Saucisse de Morteau?

[Tyrtaeus]

Hey, there, everyone.

I'm a new sausage-maker ("sausagist"? "sausagesmith"? ) and even newer member.

I was just wondering if anyone had any ideas on how I could make a good copy of the famous French "Saucisse de Morteau".

Where I live, we have absolutely no sausages at all like it, and I would really, really like to be able to make my own.

Any help would be very, very, very highly appreciated.

[wheels]

Hi, and welcome.

Unfortunately I can't help with the Morteau - except to say that some of it's unique taste must come from the way it is smoked - in juniper and other conifer wood.

Phil

[Tyrtaeus]

That it is an amazingly unique sausage I know - thanks for the tips on the wood.

Whilst on the topic of smoking, can anyone tell me a little more about the "tuy�"? Insofar as I can tell, the tuy� is simply the name for the smoking stove and chimney used the Franche-Compte region. However, I have noticed that many descriptions of the sausage state a prolonged smoking period - two days at least - and that 'cooking' of the sausage is inhibited by strong air currents. My question is whether anyone knows if there is a design feature specific to the tuy� that accommodates this, or some special technique, or if, indeed, it really matters for an approximate replica (the length of smoking adjusted to make up for the lack of the same ventilation).

[wheels]

The term would appear to refer to 'cold smoking', for which 2 days is not an unusual period of time and when smoking hams (for example) longer cold smoking periods, around a week, are not uncommon.

This technique is a sort of 'trickle' smoking. A trickle of smoke passes over the meat, rather than it being 'encased' in a massive cloud of the stuff.

Cold Smoking does not cook the meat, and is carried out at low temperatures. (maximum would be around 25-30°C)

You'll find a lot more about this in the smoking section of the forum.

The massive difference between the Morteau and other 'cold smoked' products is the use of conifer/juniper. Virtually all other smoked meats/sausage use hard woods.

Funnily enough the only other 'soft wood' smoked meat that springs to mind is Black Forest Ham - made in an area that is in a nearby geographical region.

Hopefully, as we have members from France, one of them will be able to advise further.

Phil

[beardedwonder5]

Two things. 1) In a forge (not the building but the fireplace) a tuyere is a kind of double-skinned nozzle for introducing air from a bellows, fan, etc. into the fire. In its modern form it's double-skinned so that water can be circulated within the truyere, thus keeping the metal (cast iron) below melting temperature. The concept could have been translated, with changes, into smokery. Presumably somewhere in the design stages someone was thinking of keeping the smoke cool and directed at the product.

2) This is dredged up from wisps of memory. I think that smoking with coniferous wood could result in a carcinogenic ham, or whatever. More carcinogenic than the usual smoke. Epidemiology? I seem to remember that the higher incidence in Austria (?Bavaria) of certain cancers was correlated with conifer smoking. (I.e., those who didn't eat the conifer-smoked goods had a significantly lower incidence of certain cancers.)

[Tyrtaeus]

Okay. Spoken to the butcher about the slow-smoking, and sourced the wood for him. Thanks for all the advice. Just bumping this in the hope it might get some new attention, as I'm still unable to find a recipe for the sausage.

Any ideas from anyone? At all?

[beardedwonder5]

Starters

Google morteau recettes

and polish up your language skills.

[beardedwonder5]

More reading by me. Apparently the T-thing refers to the chimney in which the goods are smoked. The chimney in the main sitting room in the old farmhouse in which we live starts out at the top of the inglenook and then gradually is corbelled in - so that you could conceive of it as a large inverted funnel. The smoking bar (for hanging hams, etc.) is about 8ft from the floor. At that point the chimney is about 6 feet wide. Once you get the brickwork warmed up - and providing the wind isn't from the east -the chimney draws well. Lots of air. (Too much updraft from the point of view of room heating.) Warmish smokey air would be well diluted by "room air" which is usually cool to cold. I can well imagine French farmhouses, with chimneys like ours, in mountainous country, wooded wiih conifers, developing Jesus sausages.
My parents-in-law used to have a house in the Ardeche It had the same sort of chimney, except smaller. But, for something more interesting in this context, built onto the side of the house was a chestnut drying tower. But my smoking theory won't hpld -1) because the old folk stored the chestnuts in the tower after they dried them, and 2) it was goat country.

[Tyrtaeus]

I'm afraid I don't know what you mean when you refer to my 'language skills', beardedwonder5. Perhaps you should polish up your reading skills? Or perhaps I simply shouldn't take so seriously such a comment from someone writing with such poor grammar and spelling himself. (Read this knowing that I don't mean any offense - thanks for all the help.)

Almost one-year-and-one-half later, I finally have the internet again, and while having made many, many sausages since I was last in these forums, trawling for inspiration, the Morteau sausage still eludes me! For what it's worth, bump.

[Richierich]

I think Bearded Wonder was not criticising the way in which you composed your message, just the fact that the google search will result in a lot of French results, so polish up your French. Perhaps it is a colloquialism not widely used.

[wheels]

...anyway, to get back to the sausage.

Here's a picture of the smoking chimney:

http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fichier:Fr ... #233;-tuhé.jpg

It's more of a room than a chimney!

From http://www.aftouch-cuisine.com/en/sauci ... eau-67.htm

It is manufactured today only with comtois pig, which continue to be fatten traditionally and which is a guaranty of an incomparable quality.

Worked out starting of shoulder and fat of the pig back, it presents a coarsely chopped flesh, salted then "embossé" in natural bowels. Easily recognizable with its ring and with peg which closes it on a side, the Saucisse de Morteau is at least smoked 48 hours in the "Tuyé" (traditional chimney) and this exclusively with coniferous tree.

...and here's how it's made (from the official EU registration):

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/Lex ... 017:EN:PDF

I hope this helps.

Phil

[Tyrtaeus]

Wow, that helps absolutely, wheels! Thank you very much! (Although my fears of wading through a LOT information have just been confirmed. I don't know why I ever thought que une recette pour une saucisse avec un appellation d'origine contrôlée serait facile de trouver!)

I'm glad you cleared up beardedwonder5's comment for me, Richerich. Apparently my comprehension skills are no match for my clearly functional grammar.

Need I repeat that I meant no offense, old mate?

Thanks, guys. Will work on a recipe and try to get it up within a fortnight.

[wheels]

Please let us know how you get on. I'm totally intrigued by smoking with conifer wood, but it's not worth me trying to make them until I get to try the authentic version as a control.

Phil

[fattusnorvegicus]

Waking up this old thread. I found a complete recipe here: http://www.meilleurduchef.com/cgi/mdc/f ... 50264-2264

Haven't tried it.

[wheels]

Welcome.

That's a great find, thanks for posting it.

Phil