Sausage

Belutak is the traditional Bruneian beef sausage.[13] It is made with minced beef and tallow, marinated with garlic, salt, chillies and spices, and stuffed into cow's or buffalo's small intestines.[13][14] It is then fermented through dehydration.[13] Belutak is a common side dish alongside ambuyat.[14]

Smoked sausages from Harbin, China

A European-style smoked savory hóng cháng (simplified Chinese: 红肠; traditional Chinese: 紅腸 red sausage) is produced in Harbin, China's northernmost major city.[15] It is similar to Lithuanian and Polish sausages including kiełbasa and podhalańska and tends to have a more European flavour than other Chinese sausages. This kind of sausage was first produced in a Russian-capitalized factory named Churin sausage factory in 1909. Harbin-style sausage has become popular in China, especially in northern regions.[15]

Lap cheong (simplified Chinese: 腊肠; traditional Chinese: 臘腸; pinyin: làcháng; Jyutping: laap6 coeng4; Cantonese Yale: laahp chéung; also lap chong, lap chung, lop chong) are dried pork sausages that look and feel like pepperoni but are much sweeter. In southwestern China, sausages are flavored with salt, red pepper and wild pepper. People often cure sausages by smoking and air drying.

There are several Lao sausage types, but the most popular are sai ua and sai gork that have a unique taste and are different from most sausages found internationally. Sai oua is an ancient Lao word that literally combines sai (intestine) with ua (stuffed). It originated from Luang Prabang, an ancient royal capital of the former Lan Xang kingdom (1353-1707) located in Northern Laos.[16] Sai ua moo (Lao sausage made with pork meat) was listed among a collection of hand-written recipes from Phia Sing (1898–1967), the king's personal chef and master of ceremonies.[17] Both sai ua and sai gork are some of the most popular traditional Lao dishes enjoyed by Lao people not only in Laos[18] but also in countries where Lao people have migrated to.[19]

Various types of Philippine longganisa in Quiapo, Manila

In the Philippines, sausages are generally called longaniza (Filipino: longganisa) in the northern regions and chorizo (Visayan: choriso, tsoriso or soriso) in the southern regions. They are usually fresh or smoked sausages, distinguished primarily by either being sweet (jamonado or hamonado) or garlicky (de recado or derecado). There are numerous kinds of sausages in the Philippines, usually unique to a specific region like Vigan longganisa, Alaminos longganisa, and Chorizo de Cebu. The most widely known sausages in Philippine cuisine is the Pampanga longganisa. Bulk sausage versions are also known in Philippine English as "skinless sausages". There are also a few dry sausages like Chorizo de Bilbao and Chorizo de Macao. Most Filipino sausages are made from pork, but they can also be made from chicken, beef, or even tuna.[20]

Sai krok Isan being freshly grilled at a market in Uttaradit, Thailand

There are many varieties of sausages known to Thai cuisine, some of which are specialities of a specific region of Thailand. From northern Thailand comes sai ua, a grilled minced pork sausage flavored with curry paste and fresh herbs.[21] Another grilled sausage is called sai krok Isan, a fermented sausage with a distinctive slightly sour taste from northeastern Thailand (the region also known as Isan).[22]

Sausages, seen in The Covered Market, Oxford

In the UK and Ireland, sausages are a very popular and common feature of the national diet and popular culture. British sausages[23] and Irish sausages are normally made from raw (i.e., uncooked, uncured, unsmoked) pork, beef, venison or other meats mixed with a variety of herbs and spices and cereals, many recipes of which are traditionally associated with particular regions (for example Cumberland sausages). They normally contain a certain amount of rusk or bread-rusk, and are traditionally cooked by frying, grilling or baking. They are most typically 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) long, the filling compressed by twisting the casing into concatenated "links" into the sausage skin, traditionally made from the prepared intestine of the slaughtered animal; most commonly a pig.

