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Nord-Pas-de-Calais
Thrown from the top of the Bretèche du Bailliage by the mayor himself: in Aire-sur-la-Lys, the andouille has its festival and its ritual.
Charcuterie speciality from Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
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Originally, andouille was used to preserve meat in the era before refrigerators existed: mixed meats, kept in coarse salt. The charcutiers of Aire-sur-la-Lys have always made it, and towards the middle of the 20th century it became the town's speciality. Local tradition traces its creation back to the 19th century; in 1926, the Larousse ménager cited it as an Artois speciality.
It bears the name of a commune in Pas-de-Calais, between Saint-Omer and Béthune. Slow Food distinguishes it from its more famous cousin, andouille de Cambrai, which is made solely of chitterlings: the Aire version is made with pork meat and chitterlings, and shares with the other the sage that is so prized in Artois.
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Since 1962, a festival has been dedicated to it every first Sunday of September. The most eagerly awaited moment is the 'tossing of the andouille' from the Bretèche du Bailliage by the mayor, watched over by the Confrérie des Chevaliers de la Bonne Andouille. Tastings and sales take place in the Halle au Beurre on the Grand'Place, transformed for the occasion into an 'andouille tavern'.
Firmly rooted locally, it gave rise to potée airoise, but its renown has never really spread beyond its home territory. Fewer than ten producers still make it, and Slow Food notes that the tradition is threatened by current generations' lack of interest in offal.
Appearance
an andouille stuffed into natural casings, then tied.
Taste
sage is its signature, together with shallots and spices whose proportions each charcutier keeps secret.
Texture
a finely minced pork stuffing, mixed depending on the source with chitterlings cut into strips.
pork, generally taken from the shoulder or belly, boned, washed and finely minced.
into natural casings.
raw, raw smoked, cooked, or cooked smoked over sawdust.
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Raw, smoked or unsmoked, the andouille is poached in soup or makes up potée airoise, along with carrots, turnips, celery, leeks and white beans. Cooked, it is simply sliced as an aperitif or starter; it keeps for eight days, and for three weeks once smoked.
Andouille d'Aire-sur-la-Lys does not benefit from any official quality mark (PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP), Label Rouge, TSG (STG)). Each charcutier keeps their spice proportions secret; only sage is common to all recipes. It features in Slow Food's Ark of Taste.
No producer is listed for this product yet.