Saucisson gaumais

Appearance & taste

The sausage comes in four forms: the straight, thin “Pipe” with a diameter of at most 30 mm and 60 to 140 g, the curved “Collier” with 200 to 600 g, the straight “Saucisson” with 250 to 2,500 g and the long, straight or curved “Baudruche” with a diameter of 80 to 130 mm and 2.5 to 10 kg. The surface is grainy, the outer skin delicate and dark red, the casing fits closely to the filling everywhere, and the ends are open. The casing must not be coloured.

When cut, it shows evenly distributed pieces of dark red to deep red meat and white fat, medium to coarse in grain and well pressed together. The sausage is tender but feels firm; on the palate it is grainy, supple and oily without seeming greasy. The aroma and smoky flavour are pronounced and lasting, along with a light smell of fresh meat and a slightly sour taste. Spices and herbs give a mild aroma; garlic must not dominate. The salt content is at most 4 %.

Production

The required ingredients are lean pork, pork fat, salt and pepper. Fat is added up to at most 25 % of the weight of the lean meat, and up to 30 % for the “Pipe”. Spices and herbs such as garlic, shallot, mustard seed, bay, mace, nutmeg, onion and thyme are permitted, as well as some sugars and additives; other parts of the pig and mechanically separated meat are excluded. The sausage is filled into natural pig or beef casings, and for pre-sliced sausage also into collagen or cellulose casings.

Meat and fat are minced medium to coarse through plates with holes of 4 to 13 mm, filled and drained. This is followed by a short heat treatment at 20 to 28 °C during which, according to the specification, lactic cultures quickly develop and bring the sour flavour. The sausage is then lightly smoked over oak and beech chips and dried, alternately or one after the other. Together these steps take at least four days for the “Pipe”, five for “Collier” and “Saucisson” and eight for the “Baudruche”. Because they are so short, the sausage stays relatively moist; according to the specification, acidity and smoke nevertheless make it keep for several months.

Origin & history

The Gaume is part of Belgian Lorraine in the south of the country. Forests of beech and oak alternate with meadows and plateaus, and the landscape is shaped by cuestas. Compared with the Ardennes, the climate is sunnier, drier and less windy, with greater temperature swings; the winters are damp and cold.

From the 19th to the middle of the 20th century, households kept pigs for their own use, fattened on grain and potatoes or taken by the village herdsman to the oak groves for acorn fattening. Until the 1960s, slaughtering took place in the villages between All Saints’ Day and January. The less noble cuts were made into the sausage, which was smoked in the chimney flue over oak and beech wood. According to the specification, the knowledge of smoking comes from the Belgian Ardennes, but in the Gaume the smoking is milder, more to French taste. Older names such as “Saucisson de Virton” (1911) attest to the sausage; the current name has appeared in publications since at least 1980. It is made in about 15 butcher’s shops, meat businesses and curing businesses.