Speaking of sausage...while shopping at an outdoor market last month in Versailles, I bought some of the the most wonderful sausages I've ever had, but I have no idea what it was. They were small, whole, dried sausages (like dry italian salami, only much smaller), strung together and coated in wonderful spices.

Does this sound familiar to anyone? Any idea where it could be purchased/ordered in the States? Thanks.

Might be what is known as "merguez" in France. I have never found them in the US, but perhaps someone else has.

If they are coated, they could be any number of things - was the coating like a "rub" of spices?

You might check out the Joie de Vivre catalog (www.joiedevivre.com). If they don't have anything like that (and with the recent severe restrictions on bringing in meat products from France they might not), you can e-mail the owner from the site and ask. She'll know.
I suppose the d'Artagnan catalog might also have them. Not sure of the website for that but maybe www.dartagnan.com

In the Joie de Vivre catalogue I see one item listed as "chipolata with herbs." It is a slim pork sausage flavored with herbs of Provence. Maybe that's it? There may be other suasages listed in the online version of the catalogue. By the way, this is a very nice mail order company--extremely prompt and perfect service.

Does anyone know what speices are in merguez? I'm curious, since I enever had it, and Google search yielded recipes for using it but not a description of its contents. explantioer

Don't know where that last non-word came from in my post abve!

Oh, and that was "spices" I was asking about, not "speices."

Thank you all. I have written to my friend in Versailles, who shops at that market often, and will report back if I get an answer. In the interim, I will check out the catalogues and websites you recommmend.

I have ordered those from the William Sonoma catalog, coated with herbs and crackled pepper.

I am salivating for a merguez with DIJON mustard right now.

It's not merguez, which is not dried. It will be some form of charcuterie, (maybe salami) but it might be peculiar to the region or even that seller.

e-mailed my friend, who will ask the name today at the marche. Will report back. Thanks.

Hi

Merguez are uncooked.

I think you'll have to return if you want to discover the secret.

My local market (established by royal charter in 1050 AD) has a stall with 30+ dried sausages. These include horse, donkey, duck etc.

Peter
The Languedoc Page
http://tlp.netfirms.com

Actually knew the sausage in question was not merguez.

I was making a reference to a "conversation" on another thread that the saner amongst you may not have recognized.

Again, I take mine with DIJON mustard!

I found a partial answer to my own question re what spices are in marguez. The D'Artagnan version is made of lamb, salt, olive oil, harissa, paprika, garlic, and "spices" (unspecified).

Paprika must have been what I remembered. I hate to admit gastronomic ignorance, but what is "harissa"? I never heard of it.

I thought some merguez I had at one time or another had caraway seeds in them, but I could be wrong.

Harissa is a hot pepper sauce, a staple of North African cooking. You can get it in the supermarket in tubes.

Well, mystery solved. My friend inquired of the sausage guy at the marche, who says that the small sausages (saucissons) are called mignottes or grelots, aux noix (with walnuts). I don't remember any walnuts! Oh well...still can't get them here.