Discover all the secrets of Toulouse sausage
The Toulouse Sausage Brotherhood awards the prize for the best artisanal production on Saturday 10 September. Gérard Garcia, former charcutier, and one of the founders of Maison Garcia at the Victor Hugo market, knows all the secrets!
Why is the Toulouse sausage so called?
It’s a good question ! (laughs). Well, quite simply because in the southwest region, there are certain ways of preparing pork meat. “Toulouse sausage” because Toulouse is the largest city in the region, a bit like when we talk about Morteau sausage in Franche-Comté.
What is the secret of a good Toulouse sausage? Is it difficult to prepare?
It is both very simple and very complicated. To make a perfect Toulouse sausage, you must first take pigs from the region and choose the best cuts of the pig. Then you have to grind the meat in a certain way, with a specific grinder size, but this is part of the trade secrets. (laughs). After mixing the meat with good salt and pepper, it must be inserted into a natural casing. The Toulouse sausage can then be grilled, pan-fried, or added to a good cassoulet!
Is there a label on the Toulouse sausage?
There is no possible label to deposit since the name of “Toulouse sausage” has entered the common trunk, in the collective imagination, a little like the Strasbourg sausage. So, anyone can make Toulouse sausage out of anything. So, to have a registered trademark, we created, about ten years ago, the name “The real Toulouse sausage of artisanal manufacture”.
Is it possible to counterfeit Toulouse sausage?
Yes, of course it exists. You can make Toulouse sausage with meat that comes from Holland, or even from Brittany. Anyone can do it. This is why the appellation was created.
Is the Toulouse sausage known beyond the region?
Yes ! It’s a bit like the nonsense of Cambrai. Toulouse sausage is the region’s flagship product, with cassoulet to accompany it.
And besides… Can we say that a cassoulet without Toulouse sausage is a real cassoulet?
Nope ! A cassoulet without Toulouse sausage is not a real cassoulet. It’s as if we were preparing a cassoulet without beans, it’s the same.
Is Toulouse sausage in demand abroad? Can it be exported?
It’s very complicated. The problem is that the sausage is a minced product, sold raw. It is a natural product that does not contain dyes or preservatives. It is a fragile product that must be consumed within three days.