Russian Sausage Kolbasa

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It is one of the main products on our table. It is big and in most cases long (one elbow in general) thin sausage made from ground meat usually pork, beef or veal, and sometimes venison, horsemeat and bear meat with salt, spices and some other flavors to taste, with a special natural casing around it. 

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First Kolbasa appeared in Russia in 15th century. At that time forests were rich for different animals; Russians were often hunting and bringing a lot of meat at their homes. Making Kolbasa was one of the ways how to preserve meat for winter season.

 

Today we have several kinds of Kolbasa that you can easily find almost at every foodmarket. One of the most popular is Varyonaya Kolbasa (boiled sausage). It is called Varenaya because of its process of cooking. It is boiled at temperature around 80 degrees. Sometimes some soya products are added. Varyonaya Kolbasa is usually two times fatter than other Russian Kolbasa sausages and is soft. Because of water content this kind of Kolbasa may not be stored for a long time. The most popular type of this Varyonaya Kolbasa is called Doctorskaya. In Russian language word Doctorskaya is a derivative from word doctor. It is named in honor fDoctors because many years ago they approved that this kind of sausage for people who have problems with health (gastrointestinal) and for everybody who wants to maintaining a balanced diet. So Varyonaya Kolbasa and Doctorskay in particular is a good alternative to all other types of sausages in our country. Besides it is usually cheaper.

 

Varyono-kopchyanaya  Kolbasa

(Boiled and smoked Kolbasa)

It is a little bit different from the previous one type, because after boiling it is smoked. It is much thinner and harder and may be preserved for many weeks (up to three months in a freezer).   Sometimes different spices a put inside to enrich this sort with different tastes.

 

 

Sukhie Kolbasy or dry Sausages  

Another one popular kind of Kolbasa in Russia. Dry sausages have another way of smoking – cold-smocking with temperature 18-25 degrees Celsius, when the product is fermented and dehydrated. Together with Europeans Salyamy types we have hundreds of dry sasusages brands and variations. Today our production politics has become more in house and our Government strongly supports domestic production. Russian sausages quality is already equal to foreign analogues and in some cases is even better.

 

Among Russian Sausages we also have some interesting types which are called Sosysky and Sardel’ky (similar to Vienna Sosages). Sosysky are small thin sausages which looks like Varyonaya kolbasa but are much smaller and thinner, usually made from pork or beef. We boil or fry them or grill on fire outdoors like BBQ. Sausages are good for breakfast and lunch time. Children like them a lot and they are also a part of school meals. If they are bigger a little they are called Sardel’ky and we also do the same with them – boil or fry every time before eating.