Composition and types of sausages, buying tips

2024 Author: Isabella Gilson | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:14

According to the generally accepted definition, a sausage product is a food product made from ground meat, most often beef and pork, or some types of offal. Spices and spices, bacon, eggs, milk, sugar, and so on are usually added as auxiliary ingredients.

So the raw materials used may vary. Depending on this, as well as in connection with different production technologies, the following types of sausages are distinguished (photo in the text):

• boiled sausage;
• boiled ham;
• wieners and sausages;
• half-smoked and boiled-smoked sausages;
• raw-smoked sausages;
• smoked meat;
• meat delicacies;
• brawns and pates.

Each type of sausages and sausages should be discussed separately, because they all deserveattention.

Cooked products

Boiled sausages are products made from well-s alted minced meat and cooked at a temperature of about 80 ° C. May contain a significant amount of vegetable raw materials - soy. They are not subject to long-term storage, as they contain a lot of water.

In general, the technological scheme for the manufacture of these products looks like this:

• at the first stage, the meat is ground on specially designed machines;
• then it is s alted and then ripened;
• bacon is cut on special bacon cutters;
• prepare directly minced sausage, grinding all components on special equipment;
• if we are talking about a structureless product, then the workpiece is again subjected to grinding by means of emulsifiers;
• the shells are stuffed with cooked minced meat using a syringe;
• then the heat treatment of the product takes place - cooking;
• finally the product is cooled.

The following types of cooked sausages are distinguished:

• Structural - sausages, on the cut of which you can see pieces of bacon or meat. Such well-known sausages include Stolichnaya, Velyachya and others.
• Structureless - sausages with a uniform consistency. This is one of the most common types of sausages, whose names everyone knows: “Dairy”, “Doctor”, “Ostankino”.

Sausages and sausages

Many lovenamely sausages or wieners. These are separate types of sausages, which are prepared from minced minced meat. This product is usually consumed warm. The manufacturing process is as follows:

• meat is crushed with the help of special equipment;
• then it is subjected to s alting and subsequent ripening;
• re-grinding and mixing minced meat with bacon and seasonings;
• forming products - sausage casings are stuffed with minced meat using a syringe;
• sludge, that is, keeping the product in a cool room for a certain period of time (according to technology);
• heat treatment - boiling and subsequent cooling.

Sometimes smoked sausages or sausages are produced. In this case, they are processed in a smoking chamber before cooking. Like boiled sausages, sausages can be structured or unstructured. In addition, they are classified according to the types of sausage casings. They can be natural and artificial. The most popular food product in this category is “Dairy”, “With cheese” sausages.

Semi-smoked and boiled-smoked sausages

Among all types of sausages, boiled-smoked and semi-smoked products occupy a special place. This is due to the fact that this is the most extensive category. If we disassemble these sausages by variety, we can distinguish the following:

• boiled-smoked sausages, which are made according to a traditional recipe;
• boiled-smoked sausages with their ownproduction features (these include the well-known “Salami”, as well as “Servelat”);
• semi-smoked sausages produced according to classical technology;
• semi-smoked products like “Drohobych classics”.

However, there are still certain common features of production. For the manufacture of boiled-smoked products, only ripe minced meat is used. To do this, the meat is crushed and treated with s alt, after which it is left to mature in brine (from 12 hours to two days). The main differences relate to the method of grinding and mixing minced meat.

In general, the preparation of any semi-smoked type sausage is carried out in several stages: drying, smoking, boiling and sometimes additional smoking after cooling.

Production of cooked-smoked type products is carried out as follows: drying, smoking, boiling and then re-smoking and drying after cooling.

Ham

Not a single photo of types of sausages is complete without an image of ham. Almost everyone loves this product. This is not

surprising, because only high-quality raw materials are used to make ham. The production of boiled ham involves the following steps:

• meat preparation;
• grinding of raw materials on special equipment;
• maturing prepared raw materials and kneading minced ham;
• product molding - distribution of minced meat into shells and pressing;
• heat treatment.

Dried products

Such sausages are made from raw meat and bacon without prior heat treatment. The technology of their production is based on the fermentation and drying of raw materials. Such products have a long shelf life

Production stages:

• preparing bacon and meat and freezing them;
• meat dehydration;
• preparation of minced meat;
• product molding;
• long maturation in special facilities under certain temperature conditions.

Raw-smoked types of sausages are prepared in a similar way. The only difference is that the raw meat is smoked before maturation.

Brawn

Brawn is made from boiled pork heads, tongue, liver and other offal. The broth from the cooking ingredients is used as a gelling agent. As a rule, chopped meat parts are mixed with those that were minced to mince, poured with broth and filled with this mass of the shell.

Smoked meats

Smoked meats are not sausages, contrary to popular belief. They are made from whole pieces of meat. They can be both boiled-smoked and raw-smoked. In any case, the raw material is soaked with brine using syringes, and then subjected to further processing. These products tend to have a long shelf life.

Sausage casings

The casings play an important role in the production of sausages. At the moment there are many variations. Each one deserves a separate stop. In modernproduction use the following types of sausage packaging:

• Natural. As the name implies, they are made from natural raw materials. To do this, take parts of the intestines of cattle and small cattle, as well as pigs. Naturally, this raw material is carefully processed. The result is an edible mesh composed of connective tissue. It is highly durable. Sausages in such a casing have a short shelf life.
• Collagenic. Despite the fact that formally such shells are considered artificial, they are produced from natural raw materials. Such shells are also edible, and at the same time they have more positive properties than natural ones. They are more durable and elastic and at the same time pass less moisture. They can be either colored or transparent.
• Pulp. Their advantages are environmental friendliness, as well as good elasticity. The disadvantage is high moisture permeability, so they are suitable for sausages with a low liquid content. Today they are used due to the popularity of retro style.
• Textile. Produced from dyed viscose fabric coated with polymeric material. Textile types of casings are popular in the production of sausages. They allow you to preserve the taste of products, and also provide its aesthetic appearance.
• Polyamide. These days they are the most common. They are made from synthetic materials. Such a shell prevents the penetration of bacteria into the product and thereby increases its shelf life. But at the same time, she does not miss steam andmoisture, which makes it necessary to add flavorings to sausages.

Supplements

Unfortunately, not every sausage product is useful. Products prepared at home, of course, are out of competition. After all, they are all natural, which cannot be said about those that are sold in the store. In the production of sausages, as a rule, chemical components are added to minced meat. For example, sodium nitrite, which protects them from pathogenic bacteria, and also improves color. Inosinate or monosodium glutamate improve the taste of sausages, and stabilizers and water with s alts increase its weight, thereby reducing the cost of production. For unscrupulous producers, the percentage of meat in such products is reduced to an insignificant figure.

How to choose sausages

To purchase a quality product, you need to consider some features. The main thing is to choose a sausage product, the main component of which will be meat, and not fat and other additives. There is a common misconception that a bright red product is more natural. In fact, this shade is obtained by adding dyes and s altpeter. Natural thermally processed meat has a grayish tint. Therefore, most natural sausages will be pale.

In addition, the surface of any sausage must be dry, the casing must not move away from the product. Also, there should be no influx of minced meat, damage and punctures. Nor can the cost be too low. If you see anything insuspiciously low price, most likely soy isolate added to the product.

If you decide to try a new type of sausage, it is better to buy a small piece first and examine it carefully, and then try it. This is especially true for meat delicacies, which are quite expensive.