We shall never tire of saying it, over and over: the border does not divide us, but it does separate us. This play on words means that, as Orson Welles stated at the beginning of his documentary on the Basques, the border between Spain and France has never been able to break common cultural roots. But it is true that centuries of different administrations have caused huge gaps in knowledge, and distance. That isn’t the worst, though, as there are also elements which have been dangerously tearing Navarre apart from its sister Basque territories since the 1970s.
This is what came to our heads when we discovered this Basque hamburger recipe, made with the ground meat of Basque sheep, Arradoy sheep’s cheese, Basque pork, Basque Sakari sauce, and pepper marmalade from Espelette. South of the Pyrenees, you would almost need a miracle to be able to prepare this recipe from products found in local shops, while it would be incredibly easy to prepare an Oriental dish, or a dish from other nations, like Galicia. This is something that we Basques on either side of the border need to stop and think about.
This recipe, which we found on the Les petits plats de Christopher blog, invites us to use Basque products, most of which were made or sold at the Maison Petricorena in Baigorri.
For example, Sakari sauce has a long and beautiful history that started at the beginning of the 20th century, on a trip Basque Laurent Petricorena took to Argentina. Upon returning home, he got married and took over the butcher’s shop of his wife’s family. And he brought with him a sauce to prepare grilled mutton. The grilled mutton sauce became famous at the dinners Laurent prepared, which came to be known as Ziriko barbecues.
The sauce was later marketed by his son, Jean Pierre Petricorena, who, in addition to being a butcher, was also a renowned player of Basque pelota variant “rebot“. He was an indisputable champion, and that’s how he came to be called sakari (“scorer”). This nickname ended up being passed on to the “Petricorena sauce”, becoming “sakari sauce”. The business is now run by Clara, the great-granddaughter of that Basque who traveled to Argentina and brought back the recipe for that sauce.
The next time we cross over the Pyrenees (which we do whenever we can), we’ll stop by Baigorri to pay a visit to the Maison Petricorena to buy all the ingredients needed for what simply must be one awesome burger.
In the meantime, we’ll leave you with the recipe (but don’t stop there! Christopher has a lot of great recipes featuring Basque ingredients) and the full story behind this amazing sauce.
What’s more, we also adamantly encourage all our readers to travel throughout our nation. Like we always say (so what better way to end this entry?), we’re a small but incredible country because the only thing we don’t have is a glacier!
Les petits plats de Christopher – 16/7/2020 – France
Burger Basque au brebis sauce SAKARI et confiture de piment d’Espelette
Je vous propose aujourd’hui une recette gourmande aux saveurs basques : le burger basque. Burger au Brebis des Pyrénées steak haché et porc Basque agrémenté de la sauce Basque SAKARI et de la confiture de piment d’Espelette de la Maison Petricorena.
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Maison Petricorena – – Euskadi
Le meilleur du Pays Basque depuis 4 générations…
Colorée, savoureuse et pétillante la cuisine basque et les recettes de la Maison Petricorena vous emportent comme le Fandango!. Clara Petricorena est la 4ème génération à relever le défi de vous proposer des produits sains, authentiques, cuisinés sans additif et de manière artisanale, tout en respectant bien entendu les règles d’hygiène et de traçabilité en vigueur. Mais rien de tout cela ne serait possible aujourd’hui sans la renommée de la de poudre de piment d’Espelette, et la fabuleuse histoire de la sauce SAKARI, largement imitée mais jamais égalée. C’est le fer de lance de l’entreprise…
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Last Updated on Dec 20, 2020 by About Basque Country