed the Malagueña after customers at his Christchurch Farmers’ Market stall began asking for something a little hotter.

“Instead of making a hot chorizo, I thought we could do something different. The chorizo is all paprika, while the Malaguena plays more with pepper,” he says. The resulting sausage certainly has some heat, but it doesn’t dominate – the complex flavours are evident first, with a kick coming through at the end.

Mariano says the Malagueña are good paired with scallops or other seafood, added to pasta dishes or simply on their own on the barbecue.

The judging panel praised the well-balanced flavours of the sausages, as well as the texture, which is meaty but not coarse. “My philosophy is always the same – touch the meat as little as possible.”