Ingredient: Sausages - Classification USA
Category: Meat - Butchery
Season: All
The US has a particular type called pickled sausages, commonly found in gas stations and small roadside delicatessens.
These are usually smoked and/or boiled sausages of a highly processed frankfurter (hot dog) or kielbasa style plunged into a boiling brine of vinegar, salt, spices (red pepper, paprika...) and often a pink coloring, then jarred.
They are available in single blister packs, e.g., Slim Jim meat snacks, or in jars on top of the deli cooler.
They are shelf stable, and are a frequently offered alternative to beef jerky, beef stick, and kippered beef snacks.
The USDA sausage facts sheet:
Definition of Fresh Sausages
Fresh sausages are a coarse or finely comminuted meat food product prepared from one or more kinds of meat, or meat and meat byproducts.
They may contain water not exceeding 3% of the total ingredients in the product.
They are usually seasoned, frequently cured, and may contain binders and extenders.
They must be kept refrigerated and thoroughly cooked before eating.
Content of Fresh Sausages
Fresh Pork Sausages - May not contain pork byproducts and no more than 50% fat by weight.
Fresh Beef Sausages - May not include beef byproducts and no more than 30% fat by weight.
Breakfast Sausages - May contain meat and meat byproducts and no more than 50% fat by weight.
Whole Hog Sausage - Meat from swine in such proportions as are normal to a single animal and no more than 50% fat by weight.
Italian Sausage Products - Cured or uncured sausages containing at least 85% meat, or a combination of meat and fat, with the total fat content constituting not more than 35% of the finished product.
It contains salt, pepper, fennel and/or anise and no more than 3% water.
Optional ingredients permitted in Italian Sausages are: spices (including paprika) and flavorings, red or green peppers, onions, garlic and parsley, sugar, dextrose and corn syrup.
Cooked and/or Smoked Sausages
These products are made of one or more different kinds of chopped or ground meats, which have been seasoned, cooked and/or smoked. Water can be no more than 10% by weight.
Meat byproducts may be used.
Included in this category are:
Salami
Liverwurst
Hot dogs
Bologna
Knockwurst
Bratwurst
Braunschweiger
Blood sausage
Jellied beef loaf
Thuringer-style
Cooked Salami (not dry)
Is made from fresh meats which are cured, stuffed into casings and cooked in a smokehouse at high temperature.
It may be air dried for a short time.
It has a softer texture than dry and semi-dry sausages and must be refrigerated.
Meat Specialties
A ready-to-eat sausage product. It is made from comminuted meats that are seasoned and usually cooked or baked rather than smoked.
They are usually sliced and served cold.
Included in this category are:
chopped ham loaf
luncheon meat
peppered loaf
head cheese
jellied corned beef
ham and cheese loaf
honey loaf
old fashioned loaf
olive loaf
pickle and pimento loaf
scrapple
souse
veal loaf
Dry and Semi-Dry Sausages
Dry sausages may or may not be characterized by a bacterial fermentation.
When fermented, the intentional encouragement of a lactic acid bacteria growth is useful as a meat preservative as well as producing the typical tangy flavor.
The ingredients are mixed with spices and curing materials, stuffed into casings, and put through a carefully controlled, long, continuous air-drying process.
Dry sausages require more production time than other types of sausages and results in a concentrated form of meat.
Medium-dry sausage is about 70% of its "green" weight when sold. Green weight is the weight of the raw article before addition of added substances or before cooking.
Less-dry and fully-dried sausages range from 80% to 60% of original weight at completion.
Dry sausages include:
Chorizo (Spanish, smoked, highly spiced)
Frizzes (similar to pepperoni but not smoked)
Pepperoni (not cooked, air dried)
Lola or Lolita and Lyons sausage (mildly seasoned pork with garlic)
Genoa Salami (Italian, usually made from pork but may have a small amount of beef; it is moistened with wine or grape juice and seasoned with garlic.
Semi-dry sausages are usually heated in the smokehouse to fully cook the product and partially dry it.
Semi-dry sausages are semi-soft sausages with good keeping qualities, due to their lactic acid fermentation.
"Summer Sausage" (another word for cervelat) is the general classification for mildly seasoned, smoked, semi-dry sausages like Mortadella and Lebanon bologna.
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