Saucisson sec de l'Ile de Beauté

Appearance & taste

The sausage is more or less cylindrical. Through smoking it is amber to brown on the outside, though not necessarily evenly; the natural casing may bear a natural whitish or green to ash-grey bloom. When cut, it shows a coarse-grained filling in which burgundy-red to brown pieces of meat alternate with white pieces of fat.

It first smells strongly of smoke and pepper, then of dried meat. On the palate, firm meat alternates with gently melting fat. Salt, meat and fat are balanced, with a very pronounced pepper note and a long-lasting smoky flavour that does not mask the other aromas.

Size and weight depend on the casing: in the rectum or small intestine the sausage weighs from 200 g and is from 25 cm long, in the fat end from 300 g and from 30 cm long. It is sold whole, tied at the ends with string, unpacked or packed, or packed in slices. Sausages over 600 g are sold with lacing or a net.

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. The fat must be white and firm, the meat pink to red. Rindless parts of the neck, loin, leg, belly and shoulder, back fat and lean trimmings are used, fresh or frozen.

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. A lot of black pepper is added, 4 to 9 g per kilogram. It is smoked with 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, by 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 preservation 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; today it is one of the main characteristics of the sausage. Smoking with broadleaved wood used to be closely linked with chestnut farming and, according to the specification, is a special feature in the Mediterranean region. The sausage is traditionally eaten a medium length of time after the slaughter; the island location has favoured the passing on of knowledge over generations.