from
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
A Boudin Blanc with creamed potatoes and braised lettuce.
Boudin – A sausage.
The word saucisse arrived in England in 1066
with the cooks of William the Conqueror and those of his Norman-French barons. The Norman cooks
brought hundreds of French words into the English kitchen, and the word
saucisse became sausage in English. Sausages would go on to play a leading part
in the traditional British and Irish breakfast. As French cuisine developed
uncooked sausages became boudins with saucisse and saucisson indicating salami
or pre-cooked sausages, but that change never made it back across the
channel. For more about the French connection and the English kitchen, click
here, and for more about the many other French sausages click
here.
Choose your boudins
The boudin noir like the British and
Irish black pudding is a pig's blood sausage.
On French restaurant menus boudins, blanc, and noir are the most popular
sausages and maybe served grilled or fried. Boudins will be on the menu
for light lunches or dinner with smaller versions on the menu for an entrée,
the French first course. Sausages, of course, will not be on a French
breakfast menu. France’s Charcuterie
-Traiteurs, the French delicatessens, are extraordinarily creative and in
many, you will also find vegetarian boudins and seafood boudins.
Boudin d'Homard – A lobster sausage.
Boudin
de Saumon – A salmon sausage.
Boudin Vegetarian -A
vegetable sausage
The Boudin Blanc – A
pork sausage.
A boudin blanc is nearly always pork;
when it is veal, beef or other meat, it will be clearly labeled. (Some
of the most highly rated boudins blanc are made with pork and cabbage, and
then their provenance will be on the menu).
Boudins blanc on French menus:
Boudin Basque au Piment
d'Espelette – A pork sausage from the Basque country
made with the signature red
peppers from the town of Espelette.
Boudin Blanc de Lapin et
Pommes Caramélisées -
A rabbit meat
sausage accompanied by caramelized potatoes.
Boudin blanc served with braised kale.
The Boudin Noir –
Black Pudding Sausages.
The Boudin Noir is made with a wide range
of recipes that depend on local tradition though most do include onions,
oatmeal, the herbs, though the herbs and spices may differ widely. A French boudins noir is usually smaller
than the black pudding sausages seen in the UK with the most popular just large
enough for an individual serving. The UK
and Irish black puddings are made in large sizes, with fried or grilled slices,
not a whole sausage part of a full traditional British or Irish breakfast.
Boudins noirs will often be in menus with a variety of apple preparations which are the traditional French accompaniment.
The boudin noir on French menus:
Boudin Noir, Oignons et Pommes – Black pudding sausage served with onions and apples.
Croustillant de
Boudin Noir sur une Purée de Pommes de Terre et Carottes – A crispy black
pudding sausage served on pureed potatoes with carrots.
Ravioles de Boudin Noir - Ravioli
stuffed with meat from a black pudding sausage.
Trio de Noix
de Saint-Jacques, Boudin Noir et Foie Gras Poêlé – A
triple meeting of flavors including the meat
of the king scallop, a boudin noir, and lightly fried duck foie gras, fattened duck’s liver.
Boudin Noir served with choucroute.
www.flickr.com/photos/rdpeyton/3408482516
Foire au Boudin de Mortagne-au-Perche.
The sausage fair in
Mortagne-au-Perch.
If you like boudins noirs, black puddings,
then visit the town of Mortagne-au-Perche, in Normandy, and you will begin to
realize that the boudin noir is not a sausage for the French, British and the
Irish alone; this is a sausage of importance to all humanity. From all over the
world, in the spring, usually the third Friday, Saturday, and Sunday in March,
sausage lovers come to the Mortagne-au-Perche sausage fair. The
fair is for all sausage lovers though the competition is only open to those who produce the black pudding sausages.
Confrerie de
Goûte Boudin.
The
brother and sisterhood of the sausage tasters in Mortagne-au-Perche.
These valiant knights work hard to prevent the import of low grade
foreign imports.
In Mortagne-au-Perche sausage making
reputations and history are on the line, and traditional rivalries attract
supporters and sausage groupies. Over 100 producers and their supporting teams
will be competing while others will be earning their keep by selling all types
of sausages and food products. Since this is Normandy, the drink of choice is Norman
cider. The way the herbs are used
and the method of preparation of the sausage is what makes the difference. The
recipe will have been handed down through the generations and guarded closer
than the secrets of Coca-Cola syrup.
Eating the product.
Join the boudin noir eating competition at the sausage fair.
The organizers of this international
competition are the Confrérie des
Chevaliers du Goûte Boudin, the brother and sisterhood of the knights of the
black pudding. Should you limit your consumption of black pudding to a
couple of slices for breakfast once or twice a month then you could not join
these valiant knights; a true Knight of the Black Pudding must promise to eat
at least one whole sausage a week for life. This is a solemn promise and
the would-be knight must take the oath with a long pronged fork that holds a
sausage over a grill.
Boudin Noir aux Deux Pommes.
Black pudding accompanied by potatoes and apples.
If you feel the same way as these knights
do about black puddings, get your travel guides out to double check the dates
of the next fair. Mortagne-au-Perche is in the department of Orne,
Normandy and about 140 km (87 miles) from Paris. The Tourist Information
Office has an English
website.
France has tens of different sausages
with tens of different names; for a short introduction to those that may be on
your menu anywhere in France click
here for the link.
If you are feeling thirsty after the
tastings at the fair visit the nearby town of Nogent-le-Rotrou, the
headquarters of the cider tasters. Nogent-le-Rotrou is just 30 km (20
miles), away from Mortagne-au-Perche and here is based the Commanderie
Percheronne des Gouste-Cidre; this confrerie
style brother and sisterhood promote all French ciders, and there are
many. For more about French cider click
here.
A traditional English breakfast
Just out of the frame are the accompanying bacon, tomatoes and baked
beans!
Fried bread in bacon fat is the optional extra.
---------------------
Behind the French Menu
by
Bryan G. Newman
behindthefrenchmenu@gmail.com
Copyright 2010, 2013, 2018.2019
For more information on the unpublished book behind this blog
contact Bryan Newman
at
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Connected Posts:
Foie Gras in French Cuisine. Foie Gras is Fattened Goose or Duck Liver Foie. Foie Gras on French Menus.
