Saucisson sec is the classic French dry-cured sausage — coarsely chopped pork and back fat, salted, seasoned with pepper, garlic and sometimes wine, packed into a casing and air-dried for weeks until it firms into a dense, sliceable stick coated in a chalky white bloom. Cut into thin coins it eats savoury, nutty, gently tangy and fatty, marbled deep rose and ivory, and is eaten cold without cooking — the cornerstone of the French apéritif and charcuterie board.