No. 1801

Sausages Chipolata

Saucisses a la Chipolata

Push some sausage meat (No.68) into a sheep's casing being careful not to fill it too much; twist it into small inch to inch and a half lengths, turning each sausage in a contrary direction, the first to the right, the second to the left, and so on to the end; in this way the sausages keep together better while cooking. Prick the casing with a larding or any other needle. Cook on a slow fire and dress on a chipolata garnishing (No. 657).

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For the Modern Kitchen

Ranhofer assumes you have his forcemeat No. 68 and his chipolata garnish No. 657 to hand; without them this is simply a lesson in linking small sausages. The two things that matter are underfilling the casing and keeping the heat low.

Sheep casingsSheep casing runs about 22-24 mm and is the standard size for chipolata and breakfast links; hog casing (32-35 mm) is too coarse here. Buy salted casings, soak them 30 minutes in cool water and flush the inside before stuffing.
"Not too much"This is the hinge. A loosely filled casing lets you twist inch-long links without bursting them, and it gives the meat room to swell as the fat renders. A tightly stuffed sheep casing will split the moment it warms.
Alternating twistsTurning each link the opposite way to its neighbour locks the chain against itself so it does not unwind in the pan. Twist six or eight links, then go back and firm up the whole run.
PrickingModern practice generally leaves casings intact so the juices stay in; Ranhofer directs that the casing be pricked with a larding or other needle, presumably to stop the links bursting as the fat renders.
"A slow fire"Steady medium-low in a heavy pan, roughly 15-20 minutes for links this small, turning often. Pork sausage is done at 160F internal; high heat will brown the casing long before the centre is set and will tear the links.
The sausage meat (No. 68)Ranhofer cross-refers to his own pork sausage meat; the page under review does not give its composition, so the seasoning has to be read off No. 68 itself. Any well-seasoned coarse-ground pork sausage mix at about 70/30 lean to fat will behave the same way.
Chipolata garnishing (No. 657)The classic version is a braise of glazed button onions, carrots, peeled chestnuts and blanched salt pork or bacon lardons, bound with a little brown sauce. It cooks separately and the sausages are laid on top at the end.
YieldA pound of forcemeat fills roughly three to four feet of sheep casing and gives something like 30 to 40 links of this size.

A Little History

Chipolata is one of the odder loanwords in French cookery: it comes from the Italian cipollata, a dish of onions, and in nineteenth-century French kitchens à la chipolata named a garnish built on glazed onions with chestnuts, carrots and lardons rather than a kind of sausage at all. Because small sausages were part of that garnish, the name migrated to the sausage itself, which is why a British butcher today sells chipolatas by the pound while Ranhofer, writing for Delmonico's in 1894, still uses the word to mean the accompaniment and treats the little links as a component. The recipe also shows how completely a great restaurant kitchen worked from cross-references: forcemeat No. 68 and garnish No. 657 were standing preparations, and the cook's job on the day was only to case, link and cook.