Andouillette sausage at Vivant in Paris
I tried something new this time in France, and I'm curious why it's not more popular in the U.S. The thing is andouilette sausage. It's French sausage that's made out of tripe and intestines. Steph and I tried this delicious creation at Vivant in Paris. We got pretty luck with the restaurant because it's a bit of a pain to make reservations from New York. We thought we had a reservation but as it turned out, they didn't have it down on record, but they had tables empty and we got to try this tasty sausage thingy.
What seems popular here in Paris is for little restaurants to have their menu on a chalkboard, and then just bring that chalkboard to new customers as they come into the restaurant. The menu changes often at Vivant, and on the night we were there, they had some delicious things. We started with some dried sausage and thin slices of pigs throat that's kinda like prosciutto. The waiter said this was Italian, and man... gotta love fat that almost dissolves in your mouth.
We also tried a pasta with duck ragu. The pasta type was paccheri, or large tubes, and the ragu was rich and delicious. It's a really good pasta dish that I would be happy to have anywhere and more happy to eat it in a tiny restaurant in Paris. But let's get to the real deal here...
As I said before, the andouillette sausage is made out of tripe and intestines. What sets this sausage apart from most sausages is that you can really see the innards clearly. The casing is the only thing that holds the sausage together, and once you cut into it, the bits of tripe and intestines are displayed clearly, making it obvious you're eating offal and not some run-of-the-mill sausage. What's nice about this particular andouillette sausage is that they seared the outside to give a little crunch to the otherwise soft main course. Oh and the smell... the scent of this sausage was crazy. If sausage could smell like sex, this sausage would qualify and top the list. The side that came with the sausage was a knockout as well. It was a rectangle of fried polenta that was creamy and cheesy on the inside.
I'm not sure why we don't see more of this in the U.S. since it's very delicious and it's made with less expensive parts of the pig. And it's not an item that's super hard to find in restaurants in Paris either. A few days after we ate at Vivant, we saw andouillette sausage on a menu at a different restaurant. Come on America! Tripe and intestine sausage is awesome!
Vivant
43 Rue des Petites Ecuries.
Paris, 75010
33-1-42-46-43-55
(I invite you to follow me on Twitter so you can get more of my non-sense in another medium.)
always love your dispatches from france.
PS. is there anything more like sex in kitchen than sausages already?
Jonathan
September 19, 2011 9:45 am
Wow, what a different experience you had with these smelly gut sausages! I ordered them once, cut one open and it smelled like a restroom on the LIRR on a hot summer day! Horrible!
FN
September 19, 2011 11:00 am
Holy moly you got me at the pig's throat. I like how you can just SEE how buttery and rich that must be. Keep the Paris posts rolling in, love it! :)
Kathy
September 19, 2011 7:22 pm
@Jonathan,
You'll love the latest dispatch about the taxi cabbie then... haha. You're right too about the sausage. I shoulda known there's nothing more sexy than sausage.
@FN,
haha, I love the smelly gut sausages! I just figured that's what guts smell like and it smelled real you know? Nothing like the real thing baby.
@Kathy,
YESSSS that thing was so velvety. Goddamn. They waiter called it the 'most gorgeous pigs throat' and he was right. I wonder where to get this in NY. He said it was made in Italy...
Danny
September 22, 2011 10:35 pm
Been there just now! stay in an airbnb apartment just round the corner (!!lucky!!) and just stroll down and waited 10 minutes for a late lunch! Even andouilette is more of a Lyon thing that a Paris thing, it is done so well in Vivant. Also had Poulet and finish with the loveliest of raspberry and cream. Couldn't ask for a better first day in Paris.
pigflyin
September 26, 2011 10:17 am