The Stinky French Sausage 法国臭香肠

One volunteer-based group is committed to preserving this cultural legacy.

一个以志愿者为主的团队致力于保护这一文化遗产。

The Telegraph writes that it “looks， smells， and tastes as if it should be in a lavatory，” while CNN reports it has “an easily identifiable aroma of decay.” They’re talking about andouillette， a tripe sausage hailing from1 France’s Champagne region that’s as divisive as it is beloved by those who can stomach it.

《每日电讯报》的文章称它“看起来、闻起来、吃起来都像是厕所里的东西”，而美国有线电视新闻网报道说，它有“一种易于辨认的腐臭味”。这两句说的都是安杜伊莱特香肠，一种来自法国香槟地区的内脏香肠。它既惹人争议，又让吃得下它的人爱不释口。

Andouillette boasts several regional variants， but its most well-known form is associated with the city of Troyes： pork tripe is soaked， scalded， sliced， and seasoned with aromatics like onions， nutmeg， and even Champagne. It is then threaded by hand into its casing and simmered for several hours before being sold.

安杜伊莱特香肠有几种因地区而异的做法，其中最有名的一种与特鲁瓦市有关。当地人把猪肚浸泡、汆烫、切片，再用洋葱、肉蔻，甚至香槟酒等芳香佐料来调味。然后，人们用手将猪肚灌入肠衣，炖煮几小时后即可出售。

It’s a style that， according to legend， is so delicious it distracted the royal army from their mission to reclaim Troyes during the Wars of Religion， giving the Catholic League the opportunity to counter-attack.

据传，用这个方法做出来的香肠非常美味，致使宗教战争期间执行收复特鲁瓦任务的皇家军队只顾大快朵颐，给了天主教联盟反攻的机会。

“On that day， andouillettes de Troyes made history，” says Laurent Jolivet， president and founder of POPY， a group that controls much of the market share of artisanal andouillette production.

“就在那一天，特鲁瓦的安杜伊莱特香肠创造了历史。”POPY集团的创始人兼总裁洛朗·若利韦表示。手工安杜伊莱特香肠制品的大半市场份额就掌握在POPY集团手中。

Today， andouillette represents just two percent of French charcuterie production， and as the French slowly fall out of love with their ancestral cured meats， andouillette bears the brunt of2 the burden.

如今，安杜伊莱特香肠仅占法国熟食制品产量的2%，而且随着法国人逐渐厌弃祖传的腌肉，安杜伊莱特香肠首当其冲。

This is just one of the issues currently faced by the Association Amicale des Amateurs d’Andouillette Authentique （Friendly Association of Lovers of Authentic Andouillette）， a group that， according to its current president， Jacques-Louis Delpal， “was born as a joke，” when five food critics began hosting regular andouillette-focused gatherings in the 1950s. Delpal， too， says he took his presidency “for a laugh” at first.

这只是“正宗安杜伊莱特香肠爱好者友好协会”（简称AAAAA或5A）当前面临的问题之一。据现任主席雅克-路易·德尔帕尔称，该协会的“诞生实属玩笑之举”。上世纪50年代，五位美食评论家开始定期以安杜伊莱特香肠为主题举办聚会。德尔帕尔说自己一开始接任主席也是“出于好玩”。

“But over time，” he says， “I started to take things a bit more seriously. I have to.” And that’s because this saus-age can be even worse than its critics claim.

他说：“但是随着时间推移，我开始认真起来。我不得不认真。”这是因为这种香肠的处境可能比评论家们说的更糟糕。

“When you’ve tasted a few， it’s quite clear，” says Delpal. “Either it’s very， very good， or it’s disgusting. There’s no middle ground.”

“要是你尝过几种，就会明白。”德尔帕尔说，“要么好吃得要命，要么恶心得要死。没有中间地带。”

It’s the AAAAA’s mission to separ-ate these “aggressive” andouillettes from the crème de la crème3. They make these decisions at a biannual tasting organized at Parisian charcuterie school CEPROC. Today， about 25 producers—both industrial and artisanal—boast the 5A diploma.

AAAAA的使命就是把“添乱的”安杜伊莱特香肠从精品中区分出来。巴黎瑟铂克熟食制品烹饪学校每年举办两次安杜伊莱特香肠品鉴会，会上AAAAA对送评香肠作出认定。现在，已有约25家工业生产商或手工生产者获得了5A证书。

Culinary journalist and 5A vice president Vincent Ferniot noted that the most important factor in their decision-making is： “If we were served this andouillette in a restaurant with the 5A label， would we be disappointed？”

美食记者兼5A副主席樊尚·费尔尼奥指出，他们最看重的考量因素是：“在有5A标志的餐馆里吃到这个安杜伊莱特香肠，我们会失望吗？”

Unlike the AOP4 or AOC5， the 5A diploma is not recognized at the national level， and the volunteer-based organ- ization doesn’t have the funds to sue. All they can do is ask nicely， says Ferniot.

不同于AOP或AOC证书，5A证书并非国家级认证，而且5A这个以志愿者为主的组织也没钱打官司。费尔尼奥说，他们能做的只有客气地提出要求。

It’s sneaky but understandable that a bistro owner would lie about the provenance of his andouillette. After all， 5A is a marker of quality， which paves the way for a higher price tag.

小餐馆的老板谎报店里安杜伊莱特香肠的来源，虽然可鄙，但也能理解。毕竟，5A是高品质的标志，也为提高标价做了铺垫。

“French people hate paying more for sausage or offal or charcuterie，” Delpal says. “They’ll pay a lot for big cuts of meat or wine， but for an andouillette， when it costs more than 22， 24 euros at a restaurant， they find that expensive. And that’s not really fair， because there’s a lot more work in an andouillette than in an entrecôte.”

“法国人不喜欢为香肠、下水、熟食多花钱。”德尔帕尔说，“他们愿意为大块肉排或者葡萄酒花一大笔钱。说起安杜伊莱特香肠，一旦餐馆要价超过22或24欧元，他们就觉得太贵。这实在是不太公平，因为做安杜伊莱特香肠可比做大块牛排费工夫得多。”

And it’s work that takes quite a lot of time and effort to master， not in the least because charcuterie school doesn’t actually teach this skill. “They teach charcuterie on the whole， hygiene and all that，” says Delpal. “But to make an andouillette？ For that， you need to go to the source.”

制作安杜伊莱特香肠也是一种要花大量时间和精力才能掌握的活计，尤其是因为熟食制品烹饪学校其实并不教授这项技能。“他们教授熟食的一般知识，卫生要求之类的。”德尔帕尔说，“要做安杜伊莱特香肠？你要找到源头。”

One such source is Christophe Thierry， an AAAAA-recognized charcutier just outside of Troyes. According to Delpal， “pretty much all” of the charcutiers who want to learn this traditional art “spend a day or two” with Thierry.