A sausage is a type of food usually consisting of ground meat, animal fat, salt, and spices, and sometimes other ingredients such as herbs, sometimes packed in a casing. Sausage making is a very old food preservation technique.
   Historically the casing has been the intestines of the animal, though it's now generally synthetic. Sausage may be fresh or preserved by curing or smoking.
   There is no consensus on whether similar products that are not packed in casings - such as pâté, meatloaf, scrapple, and head cheese - should be considered sausages.
   Besides being eaten on its own, sausage is also used as an ingredient in other foods.

History

Classification of sausages

• Cooked sausages are made with fresh meats and then fully cooked. They are either eaten immediately after cooking or must be refrigerated. Examples include Braunschweiger and liver sausages.
• Cooked smoked sausages are cooked and then smoked or smoke-cooked. They are eaten hot or cold, but need to be refrigerated. Examples include Hot dogs, kielbasa and Mortadella.
• Fresh sausages are made from meats that have not been previously cured. They must be refrigerated and thoroughly cooked before eating. Examples include Boerewors, Italian pork sausage and fresh beef sausage.
• Fresh smoked sausages are fresh sausages that are smoked. They should be refrigerated and cooked thoroughly before eating. Examples include Mettwurst and Romanian sausage.
• Dry sausages are fresh sausages that are dried. They are generally eaten cold and will keep for a long time. Examples include salami, Droë wors, Sucuk and summer sausage.

Hungary: kolbász gyulai (after the town of Gyula), csabai (after the city of Békéscsaba), Debrecener (after the city of Debrecen).

National Varieties

Many nations and regions have their own characteristic sausages, using meats and other ingredients native to the region and employed in traditional dishes.

Argentina

In Argentina many sausages are popular. A local type is the salchicha argentina o criolla (Argentinian sausage) of Central European origin. This is a type of sausage is made with meat or pork and flavored with herbs (oregano, pepper...). It's eaten usually in barbecues and one of the most popular dishes in the country. The weisswurst is also a very common dish eaten usually woth smashed potatoes or chucrut in some regions.

Italy

Italian sausages are often a mix of pork and veal. In the USA, these are defined as having a minimum of 85% meat, and must contain salt, pepper, and either fennel or anise.

Germany

German sausages, or, cover a wide range of cooked, uncooked and unfilled styles (no casing), such as frankfurters, bratwurst, rindswurst, blargenwurst, knackwurst, and bockwurst.

British Isles

English, Scottish and Welsh sausages, or bangers (so nicknamed since the Second World War for their tendency to explode during cooking if made with too much water), for example, normally have a significant amount of rusk, or bread crumbs, and are less meaty than sausages in other styles. Bangers are also used to make toad in the hole. They are an essential part of a full English breakfast, and are usually offered with an Irish breakfast. According to Sausagefans.com, in Britain alone there are over 470 different types of sausages. In some areas "sausage meat" for frying is sold as slices cut from an oblong block of pressed meat without any casing: in Scotland this is known as Lorne Sausage or often slice or square while the usual form is sometimes called link sausage. There are currently organisations in a number of UK counties such as Lincolnshire who are seeking European protected status on their sausages so that, rather like Champagne, they can only be made in the appropriate county.
   In England, Saveloy is a type of sausage snack, bigger than general hot-dog sausages.

Scandinavia

Scandinavian sausages (Finnish: makkara, Danish and Norwegian: pølse, Icelandic: pylsa, Swedish: korv) are usually made of 60-75 % 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 flour and soy or milk protein are often added for binding and filling.
   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 some people regard pølser one of the national dishes. The most noticeable aspect of Danish cooked sausages (never the fried ones) is that the cover 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 Swedish falukorv is a similarly red-dyed sausage, but about 5 cm thick, usually cut in slices and fried. Unlike ordinary sausages it's a typical home dish, not sold at hot dog stands. In Sweden sausages are often accompanied by potato mash rather than bread. In Iceland, lamb may be added to sausages, giving them a distinct taste. One local Finnish variety is mustamakkara, a "black sausage" prepared with blood, which is a speciality of Tampere.
   Makkara is typically similar in appearance to Polish sausages or bratwursts, but have a very different taste and texture. Most makkara is very light on spices and is therefore frequently eaten with mustard, ketchup, or other table condiments without a bun. Makkara is usually grilled, roasted over coals, or cooked on sauna heating stones until the outer skin begins to darken and crack. A special kind of makkara is mustamakkara, a "Black sausage", which is a speciality of Tampere and its surroundings. It is very close to the Scottish black pudding.
   When makkara is eaten inside a sliced, fried bun with cucumber salad, it becomes a porilainen after the town of Pori. Pickled makkara intended to consumed as slices is called kestomakkara. This class includes various mettwurst, salami and Balkanesque styles. The most popular kestomakkara in Finland is meetvursti, which contains finely ground full meat, ground fat and various spices. It isn't unlike salami, but usually thicker and less salty.

