Most Hungarian sausages are made with fine or coarsely ground pork, beef or lamb, and spices that can include paprika, black pepper, allspice, white pepper, caraway, nutmeg, marjoram, cayenne pepper, sugar, salt, garlic, white wine or cognac. Sausages meant to be eaten fresh (unsmoked) sometimes include liver, mushrooms, bread, rice, eggs, cream or milk. The ground sausage mixture is then stuffed into natural casings -- the small intestines of pigs -- in long round coils or sectioned off into 12-inch lengths. In the days before refrigeration, sausage-making was done in cold weather at pig-slaughtering time and the meat scraps went into the mix. The uncooked stuffed sausages were allowed to cure overnight in the open air before using fresh or smoking. Today, many home cooks let the sausage cure overnight in the refrigerator.
Fresh and smoked sausages include:
- Gyulai Kolbasz: This sausage is named after the Hungarian town of Gyula. It can be eaten alone, with bread or added to other dishes like lesco or rakott burgonya.
- Csabai Kolbasz: This spicy sausage with lots of paprika is made in the town of Bekescsaba.
- Csemege Kolbasz:
- Hazi Kolbasz: This simply means homemade sausage and can vary by region. Usually, it is made or pork shoulder, garlic, salt, pepper, sweet paprika and water. Some people add cloves and lemon zest to their mixture. See how hazi kolbasz is made.
- Cserkesz Kolbasz:
- Debreceni Kolbasz (or Debrecener): This pork sausage, heavily spiced with paprika, garlic, pepper and marjoram, is reddish-orange in color and named after the Hungarian city of Debrecen. It is usually unsmoked or lightly smoked and baked, broiled or fried and used in dishes like lecso.
- Lecsokolbasz: A spicy sausage made specifically for lecso.
- Majas Hurka - Liver Sausage:
- Veres Hurka - Blood Sausage:
