No one ever tells you what to do with a dried sausage?

This is the home of the dried sausage (one of them); they are everywhere and the people love them. Every market has several charcuterie stalls selling them, every butcher has a selection, and every supermarket sells them. Local producers are often on hand to let you sample their produce. Some of them are fantastic, delicious and very morish… some of them are reminiscent of chewing old boots!

The only advice I offer is to by them in the market direct from a producer and above all try before you buy! My rule of thumb is that the fatter the sausage the more moist it is and the least likely to be subject to the old leather effect (it was ever thus!!).

So you buy your delicious sausage and take it home… then what? It’s too chewy for sandwiches, to hard to use like chorizo for pizza topping and too strong usually for adding to many dishes. You can have a few slices with a cheese and bread lunch, snack on it with a glass of wine, or put it with a selection of other dried meats and hams for a fabulous charcuterie plate.

(The word charcuterie comes from the french words for - flesh (chair) and cooked (cuit), and describes prepared meat products such as bacon, ham, sausage, terrines, pates and confit which are original ways to preserve meat before we had fridges. These methods are still practiced today, particularly in France and across mainland Europe for the flavors that come from both of the meat and the specific preservation processes.)

But how to store it? Put it in the fridge it goes damp and sticky; wrap it goes furry. The answer seems to be hang it up in the kitchen by the little loop helpfully attached to the end. But this is my dilemma; I understand that air drying is a traditional and perfectly healthy way to preserve meat… however in my constant battle against the all pervasive flies in this Country, hanging unwrapped meat in my kitchen seems self defeating! I guess I’ll just have to get over my ‘fly thing’ and ignore them, that’s what the French do. However my solution thus far is to hang it, unwrapped in a cupboard, not sure if I will just end up with all the flies in the cupboard or if the lack of circulating air will make it go off… will keep you posted!