Figatelli de l'Ile de Beauté

Appearance & taste

Figatelli is a U-shaped sausage in a narrow natural casing 28 to 42 mm in diameter, 15 to 30 cm long or longer and weighing from 200 g. Both ends are tied or clipped together and joined with a string. Smoking makes it amber to brown on the outside, not necessarily evenly. The cut surface shows alternating burgundy-red to brown and white grains; the more liver it contains, the more the colour tends towards black.

It smells strongly smoky and peppery at first, then of dried meat and liver. On the palate, firm meat alternates with tender, melting liver, and the neck meat is partly melting, partly crunchy. Salt, meat, liver and fat are balanced, with a very pronounced pepper note, the strong aroma of the liver and a long-lasting smoky taste. The sausage is raw and must be cooked before eating. It is sold whole or packed in slices.

Production

The meat comes from fattening pigs with a carcass weight of at least 75 kg or, for at most half, from breeding sows of at least 120 kg; the feed contains less than 1.9 % linoleic acid. Neck, breast, meat trimmings, liver and heart are used, with the rind removed, fresh or frozen. The sausage mixture contains at least 25 % neck, which according to the specification gives it its crunch, and 30 to 50 % liver.

All steps from mincing to drying take place in Corsica. The meat is coarsely chopped to imitate traditional cutting with a knife, mixed with fine table salt and may be flavoured with wine or spices. In addition, 2 to 6 g of black pepper per kilogram are added. Smoking uses the wood of native broadleaved trees such as oak, chestnut, beech, strawberry tree and heather; according to the specification, this “gentle” smoking gives a finer aroma than softwood. Finally, the sausage dries in the drying room with outside air fed in.

Origin & history

Corsica is a mountainous Mediterranean island with hot, dry summers and mild, damp winters. At night the cool “a tramuntana” blows, during the day the drying “u maestrale”. Almost half of the island is wooded, mainly with holm oaks, cork oaks, chestnuts and beeches, along with extensive maquis.

According to the specification, the dry, windy climate favoured preserving by drying, unlike the cooked charcuterie of northern France. Because it is hot on the island for much of the year, a lot of black pepper was used, originally to keep insects away. Smoking with broadleaved wood used to be closely linked to chestnut farming and, according to the specification, is a peculiarity in the Mediterranean region. Figatelli is one of the products eaten shortly after the pig is slaughtered; the island setting has helped the knowledge to be passed on over generations.