Due to their habit of often exploding due to shrinkage of the tight skin during cooking, they are often referred to as bangers, particularly when served with the most common accompaniment of mashed potatoes to form a bi-national dish known as bangers and mash.[24][25]

Pigs in blankets is a dish consisting of small sausages (usually chipolatas) wrapped in bacon.[26][27][28] They are a popular and traditional accompaniment to roast turkey in a Christmas dinner and are served as a side dish.[29][27][30]

In Dublin, sausages are often served in a stew called coddle where they are boiled without first being browned.[31]

There are various laws concerning the meat content of sausages in the UK. The minimum meat content to be labelled pork sausages is 42% (30% for other types of meat sausages), although to be classed as meat, the pork can contain 30% fat and 25% connective tissue. Often the cheapest supermarket pork sausages do not have the necessary meat content to be described as pork sausages and are simply labelled sausages; with even less meat content they are described as bangers (an unregulated name).[32] These typically contain MRM which was previously included in meat content, but under later EU law cannot be so described.[33][34]

A popular breakfast food is the square sausage, also known as a Lorne sausage. This is normally eaten as part of a full Scottish breakfast or on a Scottish morning roll. The sausage is produced in a rectangular block and individual portions are sliced off. It is seasoned mainly with pepper. It is rarely seen outside Scotland.[35]

See the section Nordic countries below

Saucissons in a market in the south of France

French distinguishes between saucisson (sec), cured sausage eaten uncooked, and saucisse, fresh sausage that needs cooking. Saucisson is almost always made of pork cured with salt, spices, and occasionally wine or spirits, but it has many variants which may be based on other meats and include nuts, alcohol, and other ingredients. It also differentiates between saucisson and boudin ("pudding") which are similar to the British Black, White and Red puddings.

Specific kinds of French sausage include:

• Fresh sausages, mostly grilled, sometimes stewed
  • Boudin blanc, a soft, light-colored sausage made of chicken, pork, or veal, or a mixture, and usually also containing eggs and milk;
  • Boudin noir, a blood sausage;
  • Andouillette, made of pork intestines;
  • Cervelas de Lyon, with pistachios or truffles;
  • Chipolata, thin and long;
  • Crépinette, a small, flattened sausage wrapped in caul fat rather than a casing;
  • Merguez, a spicy mutton- or beef-based sausage;
  • Saucisse de Toulouse, often used in cassoulet

• Cured or smoked sausages, saucisson, served thinly sliced
  • Andouille, usually smoked, made primarily of pork intestines
  • Rosette de Lyon
  • Saucisse de Morteau, smoked
  • Saucisson de Lyon

Other French sausages include the diot.

A plate of Milzwurst – spleen sausage, served with potato salad, mayonnaise and lemon.

There is an enormous variety of German sausages. Some examples of German sausages include Frankfurters/Wieners, Bratwürste, Rindswürste, Knackwürste, and Bockwürste. Currywurst, a dish of sausages with curry sauce, is a popular fast food in Germany.

Loukaniko Lemonato

Loukániko (Greek: λουκάνικο) is the common Greek word for pork sausage.

The name 'loukaniko' is derived from ancient Roman cuisine.

See the section Nordic countries below

Lucanica di Picerno

Italian sausages (salsiccia – plural salsicce) are often made of pure pork. Sometimes they may contain beef. Fennel seeds and chilli are generally used as the primary spices in the South of Italy, while in the center and North of the country black pepper and garlic are more often used.

An early example of Italian sausage is lucanica, discovered by Romans after the conquest of Lucania. Lucanica's recipe changed over the centuries and spread throughout Italy and the world with slightly different names.[36] Today, lucanica sausage is identified as Lucanica di Picerno, produced in Basilicata (whose territory was part of the ancient Lucania).[37]

A different type of sausage that is popular in Italy, found in many varieties, is salame (plural salami), made from coarsely ground meat (pork or beef) mixed with fat, salted and dried. Spices are added as for salsiccia. Salami are ready-to-eat as purchased; typically, they are sliced thinly for consumption and eaten cold, for instance as salumi.

Maltese sausage (Maltese: Zalzett tal-Malti) is made of pork, sea salt, black peppercorns, coriander seeds and parsley. It is short and thick in shape and can be eaten grilled, fried, stewed, steamed or even raw when freshly made. A barbecue variety is similar to the original but with a thinner skin and less salt.[38][39]

Sausages on a barbecue in Oslo

Nordic sausages (Danish: pølse, Norwegian: pølsa/pølse/pylsa/korv/kurv, Icelandic: bjúga/pylsa/grjúpán/sperðill, Swedish: korv) are usually made of 60–80% very finely ground pork, very sparsely spiced with pepper, nutmeg, allspice or similar sweet spices (ground mustard seed, onion and sugar may also be added). Water, lard, rind, potato starch flour and soy or milk protein are often added for binding and filling. In southern Norway, grilled and wiener sausages are often wrapped in a lompe, a potato flatbread somewhat similar to a lefse.

