What Fabada Asturiana Leaves on Carpet
Fabada asturiana is the iconic bean stew of Asturias, the northern coastal region of Spain. It is built around fabes de La Granja — very large, flat, creamy white fava beans (Phaseolus lunatus) that are slow-cooked until extremely tender. The compango (the cured meat mixture cooked alongside the beans) is a fixed combination: chorizo asturiano (coarse-ground pork sausage seasoned with sweet and smoked pimentón and garlic), morcilla asturiana (blood sausage with paprika and onion), lacón (salt-cured pork shoulder), and panceta (cured pork belly). The combined fat content from four distinct cured pork products is very high. On carpet, fabada asturiana creates a distinctive stain: a warm orange-red from the paprika in both the chorizo and morcilla (Spanish pimentón pigments — capsanthin and capsorubin — at lower concentration than chilli oil but still clearly visible), a significant cured pork fat load (two to three cornflour rounds from four pork products), and white bean starch (warm water re-liquefaction if cooled, enzyme step). Morcilla also contains blood (haemoglobin and myoglobin), which requires cold water treatment before any warm contacts.
What You Will Need
- Spoon (for bean pieces, chorizo, morcilla, and pork debris)
- Cold water (critical for morcilla blood before any warm contact)
- Warm water (to re-liquefy white bean starch if cooled)
- Cornflour (two to three rounds for cured pork fat)
- Clean white cloths or paper towels
- Enzyme carpet cleaner (protease enzyme)
- Dish soap (one teaspoon per 250ml cold water)
- Hydrogen peroxide 3% (one round for paprika colour)
- Baking soda (two hours for smoked chorizo and morcilla aroma)
Step 1: Remove Bean, Chorizo, and Morcilla Debris
Collect fabes bean pieces with a spoon — the large beans may have partially disintegrated during cooking, so collect both whole and mashed bean material. Chorizo rounds and morcilla slices should be collected promptly — both are very fatty and will continue transferring fat and paprika pigment to carpet on extended contact. Lacón and panceta pieces should also be collected. If morcilla is present, handle it gently — blood sausage contains morcilla blood that will smear into fibres if pressed.
Step 2: Cold Water Blot First (Morcilla Blood)
Apply cold water immediately and blot firmly. Morcilla blood sausage contains pork and sometimes beef blood (haemoglobin, myoglobin) — these proteins coagulate irreversibly on contact with warm water. Cold water is the first step and must precede any warm contact. Blot three times with cold water to dilute the blood component. The white bean starch component, if the fabada has cooled, will have begun to gel — apply warm water to those zones specifically and allow two minutes to re-liquefy before blotting.
Step 3: Apply Cornflour for Cured Pork Fat (Two to Three Rounds)
Fabada asturiana has one of the highest cured pork fat loads among Spanish stews — four distinct cured pork products each contribute fat to the bean broth during hours of slow cooking. Chorizo renders pork fat and paprika-infused oil; morcilla renders pork fat and blood fat; lacón releases salt-cured shoulder fat; panceta releases cured belly fat. Apply cornflour generously, allow 20 minutes, and vacuum. Apply a second round. For a large spill or a particularly fatty fabada, a third round is warranted. After the final round, apply cold water and blot.
Step 4: Apply Enzyme Cleaner for Bean and Blood Protein
Apply cold water and blot. Apply enzyme carpet cleaner and allow 20 minutes. The white fava bean protein (fabes have a high protein content — approximately 22% dry weight) responds to protease enzyme. Morcilla blood protein (haemoglobin, myoglobin) is also addressed in this step. The chorizo and morcilla casings and pork protein from the broth respond to protease as well. Follow with dish soap to emulsify residual pork fat. Blot and rinse.
Step 5: Treat the Paprika Colour
The paprika colour from fabada (pimentón in both chorizo and morcilla) is moderate — it is less concentrated than the chilli oil in malatang, but the paprika-infused lard from the chorizo has carried the colour into carpet fibres with the fat. After the cornflour and enzyme steps remove the fat carrier, apply hydrogen peroxide 3% over the stained area and allow 10 minutes. Blot and rinse. One round is typically sufficient for fabada paprika colour. Smoked paprika (pimentón de la Vera) leaves a slightly deeper orange than sweet paprika — if the chorizo is heavily smoked, a second peroxide round may be needed.
Step 6: Treat the Smoked Chorizo and Morcilla Aroma
Apply baking soda over the fully dried area and allow two hours. The smoked chorizo asturiano has a distinctive smoke-paprika-garlic aroma from phenolic smoking compounds and the pimentón volatile oils. Morcilla asturiana has an additional caramelised onion and paprika aroma from the filling. A two-hour baking soda application is typically sufficient for fabada — the aroma is complex but not as persistent as very heavily smoked meats. Vacuum after the two hours.
Paprika Colour or Cured Pork Fat Persisting?
A large fabada spill with multiple cured meats can leave a significant fat residue in carpet backing. We can connect you with a local carpet cleaner in the Sutherland Shire.
Find a Matched Local SpecialistSutherland Shire Cleaners is a local matching and referral service. We connect you with local providers — we do not supply cleaning services directly.
Frequently asked
The fabada was made with very traditional Asturian chorizo asturiano — a coarse, deeply smoked sausage with a much more intense smoke character than commercial Spanish chorizo. The smoking was done with oak wood. The colour was very dark, almost mahogany, from the heavy smoking. Does heavily-smoked Asturian chorizo stain differently than standard chorizo?
Traditional Asturian chorizo asturiano (fumado — smoked) is significantly more intensely smoked than most commercial Spanish chorizos, which are often lightly smoked or simply dried. The heavy oak smoking of traditional Asturian chorizo deposits a much higher concentration of phenolic compounds (guaiacol, syringol, creosol — from oak lignin decomposition) and melanoidin browning pigments on and into the sausage fat. The mahogany exterior colour reflects this dense phenolic pigment load. On carpet, heavily-smoked Asturian chorizo creates: (1) a darker stain at the chorizo contact points — a brownish-orange rather than a clean orange-red; (2) a stronger, more persistent smoke odour requiring two overnight baking soda applications rather than one two-hour application; (3) a more resistant colour requiring two peroxide rounds rather than one. The phenolic browning pigment from the heavy smoke adds a dark brown layer on top of the paprika carotenoid orange, and both require peroxide oxidation. Address the colour with two rounds on the specific chorizo contact zones.
The morcilla asturiana broke apart during cooking and its filling (rice, onion, paprika, pork blood) was distributed throughout the bean broth. There were visible fragments of rice, caramelised onion pieces, and dark blood-coloured broth throughout the spill. Does distributed morcilla filling change the treatment?
When morcilla breaks down during cooking, the contents — blood-seasoned rice, caramelised onion, paprika-infused lard — distribute throughout the stew. On carpet, this means the spill contains additional components beyond the main bean broth: rice starch (cooked rice that has absorbed blood — a combined starch plus blood protein treatment target), caramelised onion fragments (simple sugars from the Maillard caramelisation, dissolves readily in warm water), and a more evenly distributed blood load throughout the broth rather than concentrated in discrete morcilla slice contact points. Adjustments: collect the rice and onion fragments with a spoon before blotting; the cold-water-first rule is especially important when blood is distributed throughout the spill rather than only at morcilla contact points — cold water first, throughout, before any warm contact; the enzyme step should have a 25-minute dwell rather than 20 minutes to address the cooked rice starch and distributed blood protein.
The fabada recipe used lacón gallego (Galician cured pork shoulder) which had been desalted by soaking in cold water for 24 hours before cooking. The lacón has been salt-cured (not smoked) and is not as fatty as panceta. It also released a substantial amount of salt into the bean broth during cooking — the broth was quite salty. Does salt in the fabada broth affect carpet treatment?
The high salt content from lacón gallego desalting and residual salt in the broth does create a relevant consideration for carpet treatment. When a salty broth dries in carpet, the dissolved sodium chloride crystallises in the carpet fibres — this is not visible but can act as a hygroscopic (water-attracting) residue that makes the area feel slightly damp in humid conditions long after the stain is treated. More practically, the salt can attract soil and cause the treated area to re-soil faster than untreated carpet. The treatment adjustment for salty fabada broth: after the final rinse step (after peroxide), apply a generous cold water rinse specifically to dilute and remove the dissolved salt before the carpet fully dries. Blot firmly after this final rinse. This salt-removal rinse is most important for pale carpet where a faint whitish tide mark may form from salt crystallisation at the dried edge of the stain.