Diots au Vin

Savoyard·Medium·30 min

A Savoyard dish of diots — thick local pork sausages — braised in red or white wine with onions, until plump and bathed in a rich, wine-driven sauce. A hearty main of the Alpine table, served with potatoes or polenta.

Diots au vin is a traditional Savoyard dish built on the diot — a thick, coarse-ground pork sausage that is a specialty of Savoie. The diots are braised slowly in wine — red or white, depending on local tradition — with onions, until plump and tender. The dish is a hearty main of the Alpine table, served with potatoes, polenta, or crozets. No specific inventor or founding date is documented; it is a regional farmhouse preparation built on the local sausage and the wines of the region.

A plate of diots au vin brings up two or three plump sausages in a deep, glossy, wine-dark sauce with soft onions. The sausages are juicy and savory, their casing taut; the sauce is rich and tart from the wine, thickened slightly by the gelatin extracted from the sausages during the braise. Eaten hot with boiled potatoes or polenta.

Diots au vin rests on the braise of sausages in wine. The diots are first browned briefly to develop Maillard flavors on the casing; they are then braised gently in wine with onions. The wine's acidity and alcohol penetrate the casing and flavor the meat within; the long, gentle braise cooks the sausages through without splitting the casing, keeping them plump and juicy. The wine reduces during cooking, concentrating its flavors and the gelatin extracted from the sausages into a sauce that coats the sausages. The acidity of the wine cuts the richness of the pork.

Variations

Red or white wine versions exist; the diot sausage, the wine braise, and the onion are the constants.

On the Palate

Where Diots au Vin sits in the French flavor cloud

Ingredients

Serves 4

How it's made

6 steps · 30 min

1
8 min
Brown the diots briefly in butter in a heavy pan.
Watch out
Brown the sausages briefly first for color and flavor — but keep the later braise gentle, or a hard boil splits the casings and they dry out.
2
8 min
Add sliced onions and soften.
3
5 min
Pour in red or white wine to cover halfway; add a bouquet garni.
4
50 min
Cover and simmer gently for about an hour, until the sausages are plump and cooked through.
Watch out
Simmer gently about an hour until the sausages are plump and cooked through — a rolling boil bursts the skins and toughens the meat.
5
10 min
Reduce the sauce if needed to concentrate.
6
5 min
Serve hot with boiled potatoes or polenta.

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Dutch Oven

A heavy enameled or bare cast-iron lidded pot, 4-7 liters, with thick walls and a snug lid. The mass evens out hotspots; the lid traps moisture for braising. Sears on the stovetop, then transfers to a 150°C oven for 3-4 hours of even, contained heat — the structural difference between a beef bourguignon that comes out luminous and one that turns to gray mush. Le Creuset and Staub are the celebrated versions; an old American Wagner is functionally identical.

Techniques

Braising