A quick guide to some tasty sausages
Who doesn’t love a comforting sausage and the world of sausages is vast.
So, here is a quick overview of some favourites and hopefully some new ones to try.
And all credit goes to Delish for their research on these nine glorious worldly saussies
The mighty sausage
The mighty sausage is one of the world’s oldest food preservation techniques.
Nearly every culture on Earth has at least one traditional variety, whether cured, dried, smoked, fermented, or frozen.
The word “sausage” comes from the Latin salsus, meaning salted.
Sausage came about long before refrigeration existed, when salting or smoking were key means of preserving meat and sausage a means of using up every last scrap of the animal.
What varies from place to place are seasonings and the kind of meat within the casing.
From pork and beef to lamb and organ meats, sausage looks a little different depending on where you are.
- Greece has loukaniko, a pork sausage flavored with fennel and orange
- Denmark have faintly sweet medisterpølse
- France has cassoulet with saucisse de Toulouse
- Germany has as many kinds of sausages as you can imagine but the Frankfurter is up there
- Thailand, sausages like sai ua and sai krok isan are popular snacks
- Vietnam has pork sausage chả lụa wrapped in banana leaves.
The world of sausages
Frankfurter
The beef-and-pork frankfurter is named after its first home, Frankfurt am Main in Germany, where it’s eaten in beer gardens.
The frankfurter came to the U.S. around 1900 and became the quintessential American food aka the hot dog.
Instead of being served with sauerkraut or potato salad (like in Germany or Austria).
Americans serve it in a bun with ketchup, mustard, and onions.
Chorizo
Chorizo is a spicy, highly seasoned pork sausage that can refer to a Mexican or Spanish-style sausage.
Spanish chorizo is usually a hard, cured sausage (like salami), seasoned with sweet, hot, or smoked paprika.
Mexican chorizo is a fresh sausage whose with hot red pepper in it.
Andouille
Andouille is a smoked pork sausage from originally from France that’s been claimed by Louisiana’s Cajun cuisine.
Made with ground pork, garlic, thyme, red pepper, cayenne, then smoked over pecan wood, the result is a smoky, spicy sausage that adds kick to jambalaya, gumbo, and red beans and rice.
Bratwurst
One of the great German sausages, bratwurst is made with pork and veal and seasoned with ginger, nutmeg, coriander, or caraway.
Black Pudding
Black pudding is a sausage made from animal blood and is popular in the UK and Ireland.
In the U.K. and Ireland, pig blood is mixed with pork fat or suet and a grain like oatmeal before being stuffed into a casing.
You can’t go wrong with some nice black pudding on a traditional full English breakfast.
Lap Cheong
The Canton Chinese sausage, lap cheong, is a smoked, sweet-and-salty pork sausage seasoned with rose water, rice wine, and soy sauce.
Lap cheong adds a complex sweet-and-salty flavour profile to simple dishes like steamed rice and stir-fries.
Merguez
Found in the cooking of Northern Africa—including Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia—merguez is a spicy lamb sausage spiked with cumin, chili pepper or harissa, garlic, sumac, and fennel.
Merguez goes well in a rice salad; a stew, or in a tagine with couscous.
‘Nduja
‘Nduja is spicy, spreadable pork sausage from Italy’s Calabria region.
Lightly fermented, this sausage has a powerful kick of Calabrian chilies, and a smooth spreadability from the super-high fat content.
It’s a great snack spread on crusty bread or adding it to a pasta dish.
Linguiça
A Portuguese smoked pork sausage, garlicky and laced with paprika.
Linguiça originated in Portugal but can be found in Brazil and New England cooking.
Linguiça is used in stews.
