Olivier Poels 5:40 p.m., February 11, 2022
Ah, Corsica and its delicatessen!
This is a whole love story, unfortunately far too often tarnished by industrial products.
But when dealing with authentic Corsican charcuterie, it is made with local pigs.
Like most Corsican charcuterie, figatellu dates from the Middle Ages and the Genoese domination of the island.
This is a pork liver sausage that also contains lean.
It is U-shaped and is most often grilled.
In the plural, we say "figatelli".
It is prepared with nustrale pork, which is THE Corsican pork.
The nustrale pig, which means "ours" in Corsica, is an animal exclusive to the Island of Beauty.
Coming from a Mediterranean stock, almost disappeared because of the many crossings.
It is small, robust, rustic and wild.
The animal lives in freedom and feeds according to the seasons of the grasses of the maquis, acorns, chestnuts, even grasses of the pastures.
At the end of their life, they are fed chestnut flour for 40 days, a diet that will considerably influence their taste and their fat.
They are slaughtered between 12 and 36 months, exclusively in winter, at weights of 85 to 140 kg.
Lentil Figatelli Recipe
Ingredients :
1 Figatellu
200g of lentils
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 can of tomato puree
1 glass of Corsican red wine
25 cl of broth
100 g of panzetta
thyme / laurel
Salt pepper
Fry the onion and minced garlic in a little oil: add the figatellu and the diced panzetta
Add the broth, wine, tomato, thyme and bay leaf
Simmer 30'