Rite of Passage

This is the Bureau Chief's fifth visit to France in this century. On each previous visit I considered trying a French delicacy of somewhat dubious reputation, andouillette. It's a sausage stuffed with pork chitterlings. Today, as I sat at lunch with Madame Le Chef, in a brasserie outside the grounds of the Chateau de Chantilly outside of Paris, I decided today was the day. I ordered the andouillette in mustard sauce and this is what arrived.

The sad truth was that it wasn't bad, but wasn't very good either. I've had beef tripe Italian style (tomato sauce) and Polish style (cream sauce) and I find a strong family resemblance between them and andouillette. All dishes had a very mild taste, tasting mostly of their sauces, and were tender but with a  bit of tooth resistance. They all had the same shredded rags look and mouth feel (as the foodies say). I don't get the point. I ate about half of the sausage. It may have been better grilled to a crisp and simply served with mustard but my experiments with this odd shaped object are over.