Boudins Noirs

Ingredients

Equipment Needed

• •Digital kitchen scale
• •Small sausage stuffer with a ½-inch tube
• •Wide 5 to 6-quart pot
• •Collapsible stainless poaching basket or perforated insert
• •Instant-read thermometer
• •Fine sanitized needle
• •Heavy cast-iron skillet
• •Potato ricer or food mill

Instructions

1. 1

   Prepare the casing

   Rinse the salt from the casing, soak it in cool water for 30 minutes, then run cool water through its full length to flush the interior. Keep it submerged while you prepare the filling so it stays supple. Fit a ½-inch stuffing tube to the sausage stuffer, and sanitize a fine sewing needle for testing air pockets later.

   Natural casing should feel soft and slippery, never papery. If it still feels stiff after soaking, give it another 15 minutes in fresh water before filling.
2. 2

   Soften onions gently

   Melt the lard in a small skillet over low heat. Add the onion and cook for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring often, until completely soft and translucent but not browned. Color would bring a sweetness the source does not want. If a few edges begin to catch, lower the heat and add a teaspoon of water, scraping the pan clean. Spread the onions on a plate and cool them completely.

3. 3

   Half-melt the fat

   Put the diced back fat in a clean skillet over the lowest heat. Warm it for 5 to 7 minutes, turning the dice gently, until their edges become translucent and a little liquid fat gathers in the pan while the centers remain solid. This is half-melted fat, not crisp lardons. Take the pan off the heat and let the fat cool until barely warm but still fluid.

4. 4

   Mix the filling

   Whisk the cold pork blood in a deep basin until perfectly smooth. Whisk in the cream, egg, salt, pepper, quatre-épices, wild thyme, and powdered bay, then fold in the cooled onions and all the half-melted fat, including the liquid in its pan. Mix until evenly distributed without beating in air. Fry a teaspoonful in a small pan until cooked through and taste it; the measured salt is correct for unsalted blood, but this test catches commercially salted blood before six sausages inherit the mistake.

5. 5

   Fill without pressure

   Slide the casing onto the stuffing tube, leaving a few inches free at the end, and tie that end securely with kitchen twine. Fill slowly and only to about four-fifths of the casing's capacity. The mixture swells while poaching, so the casing should bend easily beneath your fingers and never feel drum-tight. Tie the filled casing into about six links, each 4 to 5 inches long; use twine rather than hard twisting because the filling is fluid. Work visible air toward a tied end, but do not pepper the casing with unnecessary holes.

6. 6

   Poach below simmer

   Arrange the boudins in a stainless poaching basket in one loose layer. Bring a wide pot of water to a boil, lower in the basket, and immediately reduce the heat until the water holds at 203°F (95°C). Poach for 20 minutes, maintaining that temperature without a rolling boil. If a link rises, trapped air is lifting it; pierce the highest point once with the sanitized needle and gently submerge it again. If a casing splits, lift the sausage into doubled cheesecloth, tie it snugly, and return it to the basket to finish. The shape will be less handsome, but the supper is safe. Ça se rattrape. Check one link through its tied end with an instant-read thermometer; it should reach 160°F (71°C). If needed, poach for another 3 to 5 minutes.

7. 7

   Drain and settle

   Lift out the basket and transfer the boudins carefully to a rack or clean towel. Let them drain and settle for 10 to 15 minutes, then dry the casings thoroughly. Grill them while still warm, or cool and refrigerate them within two hours if they are being made ahead. Do not drop them into iced water; the sudden contraction can split the tender casing.

8. 8

   Make potato purée

   While the boudins poach, put the potatoes in a saucepan, cover with cold water, and add 2 teaspoons of the measured salt. Bring slowly to a simmer and cook for 18 to 22 minutes, until a knife passes through without resistance. Drain well, return them to the dry pan over low heat for one minute, then press them through a ricer. Warm the cream and butter together, reserving 2 tablespoons of the cream, and fold them into the potatoes with the remaining teaspoon of salt. If the purée tightens while waiting, loosen it with the reserved warm cream. Stir only enough to smooth it; hard beating makes potatoes gluey.

9. 9

   Cisel and grill

   Cisel the boudins, making three or four shallow diagonal cuts through the casing on both sides without cutting deeply into the filling. If the links were chilled, warm them uncut in 170°F (77°C) water for 8 minutes, then dry and cisel them. Set a dry, well-seasoned cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat and add the sausages when the pan is warm, never smoking. Grill gently for 3 to 4 minutes per side, turning only when the casing releases, until the surface is bronzed and the cuts open slightly. The sausages will provide their own fat. If a cut widens, lower the heat and turn that side upward; never press the link.

10. 10

    Serve generously

    Spoon the potato purée onto warm plates and settle the boudins beside it, allowing one or two links per person according to appetite. Spoon a little of the fragrant pork fat left in the skillet over the purée. The dark, tender sausage and ivory potatoes need no decorative fuss. À table!

Chef Tips

• •Buy pork blood only from an inspected butcher or charcutier (pork butcher) who sells it for cooking. Fresh blood should be used promptly and kept at or below 40°F (4°C); commercially frozen blood may be thawed overnight in the refrigerator if it is unsalted and has not separated irreversibly.
• •Ask whether the blood already contains salt. This formula preserves the source's seasoning ratio for unsalted blood; if the supplier has added salt, subtract that amount from the measured 9.5 grams rather than guessing.
• •Use firm back fat, not bacon and not soft rendered lard. Bacon introduces smoke that is absent from the source, while fully rendered fat leaves the boudin greasy rather than delicately mottled.
• •The stainless basket is the home equivalent of the willow lattice in the original entry. It supports every link at once, keeps the casings from resting against the hot pot floor, and lets you lift the batch without chasing fragile sausages through the water.
• •If food-grade blood cannot be sourced safely, buy finished boudin noir from a trusted charcutier and begin with the warming, Cisel, and grilling instructions. Uninspected blood is not an acceptable substitution.
• •Pour a lightly chilled Beaujolais-Villages or a dry red with bright acidity. The wine should clear the richness, not compete with the gentle onion and spice.

Advance Preparation

• •The onions can be cooked without color, cooled, covered, and refrigerated one day ahead. Warm the back fat and mix the filling only when you are ready to stuff and poach.
• •The boudins may be poached up to three days ahead. Cool them promptly, cover once cold, and refrigerate at or below 40°F (4°C); warm them gently in hot water before the final Cisel and grilling.
• •Do not hold the raw blood mixture overnight. Once blood, egg, cream, and warm fat have been combined, fill the casing and begin poaching without delay.
• •The potato purée can be made several hours ahead and kept covered over barely warm water. Reheat gently with a spoonful of cream, never over fierce direct heat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Nutrition Information

1 serving (about 390g)