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Boudin Blanc is a soft, mild, white-coloured sausage with thin skin made in French-speaking countries such as Belgium and France.

Americans should not confuse this version with the version of Boudin Blanc made in Louisiana one. The Louisiana version -- Boudin Blanc Creole -- has rice in it; European versions have milk in them.

The meat used in Boudin Blanc can be either minced pork, minced pork and veal, or chicken. The meat is finely-ground and mixed with bread and cream, then seasoned with spices such as marjoram and sage.

The sausages used to be mostly made for Christmas, but they are now made and sold year round. In France, truffles may sometimes be included in the ingredients, particularly at Christmas. In Belgium, for the Christmas and New Year period, they'll add mushrooms, raisins, and pineapple.

There are many different recipes in different regions:

Avranches		Onions, lard, chicken breast, cream, bread crumbs, pork, eggs, salt, pepper. (Avranches is in the Manche department, Normandy, on the Mont St-Michel Bay)
Castres Tarn		Half lean pork, half egg panade flavoured with herbs, wrapped in caul, baked in oven
Catalan or Pyrénées		Greyish white, added eggs and a good deal of herbs
Classic (made thoughout France)		White lean meat from pork and veal or chicken, pork fat, milk, eggs, sometimes truffles, in pork intestines, 5 to 6 inches (12 to 15 cm) long
Havre and Normandy style		Light yellow, lots of pork fat with no lean, very fatty, often milk, eggs, bread crumbs, a starch of some kind or rice flour
Mazamet Tarn		Half pork rind and half panade mixture based on egg, poached in water
Rethel, Ardennes		Lean meat, pork fat, milk, eggs, no starch or bread crumbs. Has IGP status since October 2001. In Rethel, a "boudin blanc" festival is held each April.
Richelieu (made throughout France)		Chicken. Sometimes truffles. rich, formed into balls, wrapped in caul fat.
South-West		Pork, breadcrumbs, starch, eggs, a good deal of herbs, beef intestines. about 1 1/2 inches in diameter

Regarded as particularly good are those versions made in Normandy and in the Loire valley.

Cooking Tips
The sausages are sold already cooked, and just need heating. You can reheat them in a slow frying pan with a small amount of butter, or bake them in a moderate oven with butter, quartered apples and a splash of Calvados, giving the apples a head start.

They are often served with mashed potato and apple sauce (often referred to as "deux purées de pomme.")

Also called:

Other entries for: Sausages

Aberdeen Sausage, Andouille Sausage, Andouillette, Baloney, Boudin Blanc à l’Oignon, Boudin Blanc Creole, Boudin Blanc, Boudin Vert, Bratwurst Sausage, Braunsweiger, Caña de Lomo, Chaurice, Chipolatas, Chorizo (Mexican), Chorizo (Spanish), Chouriço Sausage, Cumberland Sausage, Dampfwurst Sausages, Deerfoot Sausages, Glamorgan Sausages, Haslet, Krakauer Sausages, Lincolnshire Sausage, Linguiça, Lorne Sausage, Lucanicae, Luganega Sausage, Medisterpolse Sausage, Merguez Sausage, Morcón, Pan Sausage, Potato Korv, Rag Sausage, Sausagemeat, Sausages, Teewurst, Texas Hot Gut Sausages, Thuringia Bratwurst, Tube Sausage, Weißwürste, White Hots, Wieners, Zwyczajna Sausage, Zywiecka Sausage

Other entries for:

Meat
Affettati, Beef, Buffalo, Cap On / Cap Off, Game, Goat, Institutional Meat Purchase Specifications, Minced Meat, Offal, Paillards, Pork, Potted Meats, Poultry, Roasts, Sheep, Steak, Veal, Venison, Yak