What Types of Sausage Are There?

If you want to differentiate between different types of sausage, first concentrate on the four basic categories: boiled, raw and cooked sausages as well as cured products. The manufacturing process is decisive in the subdivision of the types of sausage. Depending on the type of meat, further processing and preparation, they can then be divided into further groups and subgroups. For example, there are also types of sausage without pork and variants for which the meat is pre-cooked. Poultry varieties are particularly low in calories. However, they are not considered to be a really healthy type of sausage. However, turkey and chicken have one advantage: the meat serves as the basis for low-fat types of sausage.

Wiener, Bockwurst and Mortadella – boiled sausages

In Germany boiled sausages are one of the most popular specialties. The manufacturing step that sets it apart from other varieties is the brewing process. The sausage meat is filled into artificial or natural casings and then boiled in hot water so that the end product is firm. The numerous variations differ in the composition of the sausage meat, i.e. in the selection of the different types of meat and spices. Cooked sausages are also processed in different ways, for example smoked. Typical representatives can be found in cold cuts, such as mortadella, beer and hunting sausage or meat loaf. But this variety also includes classics such as Wiener, Debrecziner, Frankfurter, Weißwurst and Bockwurst. Brewed types of sausage have a fat content of between ten and 30 percent – depending on how they are prepared. Accordingly, you will find both high-fat and lean types of sausage.

Raw sausage types: cervelat, tea and mettwurst

In the production of raw sausages, the maturing process after filling the sausage meat is crucial. With decreasing humidity, they ripen in a period of between ten days and several months. Depending on how finely the sausage meat, bacon, spices and – in the case of cured varieties – curing salt have been chopped up, this variety can be spread like tea and spreadable Mettwurst or sliced ​​like salami. Other typical representatives of sliceable raw sausages are cervelat sausage, air-dried mettwurst and kabanossi. Some of these varieties get a very special aroma through smoking. The fat content is between 25 and 35 percent, slightly higher in spreadable sausages at 30 to 40 percent. By the way, you can find out exactly how to differentiate between cervelat, salami and mettwurst in our expert knowledge.

Types of sausage in Germany: boiled sausages

Meat that has already been heated is used in the production of boiled sausages. This is mixed with bacon and spices, sometimes with offal. The mixture is then filled into casings, jars or cans. The boiled sausage is cooked by reheating it to 80 to 90 degrees Celsius – making it particularly durable. The well-known cooked sausage specialties include black pudding, tongue, liver and aspic sausage as well as corned beef. The fat content is between 25 and 35 percent, in the case of aspic sausages it is significantly lower, at 5 to 10 percent.