The sausages that Bartomeu Codina and Mª Teresa Ricart made in a farmhouse several years before opening Can Codina, the butcher shop they started in Taradell (Osona) in 1989, are practically the same ones that their children continue to produce and sell in the present.
Xevi, Ana and Núria Codina learned from a young age how to make bull, fuet, somalla and longaniza in the traditional way, and over the years, they have perfected those recipes inherited from their parents, which have turned Can Codina into a of the most awarded butcher shops in Osona.
A few days ago, your sausage won first place in the National Traditional Llonganissa Competition organized by the Confraria del Gras i el Magre and the Fundació Oficis de la Carn, which they already won in 2018. Is it common to win this competition twice? We asked Xevi Codina, who answers that it is something that has only happened once in the history of the contest.
The sausage that has led them to victory this year is the same one that proclaimed them winners in 2018. They make it with Duroc pigs – “their meat is characterized by being very sweet,” explains Xevi Codina – that they raise themselves and which they sacrifice when they reach a weight of around 130 kilos.
After stuffing the meat, the product goes through a mixed drying process: first they leave it for 15 days in an artificial dryer where they can control the temperature more and then in a natural drying room, a farmer’s house where they pamper it a lot, opening and closing windows. when necessary to ensure that the temperature is ideal.
“It is the combination of good raw material, the constant attention that the product receives and the climate of the region that gives rise to our sausages,” explains this butcher when we refer to the multiple awards that Can Codina has won, which today runs it with the help of her sister Ana.
While its sausage has been named the best in Catalonia on two occasions, its egg botifarra has achieved first position in the Concurs Nacional de Botifarra d’Ou Artesana in 2023, second place in 2022, and four special mentions. The key, in addition to using quality meat, is that the eggs are good, from farmers. The moment in which the sausage is placed in the boiler and the cooking time are other factors that affect the final result.
Every time they win a contest, their store is packed with people from inside and outside the region who want to taste their products. The problem is that the preparation of the sausage, which they sell for around 25-26 euros per kilo (between 8 and 9 euros per unit), takes time. “When we run out of what we have, it will take between two months and two and a half months to replenish the stock,” explains the butcher.
Making their products in the traditional way takes them more work and requires patience, but they are clear that they must continue doing it this way to ensure the survival of this know-how. “The sausage we make is not the same as other manufactured products. Priority must be given to quality,” explains Ana Codina, who is primarily in charge of serving the store’s customers. Like her brothers, she believes that fighting for these products is to fight for local business. “Small businesses give life. Without them, the towns would be very poor. It is also where the customer is cared for the most,” he concludes.
