Saucisse de Morteau
Sausage smoked over softwood in the tuyés, the great chimneys of the farms of Franche-Comté. The wooden peg that closes one end has become its distinctive mark in the PGI specification.
| Lean pork shoulder | 700 g |
| Pork belly | 300 g |
| Fine salt | 20 g |
| Ground black pepper | 2 g |
| Fresh garlic, crushed | 5 g |
| Hog casing (Ø 40–50 mm) | — |
- Preparation: The Morteau PGI requires pigs born and raised in Franche-Comté. Cut the meats into cubes, then chill.
- Mincing: Mince through the 8 mm plate.
- Seasoning: Mix the meats with the salt, the pepper and the garlic. The seasoning should stay simple.
- Resting: Let the forcemeat mature for 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Stuffing: Stuff into a large hog casing. Form sausages of 30–40 cm. Close one end with a wooden peg (the mark of the Morteau).
- Smoking: Smoke in a tuyé over softwood (spruce, fir) for at least 48 hours, cold, traditionally several weeks.
- Cooking: Poach for 45 to 60 minutes at 80 °C. Serve with lentils, potatoes or in a potée.
- Contrary to what many believe, the Morteau is not grilled directly. It is poached gently, without piercing the skin, in barely simmering water (never boiling). Too aggressive a cooking destroys the texture and the smoky aromas.
The saucisse de Morteau is recognisable by the wooden peg that closes one end. The detail was functional at first (the peg replaced twine in the traditional stuffing) before being adopted as a distinguishing mark in the PGI specification, obtained in 2010.
It is produced in the Jura massif, where the long winters and isolated farms made smoking the principal preservation technique of the local charcuterie. The first mentions date from the eighteenth century in the records of Comtois farms and markets. Smoking over softwood (spruce or fir) gives it an amber skin and a persistent smoky taste, distinct from the beechwood smoking practised in Alsace, Germany, or Scandinavia.
The tuyé is the instrument of this smoking: the great pyramidal chimney of the Comtois farms, which can reach several metres in height, in which the sausages hang for days or weeks in a slow, cold smoke. There, they share space with the hams, the bacons, and the other pieces destined for winter storage. This cohabitation contributes to the aromatic complexity of the product, whose profile varies from farm to farm according to the pieces previously smoked in the same space. The specification requires the use of the tuyé or equivalent equipment, as well as pigs born and raised in Franche-Comté.
Two scales of production coexist within the same PGI: the artisanal, with smoking in a traditional tuyé and an accepted variability from farm to farm; and the industrial, with controlled smoking equipment allowing standardised production. The artisans play on the length of the smoking to develop personal profiles within the limits of the specification.
It is served with lentils or potatoes, or in a potée comtoise (Franche-Comté boiled dinner of smoked meats and cabbage). It is not grilled: too aggressive a cooking spoils the texture and the aromas that the smoking took days to build.
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