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Nord-Pas-de-Calais
‘A recipe that arrived with the Spanish occupiers, kept secret for three centuries by a single family, and thrown in slices to the crowd on a carnival Sunday.’
Charcuterie speciality from Nord-Pas-de-Calais.
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Bergues, a fortified town in Flandre maritime not far from Dunkerque, was under Spanish occupation between 1556 and 1668. It was in this context, in the 16th century, that the recipe for this sausage first appeared: it was reportedly created by a Spanish soldier who arrived with spices from the Pays basque. This ancient recipe was then handed down from father to son: a local family, the Desmadrys, charcutiers in Bergues, took it on and carefully preserved it.
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For nearly twenty-five years, Hervé Vermersch has been based in Bergues, in the butcher's shop where the sausage was originally made — the ‘De l'Étable à la Table’ establishment. Today, he carries on the tradition, with the recipe still jealously kept secret. All that is known is that it is a finely minced pure pork blend — 70% ham and 30% jowl, making for a relatively lean product — seasoned with salt, pepper and Spanish spices, delivered every six to seven weeks to the Nord department to maintain production. ‘It adds a little bit of pep. After all, we aren't in a region where people eat very spicy food,’ the artisan sums up.
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Each year, at the Bergues carnival, tradition dictates that slices of sausage — and of the cheese of the same name — are thrown to the crowd from the balcony of the town hall by the mayor and his deputies, on a Sunday in March at around 17:00, in Place de la République — a ritual likened to the herring toss in Dunkerque. The slices invariably come from the ‘De l'Étable à la Table’ butcher's shop, sliced and wrapped for the occasion; the day before, on the day of the children's carnival, a similar distribution takes place outside the shop. The giant Gomez, created by the Baladins du Groenberg, depicts a 16th-century Spanish halberdier holding a pair of Saucisses de Bergues — a tribute to the soldier to whom legend attributes the recipe's invention. The Confrérie du Bergues Saint-Winoc, founded in 2003 by Paul Lammin, promotes the cheese, the sausage and subsequently the beer of Bergues, and organises a biggest sausage eater competition every summer.
Appearance
fine, uniform meat, tightly minced, predominantly pinkish — a lean mixture (70% ham, 30% jowl) that produces a sausage with little fat compared to traditional charcuterie of the Nord.
Taste
clean, distinct pork flavour, moderately spiced with Spanish spices regularly imported from Spain; the variant with Bergues cheese, enriched with local soft cheese, softens this profile.
Texture
fine, firm meat, which holds together just as well grilled or pan-fried as it does sliced cold.
that of its creation by the Spaniards who occupied the town.
20% of this soft cheese from Flandre, cellar-matured and brushed with local beer, incorporated into the mixture.
finely minced pork, 70% ham and 30% jowl, for a lean product.
unlike former practice, when it was sold raw for stews, Saucisse de Bergues is today sold cooked by its sole maker.
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Sold cooked, Saucisse de Bergues can be enjoyed grilled, pan-fried or poached, or cold as an aperitif and as part of a charcuterie board; it is also found in gratins or baked in brioche. The version with Bergues cheese benefits from being reheated, allowing the cheese to melt and enhance the overall flavour.
It is at the Bergues carnival, in March, that it is enjoyed most collectively: distributed in slices to the crowd from the town hall balcony, it also gives rise every summer to a biggest-eater competition organised by the Confrérie du Bergues Saint-Winoc.
Saucisse de Bergues does not benefit from any official recognition (PDO (AOP), PGI (IGP), Label Rouge, TSG (STG) or organic). It is an artisanal speciality in the strictest sense: a secret family recipe kept hidden since the 17th century and held today by a single butcher in the town. Its recognition stems from local festive tradition — the Confrérie du Bergues Saint-Winoc, founded in 2003, promotes it alongside Bergues cheese and beer.
No producer is listed for this product yet.