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Red de Promotoras Voluntarias Solidarias

Glossary entry

Spanish term or phrase:

sopa de matanza

English translation:

pork broth / traditional "matanza" (winter) pork soup / nose to tail pork soup

Added to glossary by Noni Gilbert Riley
Apr 19, 2015 15:51
9 yrs ago
4 viewers *
Spanish term

sopa de matanza

Spanish to English Other Cooking / Culinary Description of local dishes
This appears in a list of local cuisine: "amplia gastronomía tradicional (cochinillo, cordero, cabrito, patatas machaconas, sopa de matanza...)"

We are talking about the El Barraco area in the province of Avila. It's a tourism leaflet.

Has anyone got any ideas about how to translate it reasonably briefly, without putting people off. "Killing soup" which I have found will, I fear, not be the right choice... I've actually been having quite a bit of fun seeing what is already out there - this page avoids the issue by diverting the focus onto "sopas de ajo": http://www.fresnedillasdelaoliva.es/fresnedillasdelaoliva/op... Translators may enjoy the read...
Way not to go...

Ah, and it does say SOPA, not SOPAS, so I wonder how bready it is going to be. Round here the sopa castellana, for instance tends to be quite brothy. Not quite the solid fare that I would expect from sopas de ajo in, say, Zamora. My experience of sopa de matanza has been homemade affairs with the emphasis on the bits floating around in the broth.

As I think it's unlikely we'll be able to go with a literal rendition, I'd be happy to contemplate solutions which are more approximate, without misleading the reader.

Thanks in advance.
Proposed translations (English)
3 +2 pork broth
4 +4 nose to tail soup/broth/stew
4 +1 slaughterhouse soup.
3 +1 Matanza (pork) soup
References
Pork spleen?
Change log

Apr 20, 2015 16:31: Noni Gilbert Riley Created KOG entry

Discussion

Noni Gilbert Riley (asker) Apr 20, 2015:
Thank you to everyone I had fun, I must admit.

I eventually decided that Lisa was right in pointing us towards the plainer rather than the fancier, although, unlike her, I loved the nose-to-tail option, but this would be for foodier publications than my humble leaflet. So apologies to patinba for my original comment casting aspersions!

And thanks too to twakely, because including matanza - although this will depend on whether there is enough room - is perhaps a sensible option so that visitors can recognise the original Spanish on a menu.

This all reminds me of a lengthy section for a webpage I was asked to translate which waxed lyrical about the whole matanza process itself. The writer described his grandfather as matarife in action at length, and I said it should be severely edited because otherwise it would put off potential clients for his casa rural. Client took offence...

And last, but not least, thanks to Neilmac for making me whoop with laughter, and no, I hadn't taken it seriously.
Lisa McCarthy Apr 19, 2015:
@ Charles Fair enough. But this is not a foodie magazine. It will most likely have a very general readership and I don't think everybody's going to get 'nose to tail' to be honest. And it does not give the reader any idea as to what meat it contains.
Charles Davis Apr 19, 2015:
Nose to tail Whatever one thinks of Sandra's suggestion as a translation here, there's no doubt that "nose-to-tail" is a very familiar term to English-speaking foodies.

In Spain the word "matanza" (in this context) is associated with pigs, and specifically with offal, so any versions with other kinds of meat are inauthentic by definition, IMO (though I'm not doubting they exist).
Lisa McCarthy Apr 19, 2015:
pork or chicken livers? I've just seen a couple of recipes for 'sopa de matanza' and it appears that it may not be just pork, as I initially thought:

http://www.koolg.net/sopas-y-cremas/sopa-de-matanza-castella...

This one is breast of chicken:
http://jaenpedia.wikanda.es/wiki/Recetas_de_Valdepeñas_de_Ja...

I suppose theses dishes vary according to region so the key is to find a recipe specifically for Ávila.
Cecilia Gowar Apr 19, 2015:
A PC name would be then... "The Silence of the Pigs"
Charles Davis Apr 19, 2015:
Bring your earplugs Those who grew up in the country where there were matanzas remember the indescribable noise the poor animal makes. But perhaps it's not proposed that tourists should actually witness it being killed. In your rather chic video the business has already been done.

Once upon a time it used to be a country custom in Britain too. The famous scene in Hardy's Jude the Obscure in which Arabella throws a pig's pizzle at Jude reflects this.
Cecilia Gowar Apr 19, 2015:
That makes sense ... and reminds me of my Spanish grandma talking about "the day when they slaughtered the pig (they had bred themselves)". I was going to suggest:
Slaughter Day Soup/stew.
But then I found this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_slaughter
So if it is right and "Pig slaughter" is the name of such event, you could call it "Pig Slaughter Soup"??
Noni Gilbert Riley (asker) Apr 19, 2015:
Definitely pork I was being too insular, and not realising that matanza is such a Spanish thing, so I'm afraid I forgot to explain this.
But the tradition has gone from a domestic activity to a bit of a tourist lure - OK, not of the Benidorm type I'll grant!
The link here is of a local matanza which is done to bring along the general public. Pretty pure all the same, and certainly not recommended for the "poor little piggie" type of viewer: http://www.gotarrendura.es/gotarrendura-la-matanza-del-cerdo...
Cecilia Gowar Apr 19, 2015:
Pork offal minestrone/stew/chowder? I found several recipes so don't know which is the right one. In some cases beef is used too. If made just with pork offal, the above might be good options.