Virtually all sausages will be industrially precooked and either fried or warmed in hot water by the consumer or at the hot dog stand. Since hot dog stands are ubiquitous in Denmark (known as Pølsevogn) some people regard pølser as one of the national dishes, perhaps along with medisterpølse, a fried, finely ground pork and bacon sausage. The most noticeable aspect of Danish boiled sausages (never the fried ones) is that the casing often contains a traditional bright-red dye. They are also called wienerpølser and legend has it they originate from Vienna where it was once ordered that day-old sausages be dyed as a means of warning.

The traditional Swedish falukorv is a sausage made of a grated mixture of pork and beef or veal with potato flour and mild spices, similarly red-dyed sausage, but about 5 cm thick, usually baked in the oven coated in mustard or cut in slices and fried. The sausage got its name from Falun, the city from where it originates, after being introduced by German immigrants who came to work in the region's mines. Unlike most other ordinary sausages it is a typical home dish, not sold at hot dog stands. Other Swedish sausages include prinskorv, fläskkorv, köttkorv and isterband; all of these, in addition to falukorv, are often accompanied by potato mash or rotmos (a root vegetable mash) rather than bread. Isterband is made of pork, barley groats and potato and is lightly smoked.

In Iceland, lamb may be added to sausages, giving them a distinct taste. Horse sausage and mutton sausage are also traditional foods in Iceland, although their popularity is waning. Liver sausage, which has been compared to haggis, and blood sausage are also a common foodstuff in Iceland.

See the section Nordic countries above

Polish sausages: myśliwska, surowa, góralska, biała, parówkowa

Polish sausages, kiełbasa, come in a wide range of styles such as swojska, krajańska, szynkowa (a ham sausage), biała, śląska, krakowska, podhalańska, kishka and others. Sausages in Poland are generally made of pork, rarely beef. Sausages with low meat content and additions like soy protein, potato flour or water binding additions are regarded as of low quality. Because of climate conditions, sausages were traditionally preserved by smoking, rather than drying, like in Mediterranean countries.

Since the 14th century, Poland excelled in the production of sausages, thanks in part to the royal hunting excursions across virgin forests with game delivered as gifts to friendly noble families and religious hierarchy across the country. The extended list of beneficiaries of such diplomatic generosity included city magistrates, academy professors, voivodes, szlachta. Usually the raw meat was delivered in winter and the processed meat throughout the rest of the year. With regard to varieties, early Italian, French and German influences played a role. Meat commonly preserved in fat and by smoking was mentioned by historian Jan Długosz in his annals:Annales seu cronici incliti regni Poloniae The Annales covered events from 965 to 1480, with mention of the hunting castle in Niepołomice along with King Władysław sending game to Queen Zofia from Niepołomice Forest, the most popular hunting ground for the Polish royalty beginning in the 13th century.[4]

Sausage in Curitiba, Brazil

Embutidos (or enchidos) such as chouriço, linguiça, or alheira generally contain hashed meat, most commonly pork, seasoned with aromatic herbs or spices (pepper, red pepper, paprika, garlic, rosemary, thyme, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, etc.).

Smoked sausage. Buryatia, Russia

Traditional Russian cuisine eschews the fine cutting or grounding of meat. Thus sausagemaking, though generally known in Russia since at least 12th century, was not popular and largely started in earnest with the Petrine reforms, when a lot of Western products and practices were introduced. Traditional sausages were based on mixing meat with cereals, much like modern kishka and Polish kaszanka, while the newer purely meat varieties were made in German and Polish styles, often highly spiced and loaded with preservatives for non-refrigerated storage. One of the pre-revolutionary recipes specified as much as half pound of saltpetre per a pood of meat.[40]

After the Revolution, the sausage-making was largely concentrated in large, governmentally controlled meat processing plants, often built from the American examples, which introduced new, medically controlled and industrially made styles such as omnipresent Soviet bolognas — Doktorskaya sausage and its fatter Lyubitelskaya variant, as well as generic wieners and very status-loaded and scarce smoked sausages and salamis. Traditional sausages continued to be made for local consumption by the farmers and such, often sold on Kolkhoz markets, like the home-style sausage, made from roughly minced pork and its fat, spiced with garlic and black pepper — this was a raw sausage, intended for roasting or grilling, but sometimes cooked by hot smoking for preservation and flavour (this variant is often called Ukrainian).

Since the return of capitalism, all imaginable types of sausage are produced and imported in Russia, but the traditional styles, be it a factory made Doctor's bologna, artisanal links of delicately smoked Ukrainian or boldly red Krakow, or buckwheat-stuffed blood sausage, still endure.

Types of sausages in Serbia include Sremska, Požarevačka, and Sudžuk.

