Le petit salé – French traditions at its best

Level: Easy
Total time: 3h 30 min + 8 hours soaking of lentils and meat

Maybe the biggest French classic; Le Petit Salé, or “The Slightly Salted”, is based on salted pork meat and smoked sausages cooked with green Puy lentils and vegetables. It is incredibly tasty and a very healthy stew variety. It is also a really easy dish to make, but as for any stew, it takes time for the meat to get tender. Le Petit Salé is a typical autumn and winter dish that I love to serve when the rough weather encourages to snuggle up with cozy comfort food and a good glass of red wine:-)

Le Petit Salé originates from Auvergne, a region in south-central France where the tradition of cooking the combination of salted meat and lentils goes all the way back to the 14th century. The qualitative green lentils from Puy, also called the vegetable caviar, are produced massively in the region. They received the label AOC in 1996 as the first vegetable ever to receive this certification of quality and origin. France is a minor producer of lentils on a world basis, but they offer excellent quality so it is definitely worth looking out for the AOC label next time you go shopping for lentils.

THE TIPS TO SUCCEED

1: Le Petit Salé should simmer, but never boil with big bubbles, in order to allow for optimum texture for both the meat and the lentils.

2: The smoked sausage is important as it adds a lot of taste so I advise you to choose a good quality sausage. In France, the Montbeliard Sausage is most commonly used.

3: As for most stews, Le Petit Salé is even better reheated the next day. The sauce that naturally forms around the lentils will get thicker and the taste settles further.

Let’s get started

Before you start cooking: The salted porc should be left in cold water for 6-8 hours (unless this has already been done by your butcher) and the lentils should be rinsed and covered in cold water for approx 8 hours (maximum 12 hours).

Important: No salt needs to be added to the stew since the pork is providing sufficient salt.

Ingredients

Serves 6

Step 1 – Simmer the salted porc

• 1,5 kg (3,3 lb) Salted pork meat (shoulder, ribs, belly…)
• 1 pcs Carrot
• 1 pcs Onion
• 1 pcs Clove
• 1 pcs bay leaf
• 2 pcs Thyme stems
• Pepper

Step 2 – Adding lentils, vegetables and sausages

• 600 g (1,3 lb) Puy Lentils or other green lentils
• 4 pcs carrots
• 1 pcs onion
• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 100ml (2/5 cups) Dry white wine
• 4 pcs Smoked pork sausages

Step 3 – Glazed onions (This step is optional and not part of the traditional recipes)

• 250 g (0,5 lb) Pearl onions
• 50 g (0,1 lb) Butter
• 2 tbsp Sugar
• 1 pinch Salt

For serving:

• Dijon Mustard

How to do it?

Step 1 – Simmer the salted porc

Start by covering the pieces of salted pork with fresh cold water and bring to boil.

Once it boils, remove the foam that forms at the surface regularly for the first 10-15 minutes, or until no further foam is generated.

While this is being done eel the onion and carrot and cut them into four pieces. Place the clove in the onion so it is easy to remove it from the pot later on.

When there is no more foam appearing on the surface, add the onion, carrot, bay leaf, thyme, and pepper, and let it all simmer carefully for approx 2 hours.

Remove the onion, carrot, bay leaf and thyme from the pot and throw them away. You have all the taste and nutrition left in the stock.

Remove approx half of the stock and keep it separately.

Step 2 – Adding lentils, vegetables, and sausages

Cut the onion finely, peel the carrots and cut them in slices.

Heat the olive oil in a pan and quickly fry the onions until tender but not colored and add them to the pot containing the meat. Add the carrots and the white wine.

Drain the lentils and add them to the pot. You might need to add some of the stock back into the pot until the lentils are fully covered.

Let everything simmer for approx 45 minutes or until the lentils are cooked but still a little bit al dente in the middle. Add the sausages to the pot for the last 15 minutes.

Step 3 – Glazed onions (This step is optional and not part of the traditional recipes)

This can be prepared while the lentils are simmering:

Peel the pearl onions and put them in a saute pan if you have one, if not use a high-edged frying pan.

Add 150 ml of water, butter, sugar, and salt and cover with the baking paper as illustrated in the photo.

When the water has evaporated, remove the paper and move carefully the onions in the mixture of butter and sugar which should now have a texture of a sirup.

Check your onions every now and then. If they have become tender and there is still a lot of water to evaporate you might want to cheat a bit… You can use a skimmer to remove delicately your onions and let the water/butter/sugar mixture continue to boil until the water has evaporated and you are left with the butter/sugar mixture. Add back the onions and finalize the glazing.

Add the glazed onions on top when serving.

How to serve Le Petit Salé?

If you want to eat Le Petit Salé as the French do then it MUST be served with Dijon mustard! I prefer it without the mustard but that is apparently rather unheard of 😉 Bon appetit!