Hutsul sausage

What it is

Hutsul sausage is a homemade pork sausage prepared after the winter slaughter of pigs. The pork is cut or coarsely chopped, seasoned with salt, pepper, and a generous amount of garlic, stuffed into natural casing, and smoked. It differs from store-bought sausage in its coarse texture, density, and smoky aroma.

The finished sausage was stored in a cool pantry or attic and eaten until spring. Its most ceremonial place is the Easter basket: the sausage is blessed in church along with pascha, cheese, butter, eggs, and pysanky, and then it adorns the festive breakfast.

Recipes vary in each family: some add a bit of beef or lard, others paprika or thyme. What is common is pork, garlic, and smoke. The oldest description of Hutsul sausage was left by ethnographer Volodymyr Shukhevych: in the section 'Hutsul Food,' he briefly explains 'sausage' as sausage made from pork, and in his story about Easter, he places it in the basket alongside pascha and cheese.

History and name

In his work 'Hutsulshchyna' (vol. 1, 1902), Volodymyr Shukhevych mentions pork sausage among Hutsul dishes, 'kishki' — pig intestines stuffed with buckwheat or corn grits, — and 'fried meat': smoked meat, sausage, and salted pork are chopped and fried. He explains that in the old house, smoke from the stove spread under the roof, making the attic a good place to smoke and store meat.

In the third volume (1904), Shukhevych described the Easter basket — a wooden container taken for blessing each year: pieces of pascha and bread, cheese, sausage, topped with salted pork, butter, eggs, pysanky, horseradish with garlic, and salt were placed at the bottom. Meat in the mountains was eaten less frequently than dairy — mainly on holidays and after slaughter, so homemade sausage was festive food.

Ingredients and allergens

Pork—Meat for bograch, holubtsi, and homemade sausages.

GarlicgenerouslyA seasoning for bograch, kiselytsia, sausages, and trout.

Natural casing—Cleaned pork intestine for hurka and homemade sausages.

Pork fat (salo)—, optionalSalted pork lard; used to layer holubtsi and to start cooking bograch.

Beef—, optionalThe classic meat for Transcarpathian bograch is best from the shoulder or shank.

Ground paprika—, optionalThe main spice for bograch and Transcarpathian sausages.

Also: salt (—), black pepper (—)

Contains allergens: none of the 14 major allergens in the traditional recipe
Diet: gluten-free

Ingredients of the traditional recipe; every cook and every place may do it differently — please ask when ordering. We cannot guarantee the absence of allergens or traces.

How it is made

Pork (often shoulder) is cut into small pieces or coarsely chopped, mixed with salt, pepper, and minced garlic, and allowed to rest. The mixture is tightly stuffed into washed pig intestines and tied.

The sausages are smoked over wood for several hours, turning them, and then dried. In the past, they were smoked directly in the attic, where smoke from the stove went; today, they are smoked in a buzharka, a small metal smoker near the house, where lard, ham, and rolls are also smoked along with the sausage. We do not provide an exact homemade recipe: smoking meat requires experience and adherence to sanitary rules.

Where it is eaten

The area is approximate and based on the sources below. The dish is cooked outside it too, and ethnographic borders are blurred.

Ethnographic Hutsulshchyna: Verkhovyna, Kosiv, southern Nadvirna, Rakhiv, Bukovinian Hutsulshchyna. Homemade sausages are made throughout Ukraine; the area is approximate.

When it is eaten

Occasions: Winter pig slaughter · Easter · Christmas · Weddings

In tradition

Sausage is made during the slaughter — the winter pig slaughter, which in Hutsul villages occurs around the time before St. Nicholas Day — and is necessarily placed in the Easter basket for blessing. It is also present on wedding and Christmas tables.

Safety

Homemade sausage made from unregulated meat can be dangerous. Buy from trusted producers and store in a cool place.

FAQ