This Little Piggy... by Jacqueline Brown
This month I’ve been brave and tried some new pork products at a pig feast held in our village salle des fêtes. While this event is an annual one, I’m ashamed to say it wasn’t one we had been to before as it often clashes with school holidays or at a busy time of year for Adrian’s work, but this year we made it and I even got a peek behind the scenes, hoping to learn from the experienced family cooks. The smell of cooking pork hung heavy in the air over the village for the two days before the event and the steamy kitchen was full of bubbling pots, one of which looked like fatty skin, but I was assured it was a local delicacy once made. I watched the mixing process for the fromage du tête (pig’s head cheese or brawn) where the head meat is mixed with herbs and vegetables before being set in a gelatinous pork stock, and was invited back on the Friday afternoon to help with the boudin noir sausage making. Unfortunately I couldn’t fit it in around my gallivanting off to do the airport run and the school run. It’s an exciting life I lead! Maybe next year I will take them up on the offer, although I’m not too sure how my appetite may be affected by seeing and smelling a huge pot of congealed blood. There were many first tastes for me and I was surprised not only by what I tried but more so by what I enjoyed, as I was a very fussy eater before moving to France. The pig’s head cheese was certainly a first (and was OK) as was the boudin noir, a black pudding type of blood sausage that I thought was delicious. Also on the cold buffet starter were homemade paté and rillettes that I could have eaten more of. I had never heard of gigouri before, the local speciality made using cooked skin, belly fat, seasoning and blood, but I found it quite greasy and not really my thing. I have since been told that served with potatoes as a hot dish it is much tastier. The main course was roast pork, studded with garlic and served with beans, then there was cheese and to top it off a tasty homemade apple tart.
They may not be quite the same, but I’m glad there are still people in the village who keep these preserving traditions alive.
u u
www.frenchvillagediaries.com Email: frenchvillagediaries@gmail.com
“
‘The DSM’ Advertiser Feedback...
Advertising with The DSM was a great way to launch and boost our business. Incredibly friendly, professional and helpful service.
“
While the names, tastes and textures of many of the dishes were new to me, my elderly French neighbour talks very fondly of these dishes that her mother, grandmother and aunts would make during her childhood. A pig was bought, raised and killed by the family group, before the preserving began with everyone working together and slow cooking the dishes over the open fires. She laments that the rillettes and boudin noir are just not the same these days, even when bought at her preferred charcuterie stand at the market.
The Deux-Sèvres Monthly, January 2016 | 29