Definition Of Sausages: The word sausage is derived from Old French saussiche, from the Latin word salsus meaning "salted". A typical sausage consists of ground meat that's combined with fat, flavorings, and preservatives, and then stuffed into a casing and twisted at intervals to make links. Pork is most commonly used, but butchers also use beef, lamb, veal, turkey, chicken, or game, and some also use fillers like oatmeal and rice to stretch the meat a bit. Casings vary too--in addition to intestines or artificial casings, butchers sometimes use stomachs, feet, skins, or they do away with casings altogether and sell the sausage in bulk. After assembling a sausage, a butcher can either sell it as fresh sausage, or else cure, dry, or precook it in some way. A sausage is a food usually made from ground meat with a skin around it. Typically, a sausage is formed in a casing traditionally made from intestine, but sometimes synthetic. Some sausages are cooked during processing and the casing may be removed after. Sausage making is a traditional food preservation technique. Sausages may be preserved by curing, drying, or smoking. Types Of Sausages: Cooked sausages: Cooked sausages are made with fresh meats, and then fully cooked. They are either eaten immediately after cooking or must be refrigerated. Examples include hot dogs, Braunschweiger, and liver sausage. Cooked smoked sausages: Cooked smoked sausages are cooked and then smoked or smoke-cooked. They are eaten hot or cold, but need to be refrigerated. Examples include kielbasa and mortadella. Some are slow cooked while smoking, in which case the process takes several days or longer, such as the case for Gyulai kolbász. Fresh sausages: These sausages are made from meats that have not been previously cured. They must be refrigerated and thoroughly cooked before eating. Examples include Boerewors, Italian pork sausage, siskonmakkara, and breakfast sausage. Fresh smoked sausages: Fresh sausages that are smoked and cured. They do not normally require refrigeration and do not require any further cooking before eating. Examples 1 include Mettwurst and Teewurst which are meat preparations packed in sausage casing but squeezed out of it (just like any other spread from a tube). Dry sausages: Dry sausages are cured sausages that are fermented and dried. Some are smoked as well at the beginning of the drying process. They are generally eaten cold and will keep for a long time. Examples include salami, Droë wors, Finnish meetvursti, Sucuk, Landjäger(smoked), Slim Jim, and summer sausage. Bulk sausage: Bulk sausages or sometimes sausage meat, refers to raw, ground, spiced meat, usually sold without any casing. Vegetarian sausage: These are made without meat, for example, based on soya protein or tofu, with herbs and spices. Some vegetarian sausages are not necessarily vegan, and may contain ingredients such as eggs. The distinct flavor of some sausages is due to fermentation by Lactobacillus, Pediococcus, or Micrococcus (added as starter cultures) or natural flora during curing.. Raw sausages: Raw sausages are those which are made with raw meat and are not cooked. They are preserved by lactic acid fermentation, and they may be dried,brined or smoked. Most raw sausages will keep for a long time. Examples include Mettwurst and salami. Cooked sausages: These sausages may include water and emulsifiers and are always cooked. They will not keep long. Examples include cervelat,Jagdwurst, and Weißwurst. Precooked sausages (Kochwurst): Precooked sausages are made with cooked meat but may also include raw organ meat. They may be heated after casing, and they will keep only for a few days. Examples include Saumagen and Blutwurst. Blood sausage: These eggplant-colored sausages are made of pig's blood mixed with fat, a filler like bread crumbs, and other flavorings that vary from region to region. They're usually sold precooked, but most people heat them before serving. 2 Hot dog: An American staple, hot dogs are mild, smoked, and usually skinless sausages that are traditionally served in a bun with relish and mustard. They've declined in popularity in recent years because they're relatively high in fat and sodium. This decline was hastened in late 1998 when several people died after being exposed to Listeria, a deadly bacterium which was traced to some improperly prepared hot dogs and deli meats. Ingredients: A sausage consists of meat, cut into pieces or ground, and filled into a casing, with other ingredients. Ingredients may include a cheap starch filler such as breadcrumbs, seasoning and flavourings such as spices, and sometimes others. The meat may be from any animal, but often is pork, beef, or veal. The lean meat-to-fat ratio is dependent upon the style and producer. Speciality sausages with other ingredients such as apple and leek are also made. The meat content as labelled may exceed 100%; this happens when the weight of meat used exceeds the total weight of the sausage after it has been made, sometimes including a drying process which reduces water content. In some jurisdictions foods described as sausages must meet regulations governing their content. For example, in the United States The Department of Agriculture specifies that the fat content of different defined types of sausage may not exceed 30%, 35% or 50% by weight; some sausages may contain binders or extenders. Many traditional styles of sausage from Europe and Asia use no bread-based filler and include only meat (lean meat and fat) and flavorings. In the United Kingdom and other countries with English cuisine traditions, many sausages contain a significant proportion of bread and starch-based fillers, which may comprise 30% of ingredients. The filler used in many sausages helps them to keep their shape as they are cooked. As the meat contracts in the heat, the filler expands and absorbs moisture and fat from the meat. When the food processing industry produces sausages to a price, almost any part of the animal can end up in sausages, varying from cheap, fatty specimens stuffed with meat blasted off the carcasses (mechanically recovered meat, MRM) and rusk, while the finest quality contain only meat and seasoning. In Britain "meat" declared on labels could in the past include fat, connective tissue, and MRM; these ingredients may still be used, but must be labelled as such, and up to 10% water may be included without being labelled. 3 Casings: Traditionally, sausage casings were made of the cleaned intestines, or stomachs in the case of haggis and other traditional puddings. Today, however, natural casings are often replaced by collagen, cellulose, or even plastic casings, especially in the case of industrially manufactured sausages. Some forms of sausage, such as sliced sausage, are prepared without a casing. Additionally, luncheon meat and sausage meat are now available without casings in tin cans and jars. 4 .