from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
www.flickr.com/photos/olivierpasco/8302780731/
The French sausage and the English kitchen.
When
William the Conqueror invaded England in 1066, he and his Norman-French Barons
brought their cooks with them. This French connection brought French recipes and words with that
changed the language and the cooking techniques in the English kitchen. Among
the many words, they imported was the French word saucisse; saucisse would
become sausage in English and part of the traditional Irish and English
Breakfast.
French
sausages on restaurant menus, or in a butcher's shop, often do not indicate
with which meat it is made, and in that case, it is practically always pork.
When a sausage is a beef or veal sausage, the meat will be explicitly named,
otherwise its pork. For those with other tastes, sausages are not limited to
meat. The menus of an upscale charcuterie-traiteur, a French delicatessen, may offer saucisses
végétarienne, vegetarian sausages, and or saucisses de poisson, fish sausages,
among their other options.
Boudins on sale
www.flickr.com/photos/mig-gilbert/37200925706/
Saucisses and Saucissons
Most guidebooks and travel dictionaries translate saucisse as a small sausage that
will require cooking and a saucisson as a saucisson cuit, a larger cured, smoked, or dried salami
type sausage. Unfortunately, French sausages do not read travel dictionaries,
and today many sausages do not keep to the traditional rules. Ask.
Saucisses on French
Menus
Historically
all saucisses required cooking before serving; however, that is no longer
always the case. A menu listing today may note the serving of a saucisse sèche,
which will be a small salami type sausage or as part of a cooked dish, while
another menu listing may offer a saucisse sèche as part of a plate of cold
cuts. Today, saucisse mostly relates to size rather than how the sausage is
made and sold, and most French restaurants seem to expect their diners to know
by name the type and taste of the sausages on their menus. You, as the visitor,
should ask for more information, and then you may enjoy your light-lunch even
more.
Purée, Saucisse
Sausages and mashed potatoes, "Bangers and Mash" in
the UK.
www.flickr.com/photos/tredok/19985138348/
Aligot
d'Auvergne Saucisse
et Salade de Printemps –
The Auvergne
aligot is a mashed potato and young Cantal cheese
dish served with an Auvergne sausage and a fresh spring salad. The traditional
Auvergne sausage is a small salami type sausage, weighing about 100 grams (3.5
ounces) each and made with pork, pork fat, and beef. When this sausage is
served with aligot, it is
usually grilled; otherwise, it may be eaten uncooked like any salami type
sausage.
Aligot in a restaurant.
www.flickr.com/photos/23149310@N06/9831497313/
Saucisse Chorizo
Saucisse Chorizo – Sold fresh, cured or smoked these are
spicy pork sausages flavored with paprika and garlic. There
are tens of different types of chorizos and the originals
reached France from Spain.
Saucisse de Foie
Saucisse de Foie or Leberwurst – A liver sausage; in the USA that’s
liverwurst, and it is mostly pork liver. Liver sausages,
whatever the type of meat used cannot be 100% liver, for that you do not need a
sausage, most are less than 50%, the rest will be meat and or vegetables, eggs, herbs, etc. Slices of a saucisse de foie may be part of a plate of
cold cuts. In the Alsace and the Lorraine, this sauage is called
Saucisse de Francfort
Saucisse de Francfort – The French Frankfurter; now the
venerable hot dog. The Frankfurter, a traditional German sausage
was brought to the USA by German immigrants. The Frankfurter in its new
home became the best selling sausage in the world as the hot dog. In
Germany and in France most frankfurters are still the original pork sausages
though 100% beef and veal frankfurters are also available.
Saucisse de Francfort
A Frankfurter sausage
www.flickr.com/photos/tavallai/4765522501/
Saucisse aux Choux - A pork
and cabbage sausage.
Different recipes for these traditional sausages are made in various
parts of France and will be on sale and on menus nearly everywhere.
Saucisse aux choux.
A pork and cabbage sausage.
Saucisse de Morteau IGP.
Morteau and the Saucisse de Morteau IGP - The
sausage, the town, and its clocks. The Saucisse de Morteau IGP is a smoked
pork, strongly flavored, salami-style sausage, also called the Jésus de
Morteau. The second name relates to the times when it was considered an
essential part of local Christmas dinners.
