Today on the shelves in grocery stores there is a huge assortment of cooked sausages, which differs in composition, grade and color. According to historical notes, it can be assumed that this product was popular several centuries ago. But regarding the present time, it is worth noting that boiled sausage tightly entered the life of modern man. This food is loved by both children and adults. When choosing, it is worthwhile to carefully study the composition of boiled sausage, as it is not without reason that they say: "We are what we eat."
A bit of history
Sausage has existed since ancient Greece, and its recipe was quite simple. According to the annals, this product was boiled or fried minced meat, packed in pork stomachs. Gradually, this recipe became known to the whole world, since sailors and merchants liked to take such a sausage with them on long journeys. It was at that time that people noticed that a well-prepared dish can be stored for a long time without losing its taste. Also, this product came to taste and the ancient Slavs. To make sausage, they used the following ingredients: eggs, various cereals, meat, lard, animal blood, as well as pork and beef offal for the shell. After that, such preparations were boiled and smoked at the stake.
In Russia, the production of this product began in 1709, when the first production factory appeared. By the way, at that time there were already several varieties of delicious sausages. So in Russia, sausage began to gain popularity, and continues to this day to delight children and adults with its taste. Modern sausage is minced meat in the shell, subjected to heat treatment or fermentation.
Classification
Sausages are classified by the following types:
- processing method - boiled, smoked, half-smoked, sausages and sausages, blood, liver, meat breads, pastes, jellies and zelets;
- type of meat - pork, beef, horse, lamb, as well as poultry;
- composition of raw materials - meat, blood, from offal;
- type of shell - natural, artificial, without shell;
- quality of raw materials - are divided into the highest, first, second, third grades;
- cut minced meat - exist with a uniform structure, as well as with the addition of pieces of tongue, bacon, tongue and coarsely chopped tissue;
- appointment - is divided into sausages for widespread use, baby and diet food.
About composition
According to the rules of the process and GOST standards, the composition of cooked sausage should be as follows:
- beef or pork meat;
- eggs or melange (frozen egg mass);
- milk;
- salt;
- spices (black pepper, cardamom, coriander, garlic);
- starch;
- bacon.
The stuffing, depending on the recipe, may also include: serum, bacon, blood plasma, and flour instead of starch.
As a rule, the main components in the preparation of the highest quality sausages are meat and bacon. As for the low varieties, they may contain various additives, vegetable fat substitutes and dyes.
Beef meat is divided into three varieties: the highest (only pure muscle tissue is used), the first (muscle tissue, which can contain up to six percent of connective tissue) and the second (up to twenty percent of connective adipose tissue). Venison, horsemeat and camel meat are sorted in the same way. Beef varieties are directly dependent on the sausage variety. That is, cooked sausage of the first grade includes beef of the first grade or low-fat pork.
We offer to consider this product of each variety separately in more detail:
- Top grade. For its preparation use only high-quality and lean meat, bacon and spices (garlic, nutmeg, cardamom, pepper).
- The composition of this product of the first grade includes: beef and pork of the first grade, vegetable protein, salt and spices.
- Second grade. According to the recipe, for the manufacture of this product use: beef of the second grade, pork trimmings, vegetable protein, bacon, flour, spices.
- Third grade. This variety, as a rule, includes liverwurst sausages of the third grade and vegetable origin. As raw materials use pork skins, offal of the second category, connective tissue, cartilage from meat venation, flour, salt, spices.
According to the composition of cooked sausages regulated by GOST, this product should be thirty percent meat.
In the manufacture of this product is allowed to add starch, but not more than eight percent. However, to date, certain requirements may be put forward for the production of sausages, as reflected in the technical specifications (technical conditions). According to them, the composition of the product may include ground bones and animal skins. And also in some varieties you can notice the lack of natural meat in cooked sausages. But in this case, it should be displayed on the label marked “MOM” (meat of mechanical deboning).
Variety of Cooked Sausages
Today on the shelves in supermarkets there is a huge variety of meat products. The most popular brands of this product are the following types of sausages.
Amateur
Its composition is similar to that of cooked Doctoral sausage. According to GOST, it should include the following ingredients: premium beef, low-fat pork, hard pork fat, saltpeter, salt, black pepper, sugar, nutmeg.
Beef
Subject to the recipe, beef, melange or chicken eggs, drinking water, salt, sugar and black pepper are used to make sausages of this type.
Loin
Cooked sausages include chicken breast fillet, beef meat, water, potato starch, spices, as well as flavorings, food additives, stabilizers, flavor enhancers and colorings. Recall that this type of sausage belongs to the third grade.
Dairy
Cooked milk sausage contains beef and pork meat, milk powder, salt and spices. Also, this species is rich in vitamin B1, sodium, vitamin PP and phosphorus.
Cooked sausage "Dad can"
The composition of this product is as follows: chicken breast fillet, pork, spices (mustard seed, celery and nutmeg), mechanically deboned poultry meat, sunflower oil, protein stabilizer, acidity regulators, stabilizers, flavorings, animal protein, dye, flavor and aroma enhancers.
