La Caillette: Greens-rich Meatballs with Liver in Delicate Caul Lace Pouches
Between pâté and a meatball, la caillette, a delicious recipe from Lyon.
A big sausage is wrapped in brioche to bake to a perfect browned confection. Juices and aroma from a saucisson à cuire that has been simmered and broiled, then rolled in the dough penetrate the weft of the brioche as it puffs around the sausage.
This creates a fluffy, meat-flavored bread that remains light in texture but with a beautiful balance in flavors, with an orb of steaming and salty sausage in the center as a bonus.
We eat it by the slice. There is a perfection in this simple pleasure, a specialty in Lyon.
Saucisson en Brioche Lyonnais © Lucy Vanel
For centuries, Lyon’s sausage-making tradition has enjoyed a reputation as being among the best in France.
Today, artisan charcutiers continue to sell excellent sausages that we enjoy both preserved and dried, in addition to the large sausages sold direct to the consumer for cooking at home.
A saucisson is a big thick monster of a sausage, with an average weight of 800 grams, enough, when enveloped in brioche, to feed quite a number of people.
This preparation is a good choice when you want to present self-contained delicacies to hoards, even more delicious when served fresh baked and still warm from the oven.
The dough for this preparation is a brioche ordinaire, less sweet and egg-rich than the breakfast brioche we find direct at the boulangerie formed into boules or braids.
The dough should be worked together the evening before you plan to envelope your sausage, and refrigerated overnight to give the butter a chance to firm up, and the relatively small amount of yeast a chance to slowly develop in amplitude and flavor.
Lyonnais style sausage wrapped in Brioche
Serves 12 (or more)
Ingredients for Brioche Ordinaire, at Plum Lyon Teaching Kitchen. © Lucy Vanel
Sifting flour for Brioche at Plum Lyon Teaching Kitchen. © Lucy Vanel
Between pâté and a meatball, la caillette, a delicious recipe from Lyon.
Cervelle de canut is simply soft fresh fromage blanc seasoned with fines herbs and shallots.
Let’s prepare the classic Lyonnais favorite, Le Sabodet Lyonnais.