CHARCUTERIE

In France, almost every village has a charcuterie selling fresh and air-dried sausages, hams and pâtés, and the art of the artisan charcutier lives on in a wealth of special local and regional charcuterie.

Meaning literally ‘cured meat’, charcuterie refers to cured or cooked pork products, though other meats can be used, from game and beef in sausages, to goose and duck in foie gras and pâtés. Traditionally horse and donkey meat were also used, but this is now rare. Charcuterie is associated with pork more than any other meat as virtually any part of a pig can be transformed into someting to eat. Pigs have traditionally been kept by rural families and slaughtered in autumn, the fresh meat eaten and the rest made into items that could be preseved and eaten through winter.

Charcuterie is made commercially as well as by artisan charcutiers all over France. In the Northeast, charcuterie from Alsace is influenced by Germanic traditions, while the forests of the Ardennes have provided game, such as wild boar, for hams and pâtés. The Northwest is famous for rillettes from Tours and Vouvray, and the Southwest for its duck and goose foie gras and Bayonne ham. The East, specifically Lyon, is the acknowledged home of charcuterie, and its andouillettes, Jésus, cervelas and rosettes are well known all over France. The South makes saucissons secs and air-dried hams.

Saucisses, or fresh sausages, vary from the coarse pork saucisse de Toulouse to the frankfurter-like saucisse de Strasbourg. Boudin noir, a kind of black pudding, and boudin blanc are sausage-like charcuterie; andouilles and andouillettes are made from chitterlings or tripe. Fresh sausages are often poached rather than grilled (broiled) and these saucisses à cuire (boiling sausages) are generally larger and fatty and used in dishes such as potato salad, choucroute garnie or cassoulet.

Saucissons secs, or dried sausages, are like Italian salamis and are usually cured by air-drying. They need no cooking and are sliced and eaten cold. Most are made from pork, though some include horse meat or beef. Spicing and flavouring varies regionally. Lyon is a centre for this charcuterie, including rosettes and Jésus, and elsewhere other products include pork and beef saucisson d’Arles from Provence; French and German-influenced saucissons from Alsace; and rustic, coarse sausages from Limousin and the Auvergne.

Hams have been made in France since before the Romans. Jambon de Bayonne is probably the best-known jambon cru (raw ham), air-dried and sweet like Parma ham. Alsace and the Ardennes are famous for jambon cru fumé (smoked raw hams).

Originally meaning more a ‘pie’ (now called pâté en croûte), pâté now refers only to the filling and is similar to a terrine.

Fattened duck and goose livers, a speciality of Southwest France, are sold on their own or made into parfait or pâté. Confit is made from pork, duck or goose meat cooked in its own fat and used in cassoulet and garbure, a hearty cabbage soup.