Raw materials for sausages and sausage products

The History of Sausage

The Slavic word “kolbasa” (originally kълб-) has been known since the 12th century. The word may have come from Turkic languages: in Balkar, “kъolbasa” means “hand-pressed” (from kъol — hand, and bas — press). In Turkish, “külbastı” means “meat fried in a pan.”

• Another idea is that the word kълбаса has a Slavic root and is related to the word kolobok (a small round bread).

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• A third theory says the word “kolbasa” comes from the Hebrew phrase “kol basar”, meaning “all meat” or “every flesh.”

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• Sausage has been known since ancient times. It is mentioned in sources from Ancient Greece, Babylon, and Ancient China. In Russia, sausage workshops appeared in the 17th century.

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Assortment of sausage products.

Nutritional value of sausages.

Boiled sausages

• Boiled sausages are ready-to-eat products made from minced meat in a casing, subjected to frying and boiling. The production share of boiled sausages in our country accounts for over 60% of all sausage products.
• The assortment of boiled sausages includes sausages, small sausages (sardelki), spikachki, and meat loaves.

The technological process of producing boiled sausages consists of the following operations:

• Cutting the carcass into parts →
• Deboning →
• Trimming →
• Sorting →
• Preliminary meat grinding →
• Salting →
• Secondary meat grinding →
• Preparation of the sausage mixture→
• Stuffing it into casings →
• Frying →
• Boiling →
• Cooling the sausages

During the sorting process, meat is classified according to the content of connective and fat tissues.

Beef is divided into three grades:

Highest grade — pure muscle tissue

1st grade — muscle tissue containing up to 6% connective tissue

2nd grade — containing up to 20% connective and fat tissue

To give sausages tenderness and juiciness, 15–30% of the meat mass in the minced meat is added as water during the grinding process. Therefore, the yield of the finished product is usually higher than the weight of the initial raw materials. Spices, starch, phosphates, and sodium caseinate are also added to the minced meat. Starch reduces the nutritional value of sausages, so its amount should not exceed 2–3%.

1st-grade sausages are mainly made from first-grade beef, semi-fat pork, and side bacon. Compared to high-grade boiled sausages, the minced meat of first-grade sausages has a coarser texture and a pepper-garlic taste and aroma. They contain 63–68% moisture. The following types of first-grade sausages are produced: Otdel’naya, Otdel’naya Lamb, Moskovskaya, Pork, Stolovaya, Dieticheskaya, with Sorbitol, and Ordinary.

2nd-grade sausages are made from second-grade beef, meat trimmings, semi-fat pork, and bacon or tail fat. Their moisture content can reach up to 70%. The most common type is tea sausage, which consists of 70% second-grade beef, 20% pork, and 10% bacon. The sausage baton is narrow, straight, and tied with two bindings.

Semi-smoked sausages are ready-to-eat products in which minced meat is stuffed into casings and subjected to frying, boiling, smoking, and drying processes. They have a longer shelf life compared to boiled sausages because they contain less moisture, more salt and fat, and have undergone smoking. The nutritional value of these sausages is higher than that of boiled sausages. The production volume of semi-smoked sausages accounts for 20–22% of all sausage products.

• Blood sausages are sausages made from offal and defibrinated blood (up to 50%). They are distinguished by their reddish-brown color and the taste of blood and spices (pepper, cloves, and cinnamon). Blood sausages are classified into high, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grades. The higher the grade, the lower the blood content in the sausage.

• In smoked sausages, the color of the meat should range from light to dark red, with white or pinkish pieces of breast meat or fat evenly distributed. The taste should be pleasant, slightly spicy, with the aroma of spices. Crystallized salt and dry mold on the surface are characteristic features of raw-smoked sausages.
• In boiled-smoked sausages, the casing should be clean, dry, free of mold and slime, and dark brown in color. The moisture content of raw-smoked sausages should not exceed 30%, while that of boiled-smoked sausages can reach up to 43%.

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• Cooked sausages should be stored at a temperature of 0–6°C with a relative humidity not exceeding 75%, and when released for sale, the temperature inside the sausage log must not exceed 8°C. Their shelf life is 24–72 hours.
• Smoked sausages should be stored at a temperature not exceeding 8°C with a relative humidity of 75–85%; semi-smoked sausages – at a temperature not exceeding 12°C for up to 10 days; cooked-smoked sausages – at 12°C for up to 15 days; raw-smoked sausages – at 0–4°C for up to 30 days.