There is an old French saying “Sans porc mieux vaut être mort” which translates as “without pork it is better to be dead” and there is no doubting the revere with which pigs are held in France as a source of delicious dishes. In the south west it is particularly the Cochon Noir or Black Gason Pig which is prized for it’s delicate smoky flavour and it’s versatility. There is still a local tradition of rearing and fattening a familial pig and the fête de la pèle-porc, (pig killing day) is still celebrated throughout the region; no where more so than in Trie-Sur Baise, a small market town in the Haute Pyrenees, where they hold an annual ‘Pourcailhade’ .
La Pourcailhade is a weekend fair of porcine celebration which offers every kind of pork delicacy - saucisse sèche and saucisson sec, boudin noir, red rosettes, hams, rôtis, poitrine, menscate de tête - and culminates in the Black Pudding Eating Championships. (For those of you who fancy your chances the current record is 1m 40cm in four minutes!).