Marseille Lamb Tripes
The Marseille style lamb's feet and tripes are commonly called Pieds et Paquets or Pieds-Paquets in the south of France. These "lamb's trotters and tripes" have become a traditional element of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur gastronomy, highly appreciated by lovers of offal.
The typical Pieds-Paquets lamb dish from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur dates back to the ending Middle Ages and still knows a great success in this region of France. The authentic Marseilles recipe of lamb tripes is quite precise, requiring the renowned know-how of Provencal cooks. That is one of the reasons why Pieds et Paquets is traditionally reserved for village get-togethers and family reunions in the South of France.
Composed of lamb stomach and feet cooked with pork belly, the popularity of this speciality of the South of France lies in the delicious "packages" or "parcels" made out of lamp tripes, stuffed with bacon or ham and persillade (typical French sauce with parsley), then rolled and tied with string. These Marseille lamb paquets rapidly became a popular speciality of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur gastronomy.
The Marseille offal dish can be cooked either with sheep or lamb, but the traditional French recipe specifies both the parcels and feet have to be stewed for at least 8 hours with streaky bacon, tomatoes, white wine and fine herbs of Provence.
Top Tip! Lovers of Provencal cuisine will be charmed by this traditional lamb dish from Marseille often complemented with steamed potatoes sprinkled with chopped parsley. People from the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region like to accompany the Pieds-Paquets with a tasty red wine from Bandol, Vaqueras or Cairane.
And for a further touch of Provence, do try the delightful Calissons d'Aix - sweet speciality from Aix en Provence - to end off your dinner!
Local Pieds-Paquets are a gem of gastronomy for the Chefs of the south of France: after having cooked the packages of lamb tripes, prepared the casserole with the trotters, you can finally brown the dish, cook the Marseille tripes au gratin just before serving them. The result is just mouth-watering!