Sausage vendor in Madrid, Spain

In Spain, fresh sausages, salchichas, which are eaten cooked, and cured sausages, embutidos, which are eaten uncooked, are two distinct categories. Among the cured sausages are found products like chorizo, salchichón, and sobrasada. Blood sausage, morcilla, is found in both cured and fresh varieties. They are made with pork meat and blood, usually adding rice, garlic, paprika and other spices. There are many regional variations, and in general they are either fried or cooked in cocidos.

Fresh sausage may be red or white. Red sausages contain paprika (pimentón in Spanish) and are usually fried; they can also contain other spices such as garlic, pepper or thyme. The most popular type of red sausage is perhaps txistorra, a thin and long paprika sausage originating in Navarre. White sausages do not contain paprika and can be fried, boiled in wine, or, more rarely, in water.

See the section Nordic countries above

Cervelat

The cervelat, a cooked sausage, is often referred to as Switzerland's national sausage. A great number of regional sausage specialties exist as well, including air-dried such as salami.

In Ukrainian sausage is called "kovbasa" (ковбаса). It is a general term and is used to describe a variety of sausages including "domashnia" (homemade kovbasa), "pechinky" (liver kovbasa), "krovianka" (kovbasa filled with blood and buckwheat) and "vudzhena" (smoked kovbasa). The traditional varieties are similar to Polish kielbasa.

It is served in a variety of ways such as fried with onions atop varenyky, sliced on rye bread, eaten with an egg and mustard sauce, or in "Yayechnia z Kovbosoyu i yarnoyu" a dish of fried kovbasa with red capsicum and scrambled eggs. In Ukraine kovbasa may be roasted in an oven on both sides and stored in ceramic pots with lard. The sausage is often made at home; however it has become increasingly brought at markets and even supermarkets. Kovbasa also tends to accompany "pysanka" (dyed and decorated eggs) as well as the eastern Slavic bread, paska in Ukrainian baskets at Easter time and is blessed by the priest with holy water before being consumed.[41]

In most of Latin America, a few basic types of sausages are consumed, with slight regional variations on each recipe. These are chorizo (raw, rather than cured and dried like its Spanish namesake), longaniza (usually very similar to chorizo but longer and thinner), morcilla or relleno (blood sausage), and salchichas (often similar to hot dogs or Vienna sausages). Beef tends to be more predominant than in the pork-heavy Spanish equivalents.

In Argentina and Uruguay, many sausages are consumed. Eaten as part of the traditional asado, chorizo (beef and/or pork, flavored with spices) and morcilla (blood sausage or black pudding) are the most popular. Both share a Spanish origin. One local variety is the salchicha argentina (Argentine sausage), criolla or parrillera (literally, barbecue-style), made of the same ingredients as the chorizo but thinner.[42] There are hundreds of salami-style sausages. Very popular is the salame tandilero, from the city of Tandil. Other types include longaniza, cantimpalo and soppressata.[43]

Vienna sausages are eaten as an appetizer or in hot dogs (called panchos), which are usually served with different sauces and salads. Leberwurst is usually found in every market. Weisswurst is also a common dish in some regions, eaten usually with mashed potatoes or chucrut (sauerkraut).[44][45]

Longaniza is the most common type of sausage, or at least the most common name in Chile for sausages that also could be classified as chorizo. The Chilean variety is made of four parts pork to one part bacon (or less) and seasoned with finely ground garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, paprika and chilli sauce. The cities of Chillán and San Carlos are known among Chileans for having the best longanizas.[46][47]

Another traditional sausage is the prieta, the Chilean version of blood sausage, generally known elsewhere in Latin America as morcilla. In Chile, it contains onions, spices and sometimes walnut or rice and is usually eaten at asados or accompanied by simple boiled potatoes. It sometimes has a very thick skin so is cut open lengthwise before eating. "Vienesa"s or Vienna sausages are also very common and are mainly used in the completo, the Chilean version of the hot dog.

Butifarras Soledeñas from Soledad, Atlántico, Colombia

A grilled chorizo served with a buttered arepa is one of the most common street foods in Colombia. Butifarras Soledeñas are sausages from Soledad, Atlántico, Colombia. In addition to the standard Latin American sausages, dried pork sausages are served cold as a snack, often to accompany beer drinking. These include cábanos (salty, short, thin, and served individually), butifarras (of Catalan origin; spicier, shorter, fatter and moister than cábanos, often eaten raw, sliced and sprinkled with lemon juice) and salchichón (a long, thin and heavily processed sausage served in slices).