Whole Morteau sausages come in weights that vary
between 400 grams (14 oz) and one kilo (2.2 lbs), They are produced with pork
from the old region of the Franche-Comté where in this mountainous region the
animals are still fattened traditionally. To be permitted to use the label
"Saucisse de Morteau IGP," the sausages must have been smoked for at
least 48 hours with sawdust from conifer and juniper tree within the tuyé
chimney. The Saucisse de Morteau may be eaten without any additional cooking,
but many local restaurants offer cooked dishes that include the sausage.
Production is limited to the plateau and mountains of the Jura and Doubs
departments at an altitude higher than 600 m (2,000 ft) with the city of
Morteau at the center of this artisanal industry. If you are traveling in the
area, you will see homes and farms with unique large chimneys called tuyés;
these peculiar chimneys were, and some still are, used in the farm-produced
version of this smoked sausage.
These sausages are guaranteed by the IGP label, which
denotes their quality, origin, and method of preparation as a regional French
specialty. Authentic Morteau sausages have a metal tag as well as a small
wooden stick wrapped around the end of the link. To celebrate their sausage's
gastronomic successes, there is an annual Fête de la Saucisse de Morteau, a
sausage of Morteau Festival, every August. Morteau is a small town with some
7,000 residents, and apart from sausages, it is also famous for its cheeses and
historically for its clock making industry. Their watch and clock museum is an
exciting part of the world's watch and clock making history. Morteau is in the
department of Doubs that since 1-1-2016 is in the super region of
Bourgogne-Franche-Comté, bordering Switzerland to the east.
Dos de Sandre en
Écaille de Saucisse de Morteau, Carottes Colorées
Glacées, Jus de Savagnin - A thick cut of pike-perch, or
zander, the fish, covered with shavings of the Morteau sausage and served
with glazed colored
carrots and a sauce made from the Savagnin wine. This is a sweet wine
and will be in restaurant kitchens all over France.
The Savagnin wine comes from the Jura, a department in the
region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté; part of the same region as the
department of Doubs where the town of Morteau is situated.
Saucisse de Morteau AOP,
www.flickr.com/photos/vialbost/6689147657/
Saucisse de Montbéliard IGP
Saucisse de Montbéliard IGP– This smoked pork sausage comes from the area
around the city of Montbéliard in the department of Doubs in
the Franche-Comté. The region
is also home to the Saucisse de Morteau just 70 km (44
miles)away. Despite being close, these two sausages have different
methods of production and very different tastes. The Saucisse de
Montbéliard is spiced with caraway or cumin, nutmeg, garlic and white wine
Saucisse de Strasbourg
Saucisse de Strasbourg – The Strasbourg sausage; also called the Knack
d'Alsace is a larger, and usually very much longer, version of the Frankfurter sausage.
Strasbourg, the town, is the home of the European Parliament and the
prefecture, the capital of the Alsace. The locals are as proud of their sausage
as they are of their town's political importance so do not call this sausage a
hot dog, even if it looks like one; the locals can get quite upset. The locals
also claim that their sausages are much better than Frankfurters.
Locally, in the Alsace, the name for this sausage is knackis; use the local
name carefully as is can also mean convicts. This sausage is part of the
famed Alsace cuisine.
Saucisse de Toulouse
Saucisse de Toulouse. – A beef, pork, and pork liver sausage,
prepared with red wine, garlic, and other herbs. The Saucisse de Toulouse is also
considered an essential ingredient in many cassoulet recipes. Cassoulets are
traditional, slowly cooked stews from the region of Languedoc-Roussillon.
Sausages de Toulouse
on the barbeque.
www.flickr.com/photos/matthieu/15611669347/
Saucissonson on French Menus
Saucissons are mostly smoked, cured, and or air-dried large
salami-type sausages, and they may be called a saucisson sec or sèche, or a saucisson cuit, a dry cooked or
dried sausage. As with all salami type sausage, there are tens, if not hundreds
of recipes, all of them cured or smoked in one of the traditional forms. Then,
to confuse us, a butcher’s shop or supermarket may also have a saucisson frais
on sale, a fresh saucisson, and that will indicate a large uncooked
sausage. Smoked, cured, or air-dried
saucissons may be sliced and eaten cold. On restaurant menus, saucissons may be
part of a plate or cold cuts and or served fried or grilled as part of another
menu listing.
