12415 Blood Sausage with Apples and Potatoes Serves 2 Wed Aug 06 01:06:20 -0700 2008 Tue Feb 03 05:34:54 -0800 2009 Licensed http://www.chow.com/recipes/12415 Tue, 03 Feb 2009 13:34:54 GMT When a pig is killed as on a french farm, part of the ritual is to catch the blood from its severed throat in a bowl, then add some vinegar to prevent coagulation. From this blood, along with pork snouts and pork tongues, the French Southwesterners make an excellent black sausage (boudin noir) perfumed with onions or raisins. It is often flavored with hot pepper, cloves, nutmeg, and cinnamon.

Completely cooked, then partially dried, these sausages are delicious sliced, fried in a little fat, drained, then folded into an omelet, or else cut into chunks then fried in a little butter along with some slices of tart green apple. In Bergerac, they make a dish called croquignolles: deep-fat–fried pastry rounds stuffed with plumped raisins and boudin noir.

From the famous Limousin chef Charlou Reynal I learned a good way to remove the thick skin from commercial black sausage: Place the sausage in the freezer for about 20 minutes, then simply peel off the skin, and cut the sausage as thin or thick as needed for the recipe.

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  • Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the sausage in the freezer for 20 minutes; peel off the skin and thinly slice. Meanwhile, peel, core, quarter, and skin the apple. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes.
  • Heat ½ tablespoon of the fat in a 9- or 10-inch ovenproof skillet over moderate heat. Add the apple and sauté until the edges of the pieces begin to color, about 5 minutes. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake until tender, about 15 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, in a second skillet melt the remaining 1½ tablespoons duck fat over moderately high heat. Add the potato slices and fry until golden on both sides, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and scrape them over the apples. Bake for 10 minutes.
  • Arrange the sausage slices over the potatoes and apples. Bake until lightly browned and crispy on top, about 5 minutes longer. Scatter the chopped parsley on top and serve at once.
  • You can find black sausages in Mexican, German, and Spanish butcher shops. Or see Mail Order Sources (pages 415–417) for exceptional French-style boudin noir.
    • ]]>     http://www.chow.com Paula Wolfert 50 Main 1 black sausage, 7 or 8 ounces

    ]]>     1 large tart green apple

    ]]>     ½ pound small fine-flesh potatoes such as creamer, fingerling, or Yukon gold

    ]]>     2 tablespoons rendered duck fat or butter

    ]]>     Salt and freshly ground pepper

    ]]>     1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

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