

The Montbéliard sausage has conquered the world since it was first created in Franche-Comté in eastern France, in the 1st century B.C. And for good reason! Awarded PGI status in 2013, this sausage is made entirely from pork, is seasoned with pepper and cumin, is contained in a natural casing and is slowly smoked with softwood. It has a delicious smoky, spicy aroma and a firm, yet juicy texture. Extraordinary.
A Montbéliard is not just any sausage! Secular traditions and a PGI make sure of that. Let's start with the quality of the meat used: it needs to be French pork, from pigs reared on whey, as part of a circle that is virtuous to say the least. Cows fed on the fresh grass of the pastures in warmer weather and on hay in the winter produce milk for cheesemaking. When this curdles, it produces a very rich liquid or lactoserum, which is then fed to the pigs. They in turn provide the manure used to fertilize the meadows, thereby closing the loop. The meat from these animals is sorted to obtain a mixture of lean and fatty pork, then seasoned, mainly with salt, pepper and cumin. It is then coarsely chopped and tumbled, and the resulting preparation is stuffed into natural, non-colored casings, which are sealed by twisting, producing strings of sausages. Then, all that is left is to smoke them, slowly and using only naturally burned sawdust and softwood.
In the refrigerator, until the use-by date shown on the packaging. It can also be frozen to store for longer, before or after cooking.
Do not prick Montbéliard sausages before cooking, as this may dilute the flavors.
Cabbage, carrots, lentils, potatoes, Comté cheese… And as for wine, go for a red, preferably a Côtes du Jura, Coteaux du Lyonnais or Côte du Rhône.