This post is going to be along the lines of Marmite. You are either going to love it or hate it. Or, maybe you have never heard of even tried ‘it’ before, in which case it has yet to be determined. We’re talking about blood sausage.
In considering French foods, we would be remiss if we didn’t write about this traditional dish. It is one of the oldest of foods in France, dating back at least 2000 years.
Blood sausage is actually made from the blood of a butchered pig. In the past, really up until WW2, it wasn’t untypical for a family to own a pig. When it came time to butcher it, not a portion of it was wasted. And this included the blood.
Each house had its recipe. Today each blood sausage maker offering up their artisan wares would flavour it differently. Some more popularly than others.
I remember going regularly to the Sunday market at Chablis. At the end of the linear shopping fun, along the main street of the town, was the blood sausage maker. A big simmering vat, rather like an over deep wok, was steaming away to which he would put his just made sausage in. You couldn’t get any fresher than that. And there was also a long, long queue waiting for them.
Unlike ‘regular’ sausages, there are no fillers. It just blood and seasoning poured into their casing. Taken home they are fried or grilled. A delicious Sunday lunch or evening treat as these sausages don’t keep and are best eaten right away.
Blood sausages are not totally unique to France, far from it. There is blood pudding for example in the UK, with the difference in that it is often served as part of a full English breakfast rather than later meal. The French were not the only ones to not waste any part.
And speaking of waste not, want not, it’s not uncommon to hear something along the lines of ‘ewww’ when it comes to French foods. But one thing they are really good at here in France, and have been for centuries, is not wasting food.
Think escargot. We have these large snails in our garden. Maybe someday I will get around to cooking them, especially should they eat too many of my veggies from my garden. Or how about frog’s legs? Yet another supplemental source of food from the garden, beyond growing vegetables.
And considering further on not wasting food. Did you know that French grocery stores and restaurants are not allowed to throw away food? It’s known as the food wastage law (since 2016). Unsold foods must be donated, rather than thrown away.
France is and has been at the forefront of not wasting food for a long time. Blood sausage is one example, and there are many more. I for one, think that’s pretty tasty.