Metropolitan
According to GOST, in the manufacture of sausages of this type, products such as pork, black pepper, bacon, nutmeg, salt, water, cardamom and sugar are used.
Tea Room
The composition of cooked sausages is regulated by GOST. It includes: pork fat, beef, pork, black pepper, coriander, salt, garlic, soda, sugar and nitrite salt. Its calorie content does not exceed 216 Kcal per 100 grams of product.
Doctoral
This species was very popular in the USSR and in the post-Soviet era. On the table takes pride of place today. The structure of cooked doctor's sausage according to GOST includes: beef and pork meat, eggs, milk powder, salt, spices, sodium nitrite, sugar, cardamom or nutmeg.
Creamy and knit
There is no recipe for this type of sausage according to GOST, so manufacturers produce this meat product in accordance with the technical conditions.
The composition of cooked sausage bundles is as follows: beef, pork, chicken breasts, milk powder, water, eggs, salt, potato starch, stabilizer: sodium polyphosphate, animal protein, spices, sodium nitrate.
Sausages, sausages, pork sausages
The above is another variety of cooked sausage. Their main difference is the absence of fat and the size of these meat products. For these premium products, fatty meats are used, while beef products must contain only beef. The difference between pork sausages and sausages is that minced meat and spices are added in the manufacture.
What are the differences between cooked sausage and cooked smoked?
The difference between cooked sausage and smoked sausage is determined not only by the shelf life, but also in the cooking technology. Boiled sausage, unlike other types, is a perishable product. As a rule, the composition of cooked smoked sausage includes almost the same products, but there are several differences. For example, in the preparation of cooked-smoked products, low-value parts of the carcass and internal organs of the animal are not used. Also, more spices are added to it than to boiled. Although the composition of cooked smoked sausage is similar to cooked, the cooking process is different. Cooked-smoked sausage is made in several stages: initially, the minced meat is fried, so much more juice and fat are stored in it. After that, the billets are cooked and then smoked.
Is a product both healthy and tasty?
Not many nutritionists recommend eating this product, but there are also meat products that can bring certain benefits to the body due to the nutritional value and chemical composition of cooked sausages, which are usually enriched with vitamins B, A, E, and PP . Thus, in order not to harm your body, but rather bring benefits, it is worth choosing a quality product.
Also, the chemical composition of boiled sausage positively affects the body:
- The high protein content found in meat helps strengthen muscles.
- The cartilage contains valuable gelling substances that are very beneficial for the joints.
- Offal and skin contain valuable trace elements: potassium, magnesium, potassium iron and iodine.
Cooked sausage manufacturing technology
As a rule, in the manufacture of cooked sausages, manufacturers observe the general technology:
- The meat is separated from the bones and cut into pieces.
- Then it is salted with sugar, ascorbic acid and sodium nitrate.
- Special equipment converts meat into minced meat, after which various ingredients that meet the technical conditions are added to it.
- Pre-prepared casings are stuffed with minced meat.
- These blanks are hung on hooks to settle the stuffing.
- Then they are pasteurized at a temperature of no more than eighty degrees, and then these preforms are cooled.
How to choose and store
As a rule, when buying a sausage, the consumer evaluates its appearance. When choosing, you should not focus on products that are painted in bright and attractive colors. Do not forget that a cooked sausage is characterized by a grayish color characteristic of meat after heat treatment. Therefore, the bright color indicates that in the manufacture of cooked sausages, special food colors were added to the minced meat.
Among the huge assortment of meat products, it is necessary to make the right choice. But knowing the varieties of cooked sausages and the composition of these products, it will be much easier to decide on a purchase. It is advisable to choose a premium product marked GOST. Various labels on the sausage packaging such as "luxury", "extra" and others are not a confirmation of high quality. Also, when buying, you should pay attention to storage conditions. The optimum storage temperature for sausages is no more than eight degrees.
Among other things, when buying, you should pay attention to the following aspects:
- The presence of moisture and mucus on the sausage indicates the deterioration of the product. The appearance and condition of the shell should be assessed — it should have been dry. Also, you should choose the one in which the shell fits snugly.
- Pay attention to the cut of the sausage. The presence of gray spots on the product indicates a violation of production technology.
- The presence of a large amount of starch will give a sense of taste of paper. You can check the product for starch in another way: roll a small piece of sausage into a tube. In the absence of starch, it will not break and crumble.
- According to GOST, it is not forbidden to use soy protein in the preparation of cooked sausage. But, nevertheless, when choosing this product, it is worth looking for options without it. As a rule, the dye E250 is used to give the sausage a pink hue. In a small amount, this additive is harmless. However, when ingested in large quantities, it can cause cancer.
- It is worth noting that the composition of this product intended for baby food should not contain various dyes, preservatives, phosphates, as well as GMOs.
If the product is of high quality, then when stored in the refrigerator, the sausage will remain fresh for a sufficiently long time. The shelf life for opening a package in a natural shell is no more than five days, and in an artificial one - about 40 days.