Searching for sausage with grapes, a recipe from Lyon, France

Every year when the concord grapes in my garden ripen, I go on a recipe hunt for an amuse-bouche I was once served in a tiny restaurant in Lyon, France. So far I no luck, even though I asked a friend, a native from Lyon, and an excellent cook at that. Since the expert is always from out of town, with the well-travelled and francophile crowd on this site I might get lucky this year! - That unforgettable compliment from the chef were thick slices of a hearty sausage (I am usually not a big fan of sausage) cooked in crushed dark blue grapes, some of them still attached to their stems. You would only eat the sausage. It was October, so I figure the crushed grapes were leftovers from the harvest. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

Nadia Hassani
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4 Comments

usuba D. September 1, 2011
The staple fresh sausage of Lyon is saucisson a l'ail, garlic sausage.
 
Nadia H. August 31, 2011
Yes! Both pomace and confit seem to go in the right direction. Since I cannot get my hands on pomace, I will try this confit: http://blog.kelticlodge.ca/2011/04/21/red-grape-confit/ unless someone has a better recipe? - The Lydia Bastianich recipe to which Amanda pointed uses sweet Italian sausage w/o fennel, any other suggestions what type of sausage might work here?
 
usuba D. August 31, 2011
Most times the crushed grapes are "sold" to the French government to pay taxes. . . the government makes industrial alcohol from it. But, I am sure the nice people of Lyon can still get some of that wonderful pomace if you know the right vintner and they haven't already started to make Marc. But, I would more likely guess that the grapes were more a confit then from the pomace. So, I would start with cooking a grape confit and adding the sausage near the end to finish cooking out. Being Lyon, you are looking at wine grapes most likely. . . would be fun to try to find some and proceed from there.
 
Amanda H. August 30, 2011
Found this recipe from Lydia Bastianich: http://www.lidiasitaly.com/recipes/detail/897
 
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