Cervelat sausage

Cervelat sausage refers to delicatessen varieties of dry smoked sausage, which is made from pork, veal, rabbit meat and horse meat. It borrowed its name from the German-speaking inhabitants of Switzerland, and came from the Latin cerebellum, which then sounded like cervelle in French, and cervello from Italians. Interestingly, all this means the brain in translation.

Back in the 16th century, the word zervelada was used by the inhabitants of Milan to refer to any sausage with meat. And in accordance with the oldest recipe, which dates back to the same century, cervelat sausage was made from pork, cheese and lard. Moreover, such minced meat was added rather exotic spices and seasonings for that place and time - cinnamon, ginger, cloves and nutmeg. According to the rule of sausage, cervelate was boiled with cool boiling water, and not smoked as at present.

Few people know that in Switzerland today, cervelat sausage acts as a symbol of Swiss national identity. She is also included in the list of Culinary Treasures of this country. But in Russia, although this sausage is classified as extremely harmful products, they nevertheless do not cease to adore. It is not only used as an excellent independent snack, but also prepared on the basis of cervelat sausage numerous satisfying and very tasty dishes. The calorie content of cervelate is 461 kcal per hundred grams of smoked product.

According to GOST, such a sausage should contain a quarter of premium beef, the same amount of lean pork and the remaining 50 percent - fatty pork. Undoubtedly, you can't do without all kinds of seasonings - salt, sugar, nutmeg, as well as black or white ground pepper. In addition, there is sodium nitrite in cervelate - how without it. This mince is then stuffed into the guts and smoked.

When choosing a cervelate sausage, you need to pay attention to the color of the product: the brighter it is, the more sodium nitrite it contains. Why add this substance? The fact is that when sausage is subjected to heat treatment, myoglobin breaks down, giving fresh raw meat a rich red color. So, when sodium nitrite is added, this substance is fixed, and the color of the sausage cervelate remains bright. In addition, sodium nitrite also plays a role as a preservative.

Whether to consume this very tasty sausage or not is everyone's personal choice, but meanwhile there are a certain number of people for whom this product is banned. Firstly, due to the increased fat and calorie content of cervelate, it is categorically not recommended to consume this sausage for heart pathologies and hypertension. And in the presence of liver diseases, smoked meats are prohibited due to the high content of salt and cholesterol in this meat product.