Global Eats: 10 Sausages from Around the World 🌭🌍
You can never think of sausage and picture just one type. If you think of Malta, for instance, the first thing that comes to mind is the Maltese sausage (and the second one is the DewFresh pink pork sausage used for BBQs - a classic!). Just like we have a specialty sausage in Malta, a lot of countries around the world have their own kind of sausage. Let’s have a look at just some of them, shall we? 😏
Sweden: Isterband
This Swedish sausage comes from the southern region of Sweden, specifically Småland. The main ingredients of the isterband are coarsely ground pork, pearl barley, pork fat, water and spices (which are usually salt, pepper and ginger or allspice). Potatoes and onions can also be part of the ingredients list sometimes. They are lightly smoked and just a tiny bit sour in taste. 😋
Germany: Bratwurst
This was one of my favourite things to eat when I visited Germany! The term bratwurst itself comes from the terms brat (finely chopped meat) and wurst (sausage). Although this is basically the definition for any kind of sausage, the taste of bratwurst is unique in itself. It is primarily made out of pork, but can also be made from veal or beef, and includes a good of spices, like sage, nutmeg and pepper. 🤩
Philippines: Longganisa
Longganisa does not just refer to one type of sausage. It mainly indicates that a sausage is flavoured with indigenous spices, so these sausages will differ from one region to another. For instance, Longganisa hamonado is sweet in taste, whereas the Lucban Longganisa is super garlicky. Most Longganisas are made from pork, beef or chicken, but you can also find ones made from tuna! 🐟
Spain & Mexico: Chorizo
Chorizo is one of my favourite sausages ever. It goes amazingly well with any kind of dish - pasta, pizza, omelettes, charcuterie boards or any other dish - and it’s even delicious on its own! The Spanish chorizo is typically made from pork, paprika, garlic, herbs and white wine. The process of making chorizo is quite a lengthy one, but it makes us able to eat chorizo uncooked, so that’s a plus. After the mixture is put into casings, the sausages are fermented, smoked, and then air cured for a few weeks. 😍
Apart from the Spanish one, there is also a Mexican chorizo. Although they have similar origins, the Mexican one is quite different from the Spanish chorizo. It uses fresh pork so the sausage needs to be cooked before consumed. Apart from that, the mixture also includes a lot of herbs, spices, chilli peppers, as well as vinegar. The Mexican chorizo is rarely consumed alone, but it’s usually used as an ingredient in certain recipes. 🍲
Poland: Kielbasa polska
Also referred to as kielbasa starowiejska (old countryside sausage), the kielbasa polska is a traditional Polish sausage that goes back centuries. The meat used in this type of sausage is a mixture of lean pork and semi-fat pork (does this make it kinda healthy?). Apart from that, the kielbasa polska also includes sugar, garlic, marjoram, thyme, pepper and ground mustard seeds. Sounds super flavourful, right? 🤤
France: Andouille
The andouille sausage started out as andouillette. This one might not be your cup of tea, but hey, if you’re Maltese and you’ve had kirxa before, you’ll be fine. Andouillette is usually made from the digestive tract of a pig - the filling includes the pig’s stomach and small intestines cut up into small pieces and the casing is made from the large intestine, making it quite strong in both taste and smell. 👃
As time went by, this sausage made its way around the world, leading to the modern andouille sausage, which originated in North America when the French immigrated there. Andouille is made from ground pork, onions and lots of spices, and it is also smoked, so the flavour is quite different from the original one. What an evolution, huh? 🤔
Argentina: Longaniza
This term is highly similar to its Filipino counterpart, longganisa, but the only thing that they have in common is that they both originated from Spanish colonisation. It is also very close to the chorizo in appearance and ingredients. However, although both are made from pork, the longaniza gets its distinct sweet flavour from ground anise seeds rather than paprika and it is much longer than the chorizo. The longaniza originated from Argentina and it is still popular there, but it is also popular in Uruguay. ✌️
Slovakia: Spisske parky
In appearance, the spisske parky are very similar to frankfurters. The reddish colour comes from the seasonings used in the mixture, which include both sweet and hot paprika. Apart from that, this smoked sausage is made from fresh beef, fresh pork, pork rind and other spices. It is then left to smoke and dry in a smoke room, resulting in a gorgeous smokey taste. 👌
Romania: Caltabos
This one is quite unique. Although traditionally, this pork sausage is made from liver, it can also include heart, kidneys, spleen and lungs as part of the meat mixture. To give the meat some extra flavour, it is boiled with bay leaves and garlic before it is ground up. After that, it is mixed with caramelised onions, spices, more meat, and sometimes even rice. Caltabos are very common in Romanian households during the wintertime, especially during the holidays. 🍽️
Italy: Cotechino Modena
Legend has it that the cotechino modena dates back to the 1500s during the siege of Mirandola. Nowadays, this Italian sausage is super popular in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy and is served in gorgeous, thick slices alongside mashed potatoes and lentils. The cotechino modena is usually made from pork, pork rind and fatback and seasoned with spices like cloves, nutmeg and pepper, amongst others, giving it a lovely flavour. This type of sausage is especially popular during the Christmas period. 💪
Quite a long list, huh? And that’s only a small percentage of the different kinds of sausages that exist in the world! Have you tried any of these yourself? Let us know in the comments! Seems like tasting different kinds of sausages is the perfect excuse to travel around the globe! 🌍
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