Charcuterie of Savoie
The charcuterie of Savoie completes the cheeses on the mountain table. As everywhere at altitude, the pig was the way to get through winter: it was salted, dried, turned into sausages so that nothing was lost. From that necessity came a range of characterful products, from dried ham to sausages cooked in white wine.
Diots, the signature sausage
The diot is the Savoyard sausage par excellence. Minced pork, flavoured with nutmeg, stuffed into a casing. There are plain, smoked and cabbage versions. The classic way to cook them: simmer them in Savoie white wine with onions, until tender. They are served hot with potatoes, polenta, crozets or seasonal vegetables. Cold, they are also eaten in a sandwich. It is the most widespread charcuterie dish in the region.
Pormoniers, older and greener
The pormonier is an older sausage, born of a thrifty cooking. It used the cuts of meat that could not be kept dried, mixed with green vegetables such as spinach, chard or leeks. That gives a milder, more vegetal sausage than the diot, cooked the same way, in white wine. It is a traditional product, less common, found at good Savoie charcutiers.
Dry ham and saucissons
The dry ham of Savoie is dried in the mountains, in the cold dry air of the valleys, which gives it a clear taste and a firm texture. It is served in thin slices, as an aperitif or on a board, and it accompanies raclette. Alongside, dry saucissons and rosettes round out the range. These drying products take time and know-how, and remain the preserve of local charcutiers and salters.
Cooking and pairing them
The charcuterie of Savoie lends itself to a simple, warming cooking. Diots and pormoniers are simmered in white wine; ham and saucissons are eaten raw. The natural pairing is a Savoie red, mondeuse first of all, whose spicy notes answer the meat well: see Savoie wines. To place charcuterie among the other specialities, see the Savoyard specialities page. It is best bought from a country charcutier or at a market, for example around Annecy or in the Aravis valleys.