Caillettes

Caillettes refer to French minced meat mixed with cabbage or chard then cooked in a cloth. Caillettes is one of the pork products of Ardèche. Caillette, the coveted Ardéchois pâté made of pork, ground spice, provincial herbs and greens. Resembling a plump sausage, it is wrapped in a thin intestine. Caillette is so influenced by terroir, the recipe varies within kilometres. In higher climes, locals make it with cabbage. Those on the hills use spinach, and lower down by the river, it is made with salad leaves. We enjoy a punchy, garlic, meaty affair, but I am quickly told by fellow diners that purists expect it to be 50 per cent meat, 50 per cent greens and no garlic. To discover the finer intricacies of this pâté, enthusiastic gastronomes can head to the caillette fair, held in autumn in the town of Aubenas. Ardèche is a department in south-central France , in Rhones Alpes Region.