The Spruce Eats: What Is Sausage? Sausage is a mild-tasting or spicy meat mixture stuffed in a casing. It can be made of beef, pork, or chicken, and can be grilled, fried, or baked. Peggy Trowbridge Filippone is a writer sausage stuffed banana peppers develops approachable recipes for home cooks.

Her recipes range from Grandma’s favorites to the latest food trends. Sausage is ground meat mixed with fat, salt, and other seasonings, preservatives, and sometimes fillers like grains or breadcrumbs. Some sausage mixtures are sold in bulk form while others are forced into casings to form links. The word “sausage” comes from the Middle English sausige, which came from sal, Latin for salt. In France, they are sausissons and in Germany, wurst. They were originally made as a delicious way to preserve meat. Depending on the type of sausage, it can be cooked in a number of ways.

It can be stuffed into dishes as a filling or broken up and browned in a skillet and used in soups, sauces, and other dishes. Fresh link sausage is often cooked whole by grilling, roasting, broiling, braising, pan-frying, or boiling. The sausage should be cooked through, especially when pork or poultry are used. Sausage can also be made at home. This will allow you to completely control the ingredients and spices.

There are countless varieties and flavors of sausages from all over the world. Fresh sausage has a texture similar to compact ground meat when cooked, and is often moist thanks to the addition of fat. The grind of the meat, the amount of fat, and other ingredients like oats and breadcrumbs can impact the texture. Dried, cured, and smoked sausages tend to have a stronger flavor and odor and a tougher, chewier texture. A huge number of cuisines have their own versions of sausage, making the list of varieties a long one. Smoked Sausage: Whether pre-cooked and smoked or simply smoked, these sausages often offer strong flavors.

Examples include some types of kielbasa, andouille, and Spanish-style chorizo. Dried Sausage: With a hard texture and concentrated flavor, dried sausages don’t require cooking. Examples include lap cheong, salami, and longaniza. While sausage is traditionally a meat dish, a wide range of vegetarian and vegan options are available.