Saucisse or Saucisson - it is still a sausage

I've never been clear as to the difference between a saucisse and a saucisson. I do know that I love to munch on slices of dried cured sausages with a drink, yes more kir, before dinner. There is a vast choice in Paris, butchers, charcutiers and even supermarkets sell them . The first weekends in October are a great time to find regional specialities in Paris, as there are many fairs promoting small regional producers. We stumbled across one at Convention, Terroirs de La France. My husband swooped onto a stand selling wines from Burgundy. We tasted several vintages from Nuits-St-Georges and Beaune, all for free and generously poured. We brought two bottles of 2007 vintage, one of each that we have placed in the back of our cellar for future drinking. With our wine budget blown, why is burgundy so expensive? Next we checked out the saucisse.

We saw this one first, a liver sausage. I'd had a liver sausage before with friends and it is surprising, nothing like the liver sausage, liverwurst, I grew up with. Full flavoured, and rich, it has a slight sweetness that intensifies as it ages and a very peppery finish. This one is a fine example, you can see all that good mould, and even though it is quite dry and hard on the outside it is still soft in the centre. It is made with pork liver and is from Corscia. There was a huge range of larger dry sausages from donkey, pork, to bull but we couldn't resist the wild boar.

Full of chunks of fat and whole peppercorns it is everything a sausage should be and it is perfect with an aperitif. Next on the list are some good olives.