Crépinette or flat sausage, these little meats are held together with caul fat and are particularly easy to make: just mince the meat!
Cook different meats together in very little time. Link flavours, play with the size of the mince. Whether you want to innovate or stay traditional, here is some advice.
The mince is very important. Use a screw mincer to retain water inside the meat and get regular sized pieces. You can grind everything using the same plate or choose to have bigger pieces for play with texture. You will note that the size of the mincemeat changes the taste. When you chop into big pieces, white meats are highlighted. Standard mince: a 6 or 8 plate. Big pieces: size 10 or 12 plates or greater.
The shape should be adapted to the cooking method. The lower the temperature, the bigger the flat sausage crépinette should be. If you are stewing or cooking in broth, the heat has time to penetrate to the heart but if you do not want the flavours to become too diluted, you will need volume. On the other hand, if you want grilled flavours, small sizes are better suited. Do not hesitate to mould your crépinette sausages into a shape to make a nice appearance.
Caul fat can easily be found at the pork butcher´s. Before using it to make your crépinettes rinse it and steep it for 10 minutes in warm water. It will be more elastic and easier to use. Dry it with a tea towel before filling.
The traditional recipe is composed of ¾ pork spare rib for ¼ of lard. Grind everything with a 6 mm plate and mix carefully.
For 1 kg of caul fat casing: 400 g or pork spare ribs
100 g of lard
150 g of onion
30 g of butter
5/6 eggs
15 g of flour
15 cl of milk
10 sprigs of flat leaf parsley.
2 or three coriander seeds, salt and pepper…
These hand crafted crépinettes can be grilled in the pan and are accompanied by purées or sauces. At Christmas, people in the Bordeaux region add truffles and enjoy the crépinettes very hot with a plate of oysters.
