Troyes & Champagne, France

France

Troyes is a medieval city in the Aube department of the Grand Est region, built in a shape locals compare to a champagne cork. It sits at the southern edge of the Champagne wine country, roughly 150 kilometres southeast of Paris, and has been a trading hub since the great medieval fairs that made 'troy weight' a standard measure across Europe. The city's most famous culinary export is the andouillette de Troyes, a coarse tripe sausage made from pure pork chitterlings, hand-tied in a characteristic spiral pattern and stamped with the AAAAA certification when it meets the standards of the Association Amicale des Amateurs d'Andouillettes Authentiques. Troyes andouillettes are distinct from those made elsewhere in France: the filling is unground, the texture is rough, and the smell is aggressive. Local charcutiers have made them this way for centuries. The city also produces Chaource, a soft-ripened cheese that pairs with the andouillette on menus across the region.