I was working in the out skirts of Paris a few years ago, (Montreul Sois Bois) and the locals took us to a traditional, rustic restaurant for lunch.
An American lad with us asked to try something french, and Andouillette was on the "specials" board. He asked for that. One of the locals tried to explain what it was made of, and I guessed straight away, but he just seemed to think it must be pork, as it is sausage.
When it arrived it was huge, and when he sliced it open, I could smell it at the far end of the table. The look on his face was priceless as the contents spilled out onto his plate. He tried the tiniest mouthful and then proceeded to chat, sip his wine, and then cut up the sausage and move it about his plate with his knife and fork, as if he was eating, before finally pushing the plate away, leaning back in his chair, as if he was peasantly full up, and said something like "ah...fantastic".
The initial smell when he cut it open leads me to believe that this particular one was "the full monty"....
"......Andouillette (French pronunciation: [ɑ̃dujɛt]) is a coarse-grained sausage made with pork (or occasionally veal), intestines or chitterlings, pepper, wine, onions, and seasonings. Tripe, which is the stomach lining of a cow, is sometimes an ingredient in the filler of an andouillette, but it is not the casing or the key to its manufacture. True andouillette will be an oblong tube. If made with the small intestine, it is a plump sausage generally about 25 mm in diameter but often it is much larger, possibly 7–10 cm in diameter, and stronger in scent when the colon is used. True andouillette is rarely seen outside France and has a strong, distinctive odour related to its intestinal origins and components. Although sometimes repellent to the uninitiated, this aspect of andouillette is prized by its devotees...."