Ardèche
Saucisson Sec
The Ardèche saucissons come from pigs raised in the hilly and mountainous
areas of the Ardèche (above 500 meters). The sausages come in a variety of
forms, but apart from different herbs, spices, and shapes all are pre-salted,
steamed, and then air-dried for four weeks. These sausages, with their red
tinge, will be offered in a manner similar to salami-type sausages as part of a
charcuterie plate or they may be grilled, or fried.
Saucisson de Lyon
Saucisson à la Lyonnaise or Saucisson de Lyon – A salami type
sausage made in and around the city of Lyon. This is roughly cut pork-based
sausage with less fat than similar sausages; it is flavored with herbs and hung
until air-cured. It may be served hot or cold
Saucisson Chaud
Sauce au Vin Rouge et Champignons - A
cooked salami type sausage served with red wine and a button
mushroom sauce.
Assiette de Saucisson,
Jambon Cru et Pâté - A plate of cold
cuts with slices of a salami type sausage, cured ham and pate.
France, like all other countries, has many local names, as well as
national names, for particular sausages:
www.flickr.com/photos/110273693@N04/28306250919
Popular French sausages with names, that do not include the words
saucisse or saucisson.
Andouilles
Andouilles -Firm, spicy, fatty, cold-smoked sausage made
mostly of pork tripe. Some North American visitors to France have told me that
French Andouilles may be compared to American chitterlings, but with a lighter
taste. On my own visits to the USA, I have never had the opportunity to
taste chitterlings, and so I am just passing on the information; those who see
chitterlings on the menu at home may check this out.
Despite the above be careful when using the word andouille in
France as an andouille may also be used to mean an “idiot” in French slang. Use
the word andouille incorrectly, and the server may drop those sausages in your
lap! Andouilles will at a later date have their own post, and they
are not to be confused with andouillettes
Andouillettes - At their very early stages are similar to
andouilles and made mostly with pork tripe; however there they begin to
differ. Andouillets are
probably France’s most beloved or hated sausage and very very strong tasting
sausage. It is not always loved at first bite.
Boudin - This name most often used for an uncooked
sausage. When the name reads boudin blanc, white sausages,
then they will usually mostly be pork sausages. Boudins de veau are veal
sausages,
Boudin blanc
with mashed potatoes and braised lettuce
www.flickr.com/photos/pussnboots/350911922/
Boudins Noir - The French version
of the UK and Irish black puddings, a pig’s blood sausage. For more
boudins blanc and boudins noir click here.
Boudin Noir
Cervelas
Cervelas - A
traditional sausage, originally made with a mixture of pork and pig’s brains.
Cervelas sausage had and still has many traditional regional recipes. However,
most cervelas sausages have seen a number of changes in the ingredients, and
most have removed the pig’s brains. Not that there was anything wrong with
them! Despite that, pig’s brains are no longer politically correct while veal
and lamb’s brains are…go figure?
Cervelas de Lyon – This Lyonnais sausage is a variation of the
traditional cervelas sausage though today it is pork meat only. This is a
tasty, spicy, and garlicky sausage. My informants have advised me that today
the only brains used in manufacturing this sausage are in the marketing
department at the factory.
Chipolata
Chipolata or Chipolata - Thin, relatively small pork sausages. Chipolatas are made
with smoked pork flavored with sage, thyme and sometimes basil
or rosemary; fresh peppers or pepper are optional, every manufacturer has their
own recipe.
Crépinettes
Crépinettes – A pork sausage wrapped in the crépine, the
caul; the lacy see-through fatty membrane surrounding a pig’s stomach and intestines.
The caul is used all over the world in traditional pork recipes including in
North America. The caul is used for wrapping cooked meats; mostly sausages and
other bits and pieces.
