Sausage

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This article is about the food. For other uses, see Sausage (disambiguation).

Kielbasa biala (white sausage), szynkowa (smoked), slaska and podhalanska styles
(Poland)

Cooked Nuremberger pork sausages, sauerkraut and beer in Germany

Csabai kolbszok (Hungarian csabai sausages)

A sausage is a cylindrical meat product usually made from ground meat, often pork,
beef, or veal, along with salt, spices and other flavourings, and breadcrumbs, with
a skin around it. Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made
from intestine, but sometimes from synthetic materials. Sausages that are sold
uncooked are usually cooked in many ways, including pan-frying, broiling and
barbecuing. Some sausages are cooked during processing and the casing may then be
removed.

Sausage making is a traditional food preservation technique. Sausages may be

preserved by curing, drying (often in association with fermentation or culturing,
which can contribute to preservation), smoking, or freezing. Some cured or smoked
sausages can be stored without refrigeration. Most fresh sausages must be
refrigerated or frozen until they are cooked.

There is a huge range of national and regional varieties of sausages, which differ
by their flavouring or spicing ingredients (garlic, peppers, wine, etc.), the
meat(s) used in them and their manner of preparation.

Contents [hide]
1 Etymology
2 History
3 Casings
4 Ingredients
5 Classifications
6 National varieties
6.1 Africa
6.2 Asia
6.3 Eurasia
6.4 Europe
6.5 Latin America
6.6 North America
6.7 Oceania
7 Other variations
8 Vegetarian versions
9 Gallery
10 See also
11 References
12 External links
Etymology
The word sausage was first used in English in the mid-15th century, spelled
sawsyge.[1] This word came ...from Old North French saussiche (Modern French
saucisse).[1] The French word saussiche came ...from Vulgar Latin salsica sausage,
from salsicus seasoned with salt, from Latin salsus [meaning] salted.[1]

History

Sausage making at home

Plate of German sausage Jagdwurst, liver sausage, blood sausage, Westphalian ham
Sausage making is an outcome of efficient butchery. Traditionally, sausage makers
would salt various tissues and organs such as scraps, organ meats, blood, and fat
to help preserve them. They would then stuff them into tubular casings made from
the cleaned intestines of the animal, producing the characteristic cylindrical
shape. Hence, sausages, puddings, and salami are among the oldest of prepared
foods, whether cooked and eaten immediately or dried to varying degrees.

Early humans made the first sausages by stuffing roasted intestines into stomachs.
[2] The Greek poet Homer mentioned a kind of blood sausage in the Odyssey,
Epicharmus wrote a comedy titled The Sausage, and Aristophanes' play The Knights is
about a sausage vendor who is elected leader. Evidence suggests that sausages were
already popular both among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and most likely with the
various tribes occupying the larger part of Europe.[2]

The most famous sausage in ancient Italy was from Lucania (modern Basilicata) and
was called lucanica, a name which lives on in a variety of modern sausages in the
Mediterranean.[citation needed] During the reign of the Roman emperor Nero,
sausages were associated with the Lupercalia festival.[3] Early in the 10th century
during the Byzantine Empire, Leo VI the Wise outlawed the production of blood
sausages following cases of food poisoning.[3]

Casings