Cooked Russian sausage: cooking technology, selection criteria and recipes

Cooked sausages are one of the most popular products by Russian customers. Traditionally boiled sausage "Russian" is distinguished by the presence of more beef and bacon in the composition and a pleasant spicy-garlic flavor. In addition, it contains vitamins of group B and PP, as well as minerals necessary for the body.

Features and manufacturing technology

Based on the generally accepted scientific classification of cooked sausages, the following categories can be distinguished:

1. Top grade - selected varieties of pork and beef, nutmeg, white pepper, garlic, cardamom, salt and high-quality bacon. Such a product occupies the upper price segment.
2. Grade one - in addition to meat of the first grade, bacon and spices, soy (vegetable protein) is included in the composition. The price of such products is average or slightly higher.
3. The second grade - among the ingredients there are meat trimmings, skin, meat - bone meal. This is usually a cheap variety.

This product is considered highly nutritious, per 100 grams of which account for a little more than 300 kcal.

Russian sausage (GOST R 52196-2011) is included in category B and includes up to 60% of animal muscle tissue. The finished product has the usual shape of a loaf, and slices of juicy fat, not more than 5 mm in diameter, are clearly distinguishable at the cut.

Packed sausage can be in artificial or natural shell, sold as a whole, and by weight or in ready-made slices. Depending on the particular manufacturer and the conditions of the selected production, the weight of the loaf varies from half a kilogram to two and a half kilograms.

How to choose a sausage?

First of all, you need to pay attention to information about the composition, which should contain the following names:

• beef;
• pork;
• pork fat
• curing mixture.

The following is a list of food additives and preservatives required on an industrial scale:

• E407 and E412 are thickeners obtained from plants - algae and guars.
• E450 and E452 are salts of phosphoric acids.
• E621 is a flavor enhancer, it is sodium glutamate - one of the amino acids that are found in absolutely all proteins.
• E300, E316, E250 - fix color, prevent the development of pathogenic bacteria.

These substances contained in the product within the established standards are not able to harm the human body.

In addition to the ingredients of the composition, you should know that cooked according to the norm cooked sausage "Russian", GOST R 52196-2011, is more likely to taste better than cooked according to TU. Usually this information is present on the package or immediately in the name of the sausage. It should be located in the cooling window at a temperature of 5 to 8 degrees.

If possible, it is necessary to pay attention to the cut, it should be wrapped with cling film, without any windy or dried edges. Color can vary from pale pink to grayish pink; the fat must be evenly distributed, occupy no more than 20% of the total mass and have a color from a little pinkish to a pleasant creamy white.

On the surface of the package, regardless of its type, there should be no wrinkles, voids or violations of the shell. Marking with the date of manufacture, expiration date and storage conditions is mandatory.

Cooking Russian sausages at home

With today's technical capabilities and a variety of kitchen appliances, you can cook your own sausage. The following ingredients are required for making sausages:

• 700 g of fresh beef;
• 500 g of pork meat without fat, small layers are allowed;
• pork fat - 600 g;
• ice water - half a glass;
• 150 g of potato starch;
• common salt, nitrite salt - 40 g each;
• nutmeg, cardamom, ground pepper white and black - to taste.

Pork, beef and half the mass of bacon are passed through a meat grinder, depending on taste preferences, a couple of garlic cloves can be added to the minced meat. Stuffing should be done on a fine lattice and scroll twice, add and mix spices, chopped bacon and starch diluted in cold water.

The whole mass should be thoroughly mixed several times, then removed to cool and insist for a day. The next day, you can start stuffing the shell, it can be artificial or natural, any of the options available for sale.

You can form sausage loaves manually or using a special nozzle in a meat grinder or food processor. A mesh is put on over the casing for final shaping, and the product itself is suspended for 10 hours at room temperature. If, after all the manipulations, the stuffing still shrinks, then the shell should be slightly tightened, however, it is very important to take into account that there is a danger of its rupture during further cooking in the oven.

Set the oven temperature to 30 ° C, place the sausage and gradually heat to 83-85 ° C. It is good if there is a special probe for measuring the temperature inside the product. It should reach 70 degrees, then everything is ready.

Place still hot "Russian sausage" under cold water, then cool. Store the product in the refrigerator.

Tasty dishes with boiled sausage

Such a product will look great both as an independent dish in the cut, and as an integral part of any recipe. For example, with Russian sausage you can cook:

1. Mini pizza on yeast dough with tomato sauce, pickles and cheese.
2. Boiled vermicelli casserole with slices of sausage in a filling of eggs with cream and cheese. An interesting addition is the onion fried in vegetable oil, it can be added at the end of cooking, simply sprinkled on top, or knead into the total mass before baking in the oven.
3. Sausage in the dough is the simplest dish for which you can use any dough for pies, and inside, in addition to a slice of sausage, put a slice of fresh tomato and a slice of cheese.
4. A huge number of dressings for various types of pasta or as an ingredient in soups.
5. Salad of shredded white cabbage, crackers, sausage sticks and mayonnaise.
6. Sausage fried in batter. For batter, you need three tablespoons of wheat and corn flour, salt, milk or cream.
7. Braised cabbage with fried sausage, onions and carrots.

A product such as boiled sausage "Russian" is a versatile and tasty ingredient for salads, soups or sandwiches. You can buy it in the store or cook it yourself and delight your family and friends with delicious dishes.