#roomfulofsausages

We butchered a pig today!

You can buy a whole pig from the supermarket here. Caroline and her friends Reine and Guillaume did it last year and decided to repeat the process together again this year. Thankfully I got to experience it as well this time around.

We started just before 9am and didn't finish until after 7pm. There was so much meat!

We made merguez (Reine and Guillaume had bought a lamb as well), 134 tins of pâté (liver and throat), loads of different types of sausages: apple & rosemary, sage & onion, parsley, white pepper and some saucisses de couenne. This last type are made from boiling up the skin of the pig, mincing it and then filling sausage casings with a mixture of 2/3 minced skin, 1/3 minced pork meat. Guillaume also made some with 100% minced skin. Don't fancy them myself!

We also had loads of chops, some bigger loin cuts to roast and a couple of hams to have at Christmas (which we put into the brine I'd prepared the previous day). Finally, I took 750g of liver and 250g of minced pork loin to make a different type of pâté tomorrow.

It was such a brilliant experience, especially being with people who know what they're doing and who are happy to see you get stuck in. I had been a bit worried about how I was going to feel, seeing the pig cut up in bits all over someone's garage, but as someone had told me beforehand, you don't see it as that, you see it as food...as an ingredient for your dinner.

Needless to say, once we got back to Carrie's, we ensconced ourselves on the sofa and didn't move too far for the rest of the night.