Have you ever met a blood sausage? You can't say you know Valle d’Aosta unless you learn at least a few words in the local patois. In fact, this local Franco-Provençal dialect is strongly intertwined with the culture and everyday life of the people of Valle d'Aosta: You study the language at school; it’s present in proverbs and songs; and it’s still used for names and nicknames – with some discernable differences from one valley to the next. One might not even understand it from area to the next, if not even within the same city! One of the words, of which I found quite a few variations, was betserì, which in patois indicates the various homemade cold cuts – including the inevitable boudin.
Betseri: the homemade butcher's shop in Valle d'Aosta
In the local patois, betserì (or betzì, betzerie, betsì, bezee) means "butcher's shop.” In the valley, the word is used to indicate any cold cuts, cured meats or sausages traditionally made from pork or even better, beef – the meat par excellence of this particular region. In fact, Valle d'Aosta is one of the very few places where the sausage is made exclusively from cows, called mojné in patois (which translates to "cow shepherd") – usually from the tarine, abondance, spotted red, black or brown breeds of cow present in Valle d'Aosta, as well as the more famous and widespread moccetta (made only with aged cow thigh meat) and the rarer teteun (made from the cow’s udder). Pork is rarely used in the region to make sausage, and it’s usually only to add a fatty element to the meat. "In the past, it was more common to farm pigs. They was taken up to the summer pastures to eat whey from the fontina cheese and then slaughtered in the autumn," explains Diego Bovard, a saffron producer from Valgrisenche. Today, you’ll find mixed sausages for the most part – like saouseusse, made with part cow meat, part pork meat, and sometimes the addition of lard, in varying quantities according to varying family recipes. But the most common sausage in Valle d’Aosta today is boudin, which is prepared with beets and potatoes – only of the few sausages made with vegetables. (Another example is the ciuìga del banale with turnip in Trentino.)
The many varieties of boudin
Saying boudin in Valle d’Aosta means everything and nothing at the same time, because there are infinite varieties of boudin. And even if they might seem similar, they could be called totally different names in dialect! The basic boudin is a sausage made from lard (about 3 kg per 10 kg sausage dough), potatoes, salt, pepper and various spices. Some also add bacon, garlic, sugar or wine. The potatoes recommended by the experts, as well as by the two producers Remo and Ivo, are the small variety from Valle d'Aosta – red outside and yellow inside, they’re just starchy enough for the sausage (and they’re excellent fried). From there, you can distinguish between three types depending on the valley where you are: The first boudin comes from the Media Valle, and it’s the most traditional and characteristic, with pig’s blood added. Then there’s the pinkest version from the Bassa Valle – the so-called salampatata, or potato-salami, to which only a ladleful of blood per 20 kilos of sausage dough is added. And finally, there’s the version from Alta Valle, closer to Mont Blanc, where blood (which was banned for a period, particularly during the “mad cow” scandal) is replaced by beetroot, which in some areas is called ‘la carota rossa’ (meaning ‘red carrot’ in English), an imperfect translation from the patois. Unlike the others, this boudin is more digestible and sweeter, which is why it’s the most popular version. It’s no coincidence that boudin means ‘black pudding’ in French.
Cooking with boudin
Most of the secrets for a good boudin lie in the curing, which must take place in the right places, at the right temperatures and especially at the right times (for the necessary duration). Like other cured meats, boudin is usually prepared in the cold winter months from December to February. After about fifteen days of curing with salt and herbs, it must age for at least 3-4 months. Then it’s ready to be eaten in the classic Valle d'Aosta snack style (also called boccoun or roussignon in local patois) – in the company of other local foods such as lardo d'Arnad, coppa, pancetta, various cheeses, rye bread, boiled potatoes, pepper crostini and bagnacauda (Piedmont is nearby). But in reality, boudin also has another use in the kitchen: It can be eaten fresh, just made, before the curing starts, usually roasted in the oven or sautéed in a pan with potatoes or apples, which is how Denise Marcoz makes it at Lo Grand Baöu (translating to ‘The Big Stable’ in English).
Where you can find traditional boudin
Unfortunately, finding a pig farmer who also makes traditional colds cuts is rare these days in the Valley. In fact, most of the pork used for cured meats and sausages is purchased elsewhere. But not at Lo Grand Baöu: Here, Denise produces everything she can – even using hydroelectric power from the nearby river. And what she doesn't have, she buys from trusted producers in the surrounding areas. Lo Grand Baöu, in fact, is located on the mountain pasture, at almost 1,900 meters above sea level, in the Vertosan Valley. It can only be reached along a dirt road of many kilometers – a real mule track that, until the 1980s, was not even there. "So much so that there is this road today!" Denise tells us. Here, Denise's maternal grandparents took their cows to the mountain pastures, until in 1973 her father Renzo, a great and well-known carpenter, decided to open a restaurant there, with his wife Elena as the head chef. Today, Denise runs the business from June to September, with the same care and dedication as her predecessors. In addition to continuous research in the kitchen, Denise is a veterinarian the rest of the year: For this reason, Denise knows the world of animals in depth – and the same goes for the food she serves, starting from her panel of handmade sausages. We’re talking authentic betsì!
Alternatively, you can find boudin at the Macelleria-Gastronomia Segor di Villeneuve or at il Pain de Coucou di Saint-Pierre – both wonderful places for a true Valle d’Aosta snack. Then there’s Bertolin, a producer of many local products. And yet, the best place to try homemade sausage can only be in a home, where it is still prepared as it once was – with the same care and above all, with its very own recipe, handed down from generation-to-generation.