Salchicha oaxaqueña, a type of semi-dry sausage from the Mexican state of Oaxaca

The most common Mexican sausage by far is chorizo. It is fresh and usually deep red in color (in most of the rest of Latin America, chorizo is uncolored and coarsely chopped). Some chorizo is so loose that it spills out of its casing as soon as it is cut; this crumbled chorizo is a popular filling for torta sandwiches, eggs, breakfast burritos and tacos. Salchichas, longaniza (a long, thin, lightly spiced, coarse chopped pork sausage), moronga (a type of blood pudding) and head cheese are also widely consumed.

Typical sausages from Cojutepeque, El Salvador

In El Salvador, chorizos are quite common, and the ones from the city of Cojutepeque are particularly well known there. The links, especially of those from Cojutepeque, are separated with corn husks tied in knots (see photo). Like most chorizos in Latin America, they are sold raw and must be cooked.

Hot dog, the most common pre-cooked sausage in the United States and Canada

North American breakfast or country sausage is made from uncooked ground pork, breadcrumbs and salt mixed with pepper, sage, and other spices. It is widely sold in grocery stores in a large synthetic plastic casing, or in links which may have a protein casing. It is also available sold by the pound without a casing. It can often be found on a smaller scale in rural regions, especially in southern states, where it is either in fresh patties or in links with either natural or synthetic casings as well as smoked. This sausage is most similar to English-style sausages and has been made in the United States since colonial days. It is commonly sliced into small patties and pan-fried, or cooked and crumbled into scrambled eggs or gravy. Other uncooked sausages are available in certain regions in link form, including Italian, bratwurst, chorizo, and linguica.

Several varieties of meat-and-grain sausages developed in the US. Scrapple is a pork-and-cornmeal sausage that originated in the Mid-Atlantic States. Goetta is a pork-and-oats sausage that originated in Cincinnati.[48] Livermush, originating in North Carolina, is made with pork, liver, and cornmeal or rice.[48]^: 42 All were developed by German immigrants.[48]

In Louisiana, there is a variety of sausage that is unique to its heritage, a variant of andouille. Unlike the original variety native to Northern France, Louisiana andouille has evolved to be made mainly of pork butt, not tripe, and tends to be spicy with a flavor far too strong for the mustard sauce that traditionally accompanies French andouille: prior to casing, the meat is heavily spiced with cayenne and black pepper. The variety from Louisiana is known as Tasso ham and is often a staple in Cajun and Creole cooking. Traditionally it is smoked over pecan wood or sugar cane as a final step before being ready to eat. In Cajun cuisine, boudin is also popular. Sausages made in the French tradition are popular in Québec, Ontario, and parts of the Prairies, where butchers offer their own variations on the classics. Locals of Flin Flon are especially fond of the Saucisse de Toulouse, which is often served with poutine.

Hot dogs, also known as frankfurters or wieners, are the most common pre-cooked sausage in the United States and Canada. Another popular variation is the corn dog, which is a hot dog that is deep fried in cornmeal batter and served on a stick. A common and popular regional sausage in New Jersey and surrounding areas is pork roll, usually thinly sliced and grilled as a breakfast meat.

Other popular ready-to-eat sausages, often eaten in sandwiches, include salami, American-style bologna, Lebanon bologna, prasky, liverwurst, and head cheese. Pepperoni and Italian sausage are popular pizza toppings.

Australian "snags" cooking on a campfire

Australian sausages have traditionally been made with beef, pork and chicken, while recently game meats such as kangaroo have been used that typically have much less fat. English style sausages, known colloquially as "snags", come in two varieties: thin, that resemble an English 'breakfast' sausage, and thick, known as 'Merryland' in South Australia. These types of sausage are popular at barbecues and can be purchased from any butcher or supermarket. Devon is a spiced pork sausage similar to Bologna sausage and Gelbwurst. It is usually made in a large diameter, and it is often thinly sliced and eaten cold in sandwiches.

Mettwurst and other German-style sausages are highly popular in South Australia, often made in towns like Hahndorf and Tanunda, due to the large German immigration to the state during early settlement. Mettwurst is usually sliced and eaten cold on sandwiches or alone as a snack. A local variation on cabanossi, developed by Italian migrants after World War II using local cuts of meat, is a popular snack at parties. The Don small goods company developed a spiced snack-style sausage based on the cabanossi in 1991 called Twiggy Sticks.

In Australia it is common to eat a sausage on a single slice of bread topped with onions and either tomato or barbeque sauce. This food item is known as a Sausage sizzle.[49]