South Africa

In South Africa, traditional sausages are known as boerewors or farmer's sausage. Ingredients include game and beef, usually mixed with pork or lamb and with a high percentage of fat. Coriander and vinegar are the two most common seasoning ingredients, although many variations exist. The coarsely-ground nature of the mincemeat as well as the long continuous spiral of sausage are two of its recognisable qualities. Boerewors is traditionally cooked on a braai (barbecue).
   Boerewors can be dried out in a dry-curing process similar to biltong, in which case it's called droë wors.

North America

North American breakfast sausage consists of uncooked ground pork, mixed with sage, pepper, or other ingredients. It can be sold uncased, or in links which may have a protein casing. It is commonly pan-fried in small patties, or cooked and crumbled into scrambled eggs or gravy.

Balkan

In Turkey sausage is known as sosis which is made of beef. Sucuk (pronounced tsudjuck with accent on the last syllable) is a type of sausage made in Turkey and neighboring Balkan countries suggesting that sucuk may actually be a close relative of the original sausages of the ancient Rome and Greece. Modern Turkey is "on" Asia Minor, the heartland of ancient Greek and Byzantine cultures. There are many types of foods that are known to have been made in the Roman Empire, that survive in modern Turkish cuisine only. Considering what the original word for sausage means, the rather salty Turkish sausage, sucuk, could very well be one the sausages of the ancient times.
   There are many types of sucuk, but it's generally made from beef, water buffalo meat and sheep fat. It is fermented, spiced (with garlic and pepper) and filled in sheep intestines. Slightly smoked sucuk is considered superior. The taste is spicy, salty and a little raw, similar to pepperoni. Some varieties are extremely hot and/or greasy. Some are "adulterated" with turkey or chicken.
   There are many dishes made with sucuk, but grilled sucuk remains the most popular. Smoke dried varieties are consumed "raw" in sandwiches. An intestinal loop is one sucuk. Smoked sucuk is usually straight.

Malta

Maltese sausage zalzett tal-Malti is typically made of pork, sea salt, black peppercorns, coriander seeds, garlic and parsley.

Hong Kong

In Hong Kong the Cervelat Sausage is a snack on its own. It is evenly machine-roasted, and is bigger than general hot-dog sausages

Other variations

Sausages may be served as hors d'oeuvre, in a sandwich, in a bread roll as a hot dog, wrapped in a tortilla, or as an ingredient in dishes such as stews and casseroles. It can be served on a stick (like the corn dog) or on a bone as well. Sausage without casing is called sausage meat and can be fried or used as stuffing for poultry, or for wrapping foods like Scotch eggs. Similarly, sausage meat encased in puff pastry is called a sausage roll.
   Sausages can also be modified to use indigenous ingredients. Mexican styles add oregano and the "guajillo" red pepper to the Spanish chorizo to give it an even hotter spicy touch, and the good old cabeza de pija style.
   Certain sausages also contain ingredients such as cheese and apple; or types of vegetable.

Vegetarian sausage

Vegetarian and vegan sausages are also available in some countries, or can be made from scratch. These may be made from tofu, seitan, nuts, pulses, soya protein, vegetables or any combination of similar ingredients that will hold together during cooking. These sausages, like most meat-replacement products, generally fall into two camps: some are shaped, colored, flavored, etc. to replicate the taste and texture of meat as accurately as possible; others rely on spices and vegetables to lend their natural flavor to the product and no attempt is made to imitate meat.

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