Proposed translations

+2
37 mins
Selected

pork broth

Harmless enough?

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Note added at 1 day10 mins (2015-04-20 16:02:44 GMT)
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It would also be advisable to mention the animal in the name, to alert those unable to eat pork in any shape of form for religious reasons.

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Note added at 1 day13 mins (2015-04-20 16:05:41 GMT)
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Just look at the trouble it could cause!

Wikipedia:
The Bloc identitaire has been accused of intentionally distributing several popular soups containing pork in order to exclude religious Jews or Muslims; in Strasbourg, Nice, Paris, and in Antwerp with the association Antwerpse Solidariteit close to the Vlaams Belang. These so-called "identity soups" ("soupes identitaires") have been forbidden by the prefecture of the Haut-Rhin in Strasbourg on 21 January 2006, and called "discriminatory and xenophobic" by MEP Catherine Trautmann (PS) in a 19 January 2006 letter to the High authority for the struggle against discrimination and for equality (HALDE).
Note from asker:
Possibly not harmful enough!!
Peer comment(s):
agree neilmac : Sounds innocuous (and tasty) enough for me :)
1 hr
Maybe a bit too innocuous, but at least not offputting. Thanks, Neil!
agree Lisa McCarthy : I think this is the safest option - tells the customer what's in the dish, without having to know the gory details about how it got there.
1 hr
Precisely! Many thanks, Lisa!
Something went wrong...
4 KudoZ points awarded for this answer. Comment: "I've come round to this being the basis for what I need in this context. Thank you for your help."
+4
13 mins

nose to tail soup/broth/stew

Just an option. Effectively the slaughter is all about using every bit of the animal, which is also what nose to tail eating entails.

Good luck!
Peer comment(s):
agree Charles Davis : I rather like this! It captures the essential idea without sounding too off-putting. I'd stick "pork" in there for the benefit of those who don't realise.
15 mins
Thanks, Charles!
agree franglish : snout to tail, so as to avoid adding "pork".
1 hr
Thanks, franglish! I suggested nose as at least here in the UK, "nose to tail" is very recognisable, there are books about it and restaurants devoted to it. But I do like your version :)
agree Rosa Paredes : Yes. I also like franglish' suggestion.
1 hr
Thanks, Rosa!
neutral Lisa McCarthy : Not that keen on this, conjures up nose to bottom (like dogs)! Or just my twisted reading of it :)
2 hrs
agree Natalia Ulla
14 hrs
Thanks, Natalia!
Something went wrong...
+1
17 mins

Matanza (pork) soup

Maybe it could be sold as a type of pork soup because any literal translation "slaughter" sounds a bit like something from Castle Dracula.Personally, I don´t have a problem with it being called pork soup or you could emphazise it from" la matanza", keeping it in Spanish somehow seems more adequate.
Peer comment(s):
agree Sergio Kot
38 mins
Something went wrong...
+1
15 mins

slaughterhouse soup.

One for Vonnegut fans?
"We'll sit slurping
With our hats on:
A soup like forest of whispers,
A hearty slaughterhouse soup"

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs (2015-04-19 18:04:39 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

Most Brits I know baulk at eating snouts and trotters, which is why I'm not agreeing with Sandra (my own suggestion was a joke). For that type of target audience, I'd go with Patinba's "pork broth" as the least potentially offensive.
Note from asker:
Wonderful! The perks of Proz.
Peer comment(s):
agree Janice Giffin : You may have been joking but I think this is a great suggestion. After all, it is called 'matanza' in the original language doesn't seem to put off the locals.
2 hrs
neutral Lisa McCarthy : @ Janice, it doesn't put off the locals, because they grew up with it! But if it's in English, then it's not aimed at the locals. Most English people would be a little bit taken aback I'd say. Not the best option for a tourism brochure in my view.
2 hrs
Something went wrong...

Reference comments

2 hrs
Reference:

Pork spleen?

This recipe is specific to Ávila and they include pork spleen as one of the ingredients :)

http://www.hispaniarural.com/avila-rural/gastronomiasopadema...

And here are some tasty (??) recipes with pork spleen if anyone's interested.
Note from asker:
Mince it up fine enough and anything goes! This is as close to what I think they're talking about as you'll get. I've had versions with less bread, more broth.
Peer comments on this reference comment:
agree Charles Davis : For the record, I have not knowingly eaten spleen, but I have had sweetbreads (pancreas or thymus), which are absolutely delicious.
2 hrs
I've tried various pieces of offal and I find offal awful :)
agree patinba : In Argentina I too have often eaten an awful lot of awful offal :)
22 hrs
Something went wrong...
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