Diot
Diots - Traditional sausages from the area of Savoie, Savoy, in
the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. Some diots will be made with fresh pork and
others with smoked pork and others with pork and cabbage. Nearly all will show
their Italian connection by including maize flour, polenta, in their recipe.
They will need their own post.
Gayettes
Gayettes – Small, baked, pork liver and bacon sausages that originated in Provence.
These sausages come in a variety of shapes and sizes usually flavored
with nutmeg, garlic, and other herbs;
these are traditional sausages and often made and wrapped in the crépine,
the caul.
Loukinkas
Loukinkas - Small and very
garlicky pork sausages from the Pas Basque, the Basque country in France.
Melsat
Melsat - A boiled pork, egg and bread sausage that may
be aged for a few days and up to one month, from France's
southwest. It may be served cold or cooked again.
Merguez
Merguez - A spicy mutton
and or beef sausage that came to France from North Africa. This is a very
popular sausage and for France a spicy one; it is flavored with cumin, coriander, garlic, and fennel seeds and spiced with
harissa. (Harissa is made with chili peppers and other spices that give
the sausage its bite and its trademark red color).
Farm produced
sausages on sale.
www.flickr.com/photos/zigazou76/6250763520/
Pormoniers or Pormonaise – A traditional pork and green vegetable sausage from the Savoie
departments and on many local menus. The ingredients may vary slightly, but apart
from the pork, usually includes cabbage, chard, leeks, and herbs.
Saucisson d’Ail
Saucisson d’Ail – A lightly garlic-flavored pork sausage. When
you buy one of these sausages in a charcuterie-traiteur, a
delicatessen, ask for a taste; there are many types of these
sausages with many differences in taste and texture
Saucissons d'Arles and Saucissons d'Âne
Saucissons d'Arles - A famous pork and donkey meat sausage from the
town of Arles on the border of the Camargue. Sausages made with
pork and donkey meat are traditional, and popular, in many parts of
France. For a picnic in the country, you may have decided to buy a
salami type sausage to accompany a bottle of cold white wine with a local
cheese and a fresh baguette. When
stopping at the local supermarket or charcuterie do not be surprised to see a
Saucissons d'Arles, with similar sausages called a Saucissons d'Âne, among the
choices. France has far better and better-supervised animal husbandry laws that
most Western countries. Donkeys raised on farms are grown for the meat industry
and inspected and treated like any other farm animal. In Europe, donkey milk is
also supplied to hospitals where children who cannot digest their mother’s milk
or cow’s milk but can digest lactose, can accept this
alternative. The city of Arles is also famous for its
association with Van Gogh who painted there for a year, and also for the best
preserved Roman amphitheater in Western Europe. Arles is on the edge
of the Camargue in the department
of Bouches-du-Rhône in the region of Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur.
Saucisson de Cheval
They eat horses, don't they?
Saucisson de Cheval – A
horsemeat salami-style sausage. Horse-meat is still popular in France, as well
in several other European countries. Horse meat is cheaper, leaner and sweeter
than beef and has 50% fewer calories per 100 grams (3.50) than beef as well as
30% fewer calories than chicken. Bistros
and other restaurants may also have a horsemeat steak on the menu.
In
the USA, horses are no longer raised for their meat; horses are raised for
racing and other sports or as pets. During their short lives, the horses in the
USA receive uncontrolled amounts of antibiotics, growth hormones, and other
substances that can pass through the food chain to humans. To prevent these
drugs from entering the food chain, the US closed all its horse abattoirs.
Horses no longer suited for their original purpose are exported to
slaughterhouses in Canada and Mexico. This has already severely affected the
wild horses of the USA as the cost of keeping them free and controlled has no
economic value.
Commercially,
French horsemeat is well controlled with every single horse identified. French
horse farmers raise their horses for meat and are under government-controlled
inspection. Therein lies the difference; French horses used for racing or for
pets cannot enter the food chain along with farmed horses.
Sausages on sale.
A good charcuterie
will have at least one hundred different sausages on sale.
www.flickr.com/photos/curious-food-lover/3616128531/
---------------------------------
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---------------------------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2014, 2016, 2019.
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