Morteau sausage
At the beginning of the 18th century, in a well-defined sector of Haut-Doubs, of which Morteau is the centre, the farms were all built according to the same plan.
The whole house was organized around a room of 20 to 30 m2 surmounted by a large chimney called "tuyé" where all the flues ended. It is in this tuyé that the peasants preserved the salted meats by smoking and drying them.
Morteau sausage is made with meat from pigs raised in Franche-Comté. The mixture of lean and hard fat is coarsely chopped and kneaded with the only authorized natural supplement products.
This preparation is stuffed in a natural pork casing (chaudin from 3.5 to 5 cm in diameter). One end of the casing is then pinched, turned over and held by a wooden peg while the other end is tied with a string and a seal. After steaming, it is then smoked quite intensely (for a minimum of 48 hours) naturally with wood or softwood sawdust (spruce, fir and juniper), in the Morteau sausage production area. It is recognized by the regional Franche-Comté label.
The Jura tradition dictates that we always prepare, in large format, a "Jésus de Morteau", a piece formerly reserved for the Christmas meal, the most beautiful pieces of the hash put in the largest gut (not to be confused with the jesus Lyons.
Morteau is generally eaten hot with lentils, cabbage – a great classic is the “cabbage and morteau guinea fowl” – beans, potatoes, but it can be served in many other ways. Cold, it happily complements a lentil or potato salad, especially if you don't spare the shallots.
