Instructions: (If the intestines, etc., have not been cleaned, soak in cold water for 24 hours in a cool place. Overnight only in warm, humid weather. Then clean and scrape them. Simmer for an hour in water.)

Set aside enough intestine for the casings-thinner pieces for andouillettes, fatter for andouilles-and out them into suitable lengths. Sprinkle with salt and store in the refrigerator or the coolest part of the larder.

Slice up, with scissors or a sharp knife, the rest of the intestine and the belly, into strips 1/3 to 1/2 inch wide and a little shorter than your lengths of casing. Put them in a bowl and sprinkle with plenty of salt, freshly ground black pepper, and a mixture of spices such as quatre-spices. Remember that andouillettes and andouilles need a strong spice contrast to the slightly rubbery smoothness of the tripe filling. Let the strips macerate in the seasonings for 24 hours, in a cool, dry place.

Next day, out the fat bacon into pieces about the width and length of the tripe pieces. If you refrigerate the fat first, this job becomes quite easy. Divide the tripe and bacon strips into bundles and tie each one, at one end, with a length of "heavy- duty" white thread.

Wash the salt off the casings, and draw the bundles in, by means of the

"heavy-duty" thread (this is where the neat-figured are at a premium). Cut away the thread and tie the andouilles or andouillettes at each end.

(If this process appalls you, you can, more simply, chop the tripe and bacon fat rather than slice it into regular lengths. If you have a sausage-making attachment to an electric mixer, you can treat the mixture like sausage meat and fill the skins that way-but use the very large-holed plate as the final result should not be too smooth or solid in texture.)

If the knobbiness of your andouilles and andouillettes seems excessively exaggerated, roll them backward and forward with the palm of your hand on a smooth surface (Formica or marble slab).

Cooking Andouillettes

Prick them with a darning needle and arrange evenly in a large saucepan. Cover with milk and water in equal quantities, add the other bouillon ingredients, and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 3 hours. Leave them to cool down in the liquid until tepid, then lay them side by side closely in a shallow dish and put a lightly weighted board on top. This gives a handsome squared-off appearance, which is not strictly necessary but gratifying. In France they are often glazed with a mixture of lard and veal fat in equal quantities, or-when the weather gets warmer-with one fifth mutton fat and four fifths veal fat.

Now they can be fried, or else slashed across in three or four places and grilled. Serve them on their own, as a starting course, with French mustard; or with mashed potato as a main luncheon dish. Well-spiced andouillettes are a great treat and worth the trouble of making.

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