Chocolate butter on a savory sausage sounds wrong until you taste it. This is boudin blanc, the delicate French white sausage, sliced thin and laid over a spiced butternut puree, then baked in small casserole dishes. The Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter does the job of a sauce here: it melts down into the pork, leaves a faint bitterness behind the four-spice, and browns the top. Figure on about 30 minutes of hands-on work and 20 minutes in the oven.
At a glance
- Difficulty: Easy
- Serves: 4
- Active time: 30 minutes
- Cook: 20 minutes at 200°C (400°F)
- Key ingredient: 35 g (1.2 oz) Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter
Why this works
Cocoa and pork have a long history together. Mexican mole, Catalan picada, old French civets: cooks have used a little bitter chocolate to give meat sauces depth without sweetness. What is unusual about the Bordier version is the delivery. This is a 2024 seasonal butter built from 68% Ghanaian cocoa with roasted cacao nibs folded through it, so the cocoa arrives suspended in butterfat rather than as a bar you have to melt and stabilize. Butterfat spreads. Chocolate seizes. Drop cubes of this butter over hot sausage and it simply runs, coating everything evenly.
The four-spice powder is the bridge. Quatre-epices leans on pepper, clove, nutmeg and ginger, all of which sit comfortably next to cocoa, and it keeps the butternut from tasting like dessert. Meanwhile the squash brings enough natural sugar to keep the cocoa from turning harsh. Bordier churns every batch by hand in Brittany on a traditional wooden malaxeur, which leaves the butter softer and more pliable than a machine-pressed block, so you can cut it into small cubes straight from the fridge without it shattering.
Ingredients
Four servings, split across four small casserole dishes or one shallow baking dish.
| Ingredient | Metric | US |
|---|---|---|
| Boudin blanc (French white sausage) | 2 | 2 sausages |
| Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter | 35 g | 1.2 oz (about 2 1/2 tbsp) |
| Butternut squash | 1 | 1 squash |
| Four-spice powder (quatre-epices) | 1 pinch | 1 pinch |
| Salt | 4 pinches | 4 pinches |
| Chestnut chips | Optional | Optional |
Method
Step 1: Make the spiced butternut puree
Peel the butternut and cut it into rough cubes. Boil in salted water until a knife slides through with no resistance, then drain well and blend until completely smooth. Add the pinch of four-spice and beat in 15 g (about 1 tbsp) of the chocolate butter.
Step 2: Heat the oven and butter the dishes
Preheat the oven to 200°C (400°F). Use 5 g (about 1 tsp) of the butter to grease the casserole dishes, then spread the puree across the bottom of each one.
Step 3: Build the rosettes
Peel the casing off the boudin blanc and cut the sausage into slices 2 to 3 mm thick, roughly 1/8 inch. Overlap the slices on top of the puree in a rosette. Cut the remaining butter into small cubes and scatter them over the sausage.
Step 4: Bake and finish
Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes. Add a few chestnut pieces on top for a festive finish.
Tips from our kitchen
- Drain the squash properly. Boiled butternut holds a lot of water, and a loose puree will weep under the sausage and leave a puddle in the dish. Let it steam dry in the colander for a couple of minutes, or return it to the dry pan over low heat and stir until it stops steaming, before you blend.
- Chill the boudin before slicing. Boudin blanc is soft and will smear under the knife at room temperature. Twenty minutes in the freezer firms it enough to cut clean 2 to 3 mm rounds with a thin, sharp blade.
- Keep the butter cold until the last second. The cubes should still be firm when they go into the oven so they melt slowly and baste the sausage as it heats. Butter that has already softened on the counter will pool immediately and the top will not brown the same way.
- Go light on the four-spice. One pinch is genuinely one pinch. Clove and nutmeg are aggressive, and if they get ahead of the cocoa the dish tastes like spiced cake rather than a savory cocotte.
- Watch for the sausage drying out. Twenty minutes at 200°C (400°F) is enough to heat boudin blanc through and color the edges. Past that it goes grainy. If your slices are thicker than 3 mm, check at 15 minutes.
- One dish works too. If you do not have individual cocottes, use a single shallow gratin dish. Keep the puree layer no deeper than about 2 cm so the heat reaches the sausage in the same time.
How to serve it
Maison Bordier suggests a spinach salad with a white balsamic vinaigrette alongside, which is the right instinct: the dish is rich and soft, and it wants something raw, green and sharp next to it. Serve the cocottes straight from the oven while the butter is still visibly melting. If you want to understand what else this butter can do once you have opened a block, our Bordier butter guide walks through the full range and how chefs use each flavor.
Where to buy Bordier Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter in the US
The French Pantry ships Bordier butter across the United States in insulated overnight packaging, straight from the workshop in Brittany.
- Churned Seasonal Chocolate and Cacao Nib Butter by Bordier (4.4 oz): 68% Ghanaian cocoa and roasted cacao nibs churned into fresh Breton butter, made in seasonal batches.
This one comes and goes with the season, so if it is out of stock, browse the Maison Bordier collection to see what is currently churning.
Frequently asked questions
How much Bordier chocolate butter do I need for this recipe?
The recipe calls for 35 g. A Bordier block is 125 g, or 4.4 oz, so a single block covers this dish with about 90 g left over. One block is plenty even if you double the recipe to eight servings.
Can I substitute a different Bordier butter?
Yes, though you lose the cocoa. The closest savory match is the Bordier Salted Butter, which is semi-salted at 2.8% and carries caramel and hazelnut notes of its own. Do not try to fake the flavor by stirring cocoa powder into plain butter: the powder stays gritty and turns dusty in the oven.
Where do I find boudin blanc in the US?
Look for it at French and European butchers and charcuterie counters, especially from late autumn onward, when it is a holiday item in France. It is a fine-textured white sausage of pork, milk and eggs, and it is quite different from Cajun boudin blanc, which is rice-based and much more heavily spiced.
How should I store the butter?
Keep it wrapped in the refrigerator and use it within the date on the pack. Bordier butter freezes well if you are not going to get through a block: wrap it tightly, freeze it whole rather than in pieces, and thaw it overnight in the fridge.
Does Bordier butter need to be refrigerated?
Yes. Bordier butter is a fresh, hand-churned product and ships cold. Unpack it and refrigerate it as soon as it arrives. Take out only what you need for the recipe and let those pieces come to a workable temperature on the counter.
Can I prepare any of this ahead?
The butternut puree can be made a day ahead and refrigerated, then warmed gently before it goes into the dishes. Slice the sausage and cut the butter cubes just before assembly, and bake the cocottes to order.
Related reading
- Bordier Butter: What It Is, Why Chefs Love It, and How to Use It
- How to Choose Your French Butter: A Buyer's Guide
- Paysan Breton: The Breton Butter Guide
Recipe and photograph adapted from Maison Bordier, with thanks. The French Pantry is an authorized US retailer of Bordier butter.