Valais dry sausage

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Valais dry sausage
origin Switzerland ( Canton of Valais )
flesh Beef, pork, etc.
vegetables Carrots, potatoes, cabbage, leek, beetroot, etc.
treatment Minced meat and finely chopped vegetables
Spices and aromatic plants Garlic, herbs, pepper, table salt, onions, etc.
ingredients Valais red wine
Mass Length between 15 and 20 centimeters
Air dry aging at least three months
Weight loss compared to the fresh products around 30 percent

Valais dry sausage (also called house sausage , Valais German Hüswurscht , French Saucisse sèche du Valais , also Saucisse sèche valaisanne ) is a Swiss specialty of the canton of Valais . The sausage, which is over 15 centimeters long, consists of meat, vegetables, spices and Valais red wine. It is preserved by air-dry aging, but not smoked. It is eaten raw, mainly as a snack (Welsh German Schpiis or Zabund ), often accompanied by Valais rye bread . It is also served thinly sliced ​​on the Valais plate .

Traditional ingredients and production

The beef (forequarters) and pork are turned by the wolf . The fresh vegetables made from raw leek , cabbage , boiled potatoes , carrots and / or beetroot are finely chopped. Depending on availability and taste, the spice mixture consists of onions , garlic , herbs , table salt and pepper . Finally, Valais red wine is added. The mass kneaded from it is placed in natural casings and tied at intervals of 15 to 20 centimeters.

The sausages hang for three months in a cool and well-ventilated drying room like the attic of a classic Valais house. During this slow ripening process, the Valais dry sausage acquires its refined taste and loses around 30% of its fresh weight.

Regional recipes

The recipes for air-dried Valais dry sausage are very diverse. The composition, appearance and taste of the Valais dry sausage differ in the respective Valais region.

The Saas house sausage from the Upper Valais Saas Valley is well known , to which potatoes and beetroot are added in addition to the meat , which give it its characteristic color. Cabbage in particular is added to the sausage grimace from the Lower Valais Bangital , which is cooked in principle. The sausage face is very similar to the Vaudois cabbage sausage , but in contrast to the latter, it contains beef.

In addition to the traditional recipes, sheep, venison, chamois or goat sausages can also be found today. The butcher from the Upper Valais Turtmanntal , who also adds alpine herbs and flowers to his sausages , proves how diverse the ingredients are, whereby one of the specialties is an alpine rose sausage.

properties

In terms of consistency, the Valais dry sausage is roughly like a salami , but considerably thinner and also somewhat firmer and typically only air-dried. In Germany, the Valais dry sausage is known as air-dried salami.

history

Valais air-dry ripening can look back on a centuries-old tradition. The oldest surviving documents that describe the alpine drying technique for meat products in Valais date back to the 14th century.

See also

Web links