A Guide to the Types of Sausage People Enjoy Around the World
We all know sausage as a long and cylindrical food, made from meat that can include pork, beef, chicken, mutton, and veal. But little do we know that all around the world, these food items have specific types, ways they are cooked, and even seasonings and garnishes. 5-Minute Crafts got curious about all of this and decided to highlight the most important ones that you shouldn’t miss out on.
1. Chorizo
Chorizo comes from Spain and Mexico, and both are different from each other. The one from Spain is a cured pork salami, that’s sliced and served on a charcuterie board, put into scrambled eggs, or added to paella.
The Mexican chorizo is fresh ground pork that can be bought uncooked and cooked at home. Sometimes these sausages are made from beef, chicken, or turkey. Most of it is seasoned with garlic and chili powder, but green chorizo is seasoned with tomatillo, chili peppers, garlic, and cilantro.
2. Longaniza
- This sausage comes from Argentina and is famous Uruguay as well. This is a long pork sausage that is cured and dried in the preparation process. It uses anise seeds for its particular smell and mildly sweet taste. Hence, these seeds give a contrasting effect to the salty taste of the pork itself. This sausage is rarely cooked, either by itself or using it as an ingredient in a dish. It’s a famous appetizer and is often used as sandwich meat.
3. Sai Ua
This sausage comes from northern Thailand and it comes from a combination of Thai words “sai” which means intestines and “ua” which means stuffed. Usually, this sausage has minced pork flavored with red curry paste and herbs, but there are many more regional varieties available. It is commonly grilled before eating and served with sticky rice as a starter or an appetizer to a meal.
4. Longganisa
Longganisa, in the Philippines, means sausage flavored with native spices. In every region of the country, you’ll find different variations of Longganisa. Almost every sausage of this type is made with beef, pork, or chicken, and sometimes tuna too. And most of them have Prague powder and each variety is sold fresh instead of smoked. For instance, Lucban Longganisa is loaded with garlic, Guagua Longganisa has a strong salty taste that is sour, Longganisa hamonado is sweeter, etc.
5. Laulau
Laulau is a traditional native Hawaiian dish. Originally it was cooked by using pork and a few fish pieces, and wrapping them up in luau leaves. It used to be kept in an underground oven called an imu. Hot rocks were put on the dish, and then it would be further buried for a few more hours to cook. After that, the dish is ready to eat.
Now, it contains salted butterfish, taro leaves, pork, beef, or chicken. And rather than keeping it in an underground oven, it’s now steamed on a stove. It’s usually treated as a lunch dish and served with macaroni salad and rice on the side.
6. Andouille
This smoky sausage is from France and is now usually associated with Cajun cuisine in the US. The sausage is made of pork and flavored with peppers, garlic, and onions. You may find it in gumbo which is a famous Louisiana stew. The sausage has a smoky, coarse, and sharp taste.
Nowadays, apart from gumbo, this sausage is an essential part of Cajun dishes like jambalaya as well. It can also be consumed as a breakfast sausage with grits and eggs alongside. You can also add it to pasta dishes, Mexican dishes, and spicy pies.
7. Cajun Sausage
This is a smoked pork sausage that gives an American twist to the French Andouille sausage. Cajun sausage is made of shoulder meat, garlic, pepper, and onions, and has a spicier taste. It’s commonly used in Southern-style cuisines like jambalaya dishes. It’s famous in Louisiana where the culture is deeply influenced by French roots.
8. Breakfast sausage
This sausage is based on an English recipe, but the US takes the credit for it. The former is sweeter and the latter is savory. It is commonly available in patty or link form. You can commonly season this sausage with pepper and sage, and you can also add cured bacon and maple syrup to it. Breakfast sausage can be easily made at home.
9. Bratwurst
This pork sausage is commonly consumed in Germany. The name Bratwurst literally means split sausage and originated from the Old High German Tongue. Brat refers to the finely chopped meat and Wurst refers to sausage. But today, Wurst means roasted or pan-fried. This sausage is seasoned with salt, nutmeg, ginger, and caraway. It’s also milder than Knockwurst, which is another type of German sausage.
10. Italian sausage or Salami
This sausage is a pork sausage style in the US called salami. It’s famous for being seasoned with lots of fennel. Italian sausage is served in 2 ways, mild and hot or mild and sweet. In the former, the sausage contains hot red pepper flakes, salt, garlic, and anise seeds. In the latter, the sausage has sweet basil.
But in Italy, the origin of this sausage is different. This food type is called Salsiccia in Italy and contains meats heavily seasoned with chili and other hot ingredients that are soaked overnight to change the flavor of the meats.
11. Kielbasa
Kielbasa is Polish for sausage and is a part of the staple diet in Poland. The word Kielbasa refers to a u-shaped, smoked sausage made from any type of meat like pork, chicken, turkey, lamb, or veal. The sausage is traditionally garnished with fried onions and can also be consumed with soups, stews, and casseroles. It has a coarse texture and is seasoned with garlic, pimentos, and ground cloves.
12. Fuet
Boiled sausage is called Fuet in Catalan, Spain. It is a dish made from pork meat in a pork gut and is very famous in the county of Osona. This Catalan cuisine is flavored with black pepper, garlic, and anise seed. It’s not like Chorizo, as it doesn’t contain any paprika. Olot, a city, and its surrounding places traditionally cook Fuet.
13. Butifarra
This is another important dish of Catalan cuisine. It’s made from raw pork and spices and is based on the old recipes from the Roman Era. There are many varieties of this dish found in Italy, Portugal, and Brazil:
- Raw Butifarra: The purest form of the original recipe, the sausage is grilled and barbequed.
- Black Butifarra: It has boiled pork and blood in the mixture.
- Butifarra Catalana: Very similar to cooked ham and sometimes has truffles as well.
- Butifarra d’ou: This Butifarra contains eggs. They are mixed with eggs and are traditionally eaten on Fat Thursday. This means the last Thursday before Lent.