Cooked and raw sausages
Sausages are charcuterie products made of chopped or minced meat and other meat scraps mixed with spices and herbs and stuffed into a casing.
The term sausage comes from the Latin “salsis”, meaning salted or preserved.
Traditionally, sausages were made with lean meats and pork fat.
Though today a huge variety of pork sausages still exists, there
are also varieties made with beef, veal, lamb, horse meat and game
meats.
Sausages can also contain water, extender agents such as starch,
flour or skim milk, sugar, spices, liquid smoke and preservatives.
All these ingredients are cut or chopped and stuffed in a natural
casing or a synthetic casing.
The synthetic casings made of collagen are edible but those made of
cellulose are not and must be removed prior to eating.
Raw sausages are those requiring cooking before eating. And what
a huge variety of raw sausages there is to choose from! There are
almost as many varieties of sausages as there are
charcutiers!
There are in fact several delicious Metro-exclusive Selection
Merite sausages like the Toulouse, mild, spicy and with herbs; the
Italian, mild and strong; the merguez, honey-garlic or bacon and
cheddar; the breakfast sausages; the pork and beef, spicy and mild,
BBQ sausages.
Cooked sausages are dried, like the chorizo, or smoked, like the
Bockwurst or Frankfurter sausage which is cousin to the
All-American hot dog! Cocktail sausages and Viennese sausages are
also in this category.
Almost exclusively made of pork in the past, today some are made
with beef or turkey, which makes them much leaner!