Andouille de Vire

In the little city of Vire, at the end of Basse-Normandy, one manufactures Andouille of the same name since many centuries and this artisanal production is associated durably with the image ot the city and the area. The craftsmen who continue to manufacture it perpetuate the traditions and the know-how of their ancestors. If the base of manufacture, the manuring, drying and cooking are identical, each craftsman preserves jealously a signature, a small secrecy, which will be revealed only with its descent...

The "Andouille de Vire" is a rustic and simple product, made up exclusively of "ventrée" of pig, more commonly called chaudin. Once prepared and washed, the chaudins is cut in thin straps, is salted and put out of brine several days. Once peppered, the hanks are assembled with the hand then related to an end by a cord of hemp before being threaded in a broader bowel. The first step is done: "green" andouille. Cooked in a water quivering between 6 and 7 hours, 3 kg of raw andouille will give approximately 600gr Andouille of Vire. It is now ready to be tasted: cold in fine section on farmhouse bread or during a toast between close relations; heat, on a salad or with some cooked apples, in all the case, it is a treat.